Sherlock wrote two letters, one responding to a letter from Fred Nile and one responding to an editorial column, saying that both had misrepresented the majority report and the arguments of people who called for the ordination of women, and in the case of the editorial, pointed out it had argued against the historic creeds of the church.
[10][11][12] Sherlock met Patricia Brennan, future President/Co Convenor of Movement for the Ordination of Women (MOW), at the National Evangelical Anglican Congress in 1981.
[7][19] In 1992, Sherlock was ordained as a priest by Keith Rayner (then Anglican Primate of Australia) in St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne and granted permission to officiate 1991–92.
[20] Sherlock was one of the ninety-three women ordained or licensed as priests for the first time in the Anglican Church in Australia.
[8] She published three commentaries on the lectionary, Inside The Sunday Gospels (1994–96) to accompany the new A Prayer Book for Australia.
"[24] In 2003, and again in 2006, there was media discussion about the possibility of Sherlock (along with other women) being appointed the first woman bishop in the Anglican Church in Australia.
[25][20] Sherlock became Dean of the Anglican Diocese of Bendigo and Incumbent of St Paul's Cathedral in 2006 until her retirement in 2011.
She said that when women were first ordained some chose to stay outside church structures but she decided to remain inside and be an agent of change.