Long road that has led Mhoira to being a bishop

If committing your life to God makes you look this good then there might just be something in it.

Mhoira, who is often mistaken for being in her 40s, believes that God does have a part to play in the way she looks.

“I love life,” she says. “God is within us as well as without us. It shows the good in us. I get on with everybody I meet and I believe this is what true Christianity is about.”

Although it could also be to do with her genes.

Her nanna, who she takes after, died “out of boredom” at the age of 99 and her aunt at 91. It is her zest for life and her need to keep busy that also keeps her young.

She has no television and instead spends her time reading and embroidering her own cross stitch designs. Although she does admit to being a fan of Facebook. “It is one way that I can keep in touch with people across the world”

When I speak to her she is in the process of having a heated debate with a man in America about the ordination of women priests.

Mhoira, who recently returned to her Yorkshire roots from living in Australia, has just been nominated as the first woman to be elected Bishop of the Liberal Catholic Apostolic Church (LCAC). She will be consecrated in September when she will become one of just four female Catholic bishops.

“I still can’t really believe it,” she says. “It hasn’t really sunk in.”

Every Sunday, Mhoira holds mass in the conservatory of her Fangfoss home which she has named Holy Cross House. She has converted the conservatory in to a 14-seater chapel. She says her mass is still quite female orientated. There are flowers and even a bird on her altar.

“It is all very relaxed and friendly from 11 until 12 followed by nibbles or lunch at the pub. I like to make children really welcome.”

Relaxed and informal is what Mhoira believes the church has to be to attract followers in the 21st century.

“I don’t normally walk around wearing my dog collar, I keep that for mass and more formal occasions. I’m very laid back.”

Although she never dreamt of ever becoming a bishop, Mhoira knew from an early age that she was going to dedicate her life to God.

Mhoira was brought up a Roman Catholic attending St Theresa’s RC Primary School in Crossgates and then Leeds City High School.

“While my dad’s parents were from Castleford, they moved to Leeds during the Second World War and then left to go to the US.”

As a young teenager she decided she wanted to become a nun.

“My parents were dead against it but I would go and see the Sisters of the Cross and Passion in Ilkley at night and then work in an architect’s office at night.”

Then one day she watched one of her brothers, an altar boy, trying on her uncle’s surplus.

“I wanted to do that. I realised that I didn’t want to be a sister, I wanted to be a priest. I wanted to celebrate mass the way I had experienced it as a teenager.”

That was more than 50 years ago when most women didn’t even consider the thought of becoming a priest. She moved to Australia where her brother had a farm. She continued to study and learn.

In her life she has been an architect, interior designer, graphic artist, journalist, secretary and saleswoman as well as travelling extensively and living in both Australia and America.

It was while living in America that Mhoira eventually got her chance to follow her religious dream, travelling back to Australia to set a up a new branch of the Benedictine order.

By this time Mhoira already had a degree in Theology when she was approached by the principal of the theological college and asked if she wanted to do a Master’s Degree in church practice which took her three years.

She was eventually ordained into the Reformed Catholic Church in Australia, but as a result she was excommunicated by Rome.

Mhoira was stunned when she was made vicar general, but then when she turned 70 she was told that she was too old to continue.

“I went to see the Bishop who was very sympathetic but maintained that those were the regulations. As a Yorkshire lass at heart I made the decision to come back home.

“When you live through a bush fire with temperatures hovering around 40C for a number of days, hosing your house down and covering up to stop burning leaves and sparks from landing in your hair, you realise that Yorkshire is heaven compared to Australia.”

Having spent her first weeks staying with family in Leeds, Mhoira decided she wanted to live in the countryside and so decided on a quiet life in Fangfoss.

She’d contacted the presiding Bishop of the LCAC in Bournemouth and he incardinated her into the church before making her Vicar General and then Bishop elect.

“I still can’t really believe it.”

But even so, she has already started to make her own bishop’s crosier out of a walking stick and a Benedictine cross. She is covering the walking stick with walking badges from many of the places important to her, including Yorkshire and Australia. There is even a place for a woggle, which brings back memories of her time as a scout leader.

Mhoira admits that she can’t stand being formalised which is why the liberal nature of the LCAC appeals to her.

“The LCAC is a founder member of the Independent Liberal Catholic Fellowship which in turn is linked to many Old Catholic and Liberal Catholic churches around the world.”

She explains that her family is worldwide and see herself as a spiritual mother to everyone.

“I do not believe God is a man or a woman; God is a spirit who is with me all the time.”

Mhoira’s irritation with the Roman Catholic church and Rome is clear.

“The current Pope preaches that the Roman Catholic church is the only one true church. They are taking backward steps which is why priests are leaving.

“The Church has to adapt to operating in the 21st century if it is to survive.”

Mhoira believes that her travels over the last 50-plus years have all been leading her in one direction which she is only just realising as she starts a new chapter of her life back in Yorkshire.

“It is like I have had something inside me all the time and it’s slowly coming out. God has a purpose for me and I am just discovering what that is.”

Having only opened her chapel a few weeks ago, Mhoira’s congregations are still small, but she has high hopes for the future.

“I feel very at home here. People are so friendly and I feel really accepted. It is still early days but I am sure as word spreads I will see more people.” Although she is keeping busy on her Phd on a Judeo-Christian historical work.

“For me the main thing is that I just want to keep going. I am never bored. Life is too interesting to be bored.”

SET OF VALUES THAT DRIVE THE LIBERAL CHURCH

The Liberal Catholic Apostolic Church is a universal church in the liberal Christian tradition, whose ministry is expressed through a wide range of activities and a diverse body of serving and affiliated clergy.

Liberalism does not mean “anything goes.” In the LCAC, liberalism is understood as the adherence to a specific set of progressive values in keeping with historic Christian teachings and practices, and with the ongoing guidance of the Holy Spirit. These values are the expression of the inclusivity and social justice promoted through the ministry of Jesus Christ. For example, they ordain women to Holy Orders, they do not discriminate according to sexual orientation, and they advocate marriage between same sex couples where this is permitted by law. Clergy in the LCAC are permitted to hold divergent opinions on theological and ministerial issues within the overall ethos of the Church. There is no dogma and no imposition on interpretation. The Church says it is open to mysticism and believes that, in Albert Einstein’s words, “the most beautiful and most profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mysterious.” The experience of doubt and evolving belief are seen as an integral part of the Christian life and the search for faith.

• CORRECTION: In the original version of this article, it was stated that the Rev Mhoira Lauer-Patterson had become a Benedictine Sister of Virginia.

Mhoira has asked to point out that was not, in fact, the case and her live-in time with the sisters was merely the start of her journey as a Benedictine.