(Staff) DAME Sarah Mullally has been announced as the first female Archbishop of Canterbury and the next primate of England.
She will also be the ceremonial head of 85 million Anglicans worldwide, and will face a Communion divided theologically between conservative members and more liberal ones as they interpret Scripture—especially regarding women bishops and the blessing (or marriage) of same-sex couples.
She has been the Bishop of London since 2018.
In her first comments since accepting the role, the Archbishop said: “As I respond to the call of Christ to this new ministry, I do so in the same spirit of service to God and to others that has motivated me since I first came to faith as a teenager.
“At every stage of that journey, through my nursing career and Christian ministry, I have learned to listen deeply—to people and to God’s gentle prompting—to seek to bring people together to find hope and healing.
“I want very simply to encourage the Church to continue to grow in confidence in the Gospel, to speak of the love that we find in Jesus Christ and for it to shape our actions.
She added: “I know this is a huge responsibility but I approach it with a sense of peace and trust in God to carry me as He always has.”
Her appointment to the 1,400-year-old office was announced on Oct. 3, following approval by the King in his capacity as head of the Church of England.
King Charles III has congratulated Dame Mullally on her new role, "which is of such importance in the UK and across the global Anglican Communion," Buckingham Palace said.
Reflecting on the Church of England’s status as the country’s established church, the process of choosing a new archbishop involves a name being given to Prime Minister Keir Starmer and then passed to the monarch.
Starmer has welcomed Dame Mullally's appointment, saying: "I wish her every success and look forward to working together."
In her first address to Canterbury Cathedral, the Archbishop-designate said: “In an age that craves certainty and tribalism, Anglicanism offers something quieter but stronger: shared history, held in tension, shaped by prayer, and lit from within by the glory of Christ.
“That is what gives me hope. In our fractured and hurting world, that partnership in the Gospel could not be more vital.”
She added: “Across our nation today, we are wrestling with complex moral and political questions. The legal right of terminally ill people to end their own lives.
“Our response to people fleeing war and persecution to seek safety and refuge. The pressures on communities who have been overlooked and undervalued. The deep-rooted question of who we are as a nation, in a world that is so often on the brink.”
Referring to the "horrific violence" of a fatal attack on a Manchester synagogue that occurred just the day before her appointment, she said "we are witnessing hatred that rises up through fractures across our communities."
She added: "We then as a Church have a responsibility to be a people who stand with the Jewish community against antisemitism in all its forms. Hatred and racism of any kind cannot be allowed to tear us apart."
Bishop Mullally also focused on the Church of England’s work in local communities. “In parishes across this nation, I see faithful clergy and congregations worshipping God and loving their neighbors. I see thousands of churches running food banks and homeless shelters. I see hospitals and prison chaplains caring for people and families in times of desperation. I see Church of England schools educating a million children across this country.”
Early Life & Experience
Bishop Mullally, 63, was raised in a church-going family and today is married to a business architect. They have two adult children.
Before ordination, she trained and worked as an oncology nurse in London, becoming a senior civil servant in the Department of Health. At just 37, she was the youngest ever Chief Nursing Officer, holding that appointment from 1999 to 2004. She was made a dame in 2005 in recognition of her work in nursing and midwifery.
In a magazine interview she once spoke about the similarities between nursing and Christian ministry: “It’s all about people, and sitting with people during the most difficult times in their lives.”
She was educated at London South Bank University, and trained for ministry at what is now St Augustine’s College of Theology. She continued her theological studies at the University of Kent.
She was ordained in 2001, and served as a self-supporting minister until 2006 in Battersea, south London. She then became a team rector in London and in 2012 a canon at Salisbury Cathedral.
She was elevated to the episcopate in 2015, as Suffragan Bishop of Crediton in the diocese of Exeter. She was appointed Bishop of London just two years later, the third most senior member of the clergy in the Church of England.
In 2019 she became Dean of the Chapels Royal, which entails officiating at major church services attended by members of the Royal Family.
As Bishop of London, she was seen as someone who used her experience as a National Health Service administrator to help modernise the diocese.
Asked by the BBC what she will bring to her new role, she said: "I have had experiences as a nurse leading complex organisations, as the government's chief nursing officer, and also a diocese that is very diverse in London. So I have been prepared for some of this, but recognise I can't do it alone. I need to do it with other colleagues."
