In 2013, Pat Storey was elected by the Church of Ireland as Bishop of Meath and Kildare in the Republic of Ireland. But despite having held the position for over four years now, the most Rev Pat Storey would appear to still have trouble being recognised across the diocese. And that’s largely down to the bishop’s first name Pat and her gender. For the most Rev Pat Storey is the UK and Ireland’s first woman bishop. Remarkably though she still gets mistaken for being a bishop’s assistant, secretary or wife. Mrs Storey said: “It has happened to me several times in different banks. They always make those assumptions. They assume the bishop is a man” said the 57 year old from Belfast. Speaking at Dublin City University she added: “Recently I went to the bank to lodge a cheque. I handed it over to the cashier who took one look at it, passed it back over the desk to me and said: ‘The bishop will have to sign that himself.’ I smiled at her, passed it back over the desk and said: ‘I am he’. She was, of course, mortified. People always are.” Like the time when she was having a meal with 12 senior members of the Church at the Celtic bishop’s conference when a UK bishop approached her to say his room had not been booked. When an Irish bishop pointed out she was not a secretary, “The UK bishop immediately stretched out his hand to shake mine and said: ‘Oh, I am so sorry – you must be one of the wives?’ At this point, the Irish bishop beside me nearly had apoplexy. Again, the bishop concerned was utterly mortified.” Luckily for the UK bishop, the most Rev Storey wasn’t, “I thought it was funny and not misogynistic. On a serious note… leadership is changing and… women are coming to the senior top table. It is early days. We bring what it means to be a woman and we represent 52% of the population. As women, we bring something different.” That’s one Storey that is set to run and run…
