[1] Mary was set apart as a deaconess on 25 July 1886 at St Stephen's Newtown by Bishop Barry, during a ceremony in which a male evangelist was also commissioned.
[3] Bishop Barry saw the role of deaconess in terms of lay ministry, rather than a form of ordination for women.
[4] Mary's role as deaconess was to serve in the parish of Newtown under the direction of the rector, Robert Taylor, her duties including visiting homes of the poor.
[5] In 1889 Mary's sister Selma Schleicher became Sydney's second Anglican deaconess when she was commissioned for ministry, having already been ordained in Germany.
[7][8] Mary married Canon Robert Taylor, the newly widowed rector of her parish of Newtown, on 28 December 1898 at Gladesville, New South Wales.