Mullally has very limited international experience but as the Bishop of London she has worked in England’s most ethnically and culturally diverse diocese. There has been a national decline in church attendance, but London, with its huge immigrant population, has to some extent bucked that trend.
Election process
The appointment was made by the Crown Nominations Commission. The group of 17 people, led by Lord Jonathan Evans, the former MI5 chief, had to agree with a two-thirds majority on who the next archbishop should be.
Lord Evans, in an interview earlier this year, described the process as one of “discernment” rather than straightforward “selection.”
Besides Lord Evans, the voting members were: the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, and the Bishop of Norwich, Graham Usher, representing the Northern and Southern Provinces; and six members elected from the Church of England’s General Synod, five from the Anglican Communion, and three from the diocese of Canterbury.
Church rules stipulate that an Archbishop of Canterbury remains in office until they turn 70. However, the term can be extended for a year. Mullally, who will be 64 by the time she is installed, is likely to have less than six years in the post and so probably won’t host the next Lambeth Conference.
Various social issues
The Archbishop-designate has been outspoken on a number of political and social issues.
Sitting among the Lords Spiritual in the House of Lords since 2018, she has spoken against liberalizing England’s abortion laws and legalizing assisted dying. When legislation was passed in the Commons for assisted suicide, she described it as "unworkable and unsafe and poses a risk to the most vulnerable people in our society.” She continued, “Every person is of immeasurable and irreducible value, and should be able to access the care and support that they need—a principle that I know is shared by those of all faiths and none.”
Marriage has been extended to gay couples in the United Kingdom as a civil matter, but not in the Church of England. One of her roles as Bishop of London was to chair a body trying to steer the Church's decision on whether to bless same-sex marriages. She described the decision to finally allow priests to bless same-sex couples in 2023 as "a moment of hope for the Church."
Dame Mullally also co-signed a letter against the former Tory government’s policy of sending illegal immigrants to Rwanda, saying that the policy should “shame us as a nation.”
In her first address as Archbishop, she also gave thanks to “all the women that have gone before me,” adding: “Thank you for your support and your inspiration.”
Women were first ordained priests in the Church of England in 1994, while the first appointments of female bishops followed 20 years later in 2014.
Dame Mullally said she realised that "being the first woman is historic, and I often go to schools, and particularly the young women sit up and listen, and they don't want to be the Bishop of London or the Archbishop of Canterbury, but it does allow them to think there are possibilities for them to fulfil their dreams."
Within the Church of England Robert Monro, bishop of Ebbsfleet, who provides alternative episcopal oversight for those not accepting the ministry of women, gave a cautious welcome:
“The appointment of an Archbishop who is a woman will be a significant milestone for our denomination and for the wider Anglican Communion. It presents particular challenges for those who have a complementarian understanding of Scripture, and the roles of men and women in ministry; but Bishop Sarah has a long track record of gracious engagement, and real understanding of the particular theological convictions we hold.
“I have no doubt she will continue to work hard to enable the Five Guiding Principles to be upheld with a clear conscience, and in a way that ‘contributes to mutual flourishing across the whole Church of England’.”
The statement from the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC) was also guarded but clear:
“We…pray that God will enable Bishop Sarah to hold to the apostolic faith and call the Church of England to recommit to the historic doctrines and formularies entrusted to it. We pray that this might be a moment where the current drift away from a biblical and Anglican understanding of marriage and sexual ethics is either halted or a way is found to secure biblical convictions in the Church of England for the future. Above all, our hope is that she will lead the Church of England in presenting the unchanging good news of the gospel afresh to our needy world.”
Safe-guarding
The Archbishop also addressed the controversy surrounding the Church of England’s poor record regarding safeguarding, admitting its history of failures had “left a legacy of deep harm and mistrust.”
“We must all be willing to have light shone on our actions, regardless of our role in the Church,” she added. “Safeguarding is everyone’s business. But for those of us in senior leadership, it carries an added weight of accountability.”
The post of archbishop has remained vacant for nearly a year since Archbishop Justin Welby was forced to resign following a damning report into his handling of the worst abuse scandal in the Church’s history.
The Makin Report, an independent review, found a lay leader John Smyth had perpetrated brutal sexual, physical and mental abuse against more than 120 boys and young men since the late 1970s.
The review also found that Smyth’s “abhorrent abuse” could have been exposed four years earlier if Welby had contacted the authorities.
Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell took on most of Welby's responsibilities in an interim move, and was one of the voting members of the body charged with choosing his successor. He himself has faced calls to step down over his handling of an abuse case.
While Bishop of Crediton, Mullally was asked to lead on the implementation of recommendations set out in the Elliott review, which called for sweeping changes to the Church’s safeguarding procedures.
However, victims and survivors of Church-related abuse were less enthusiastic about her appointment.
One victim abused by John Smyth, described the appointment as “absolutely disastrous.”
They claimed: “Bishop Sarah has been complicit in multiple safeguarding failures in the Diocese of London. The Church of England needed someone from outside the safeguarding scandals that have brought the Church to its knees. That is not Bishop Sarah. The CofE did not need ‘more of the same.’ This appointment has succeeded in uniting the victim community: united in disbelief and dismay.”
Andrew Graystone, an advocate for victims and survivors of Church-related abuse, added: “This has caused real shock and dismay amongst victims and survivors who have been in touch with me. The Diocese of London has a disastrous track record of safeguarding failures.
“We had hoped that a new archbishop would be able to move the Church forward in its safeguarding practices. This appointment doesn’t do that. If anything, we are starting further back. Sarah Mullally has yet to demonstrate that she really understands abuse, and that she prioritises the care of victims over the Church’s reputation.”
Anglican Communion
Most of the world’s Anglicans live in the Global South, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2020, the region had more than 63 million baptized Anglicans, compared to around 23 million in Britain and Europe. Large populations of Anglicans live in Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya and Southern Africa.
Bishop Anthony Poggo, secretary general of the Anglican Communion, said: “I welcome and commend the nomination of Bishop Sarah as the next Archbishop of Canterbury.”
But Rwandan Archbishop Dr. Laurent Mbanda, who is chair of the GAFCON primate’s council, a conservative global Anglican network, said in a statement that Mullally’s appointment abandoned global Anglicans. He said the Church of England chose a leader who would further divide the already split communion. He accused her of failing to uphold her consecration vows, saying she took an oath to “banish and drive away all strange and erroneous doctrine contrary to God’s Word.” He argued she instead had “repeatedly promoted unbiblical and revisionist teachings regarding marriage and sexual morality.”
He also said that although some will welcome it, "the majority of the Anglican Communion still believes that the Bible requires a male-only episcopacy."
Mbanda said that for over a century-and-a-half, the archbishop of Canterbury has functioned not only as the church leader of England, but also as a spiritual and moral leader of the Anglican Communion broadly. Due to the alleged failure by the new leader-elect to guard the faith, “the office can no longer function as a credible leader of Anglicans, let alone a focus of unity.”
Just over half (23) of the Anglican Communion’s 42 member provinces have approved the consecration of women as bishops, and in 17 of these churches, women serve as bishops. Only three or four Anglican provinces do not ordain women to any order of ministry.
Some jurisdictions, which are doctrinally orthodox and don’t approve of same-sex blessings, such as the Diocese of the Arctic and the provinces of Kenya and South Sudan, do recognize women bishops.
The statement from the much larger Global South Fellowship of Anglicans (GSFA), led by Dr. Justin Badi, Primate of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, was more measured but equally clear:
“[W]e are deeply saddened that the person still perceived by many to be the spiritual leader of now some 100 million Anglicans worldwide has played a leading role in the Church of England’s departure from Anglican tradition and the clear teaching of Scripture in matters of marriage and sexuality.
“When the Church of England’s General Synod opened the door to the blessing of same sex relationships at its February 2023 General Synod she described this as ‘A moment of hope’. For us, it was a moment of lament because we believe that the teaching of Jesus and the whole of Scripture is fundamental to human flourishing, both now and for eternity, and should not be compromised by the pressures of a particular culture.
“Sadly therefore, our position must remain as it was in our Ash Wednesday statement of February 2023 when we stated that we were no longer able to recognise the then Archbishop of Canterbury as the ‘first amongst equals’ leader of the global Communion.”
Speaking from Canterbury Cathedral on her first day as Archbishop, Mullally said that "in an age that craves certainty and tribalism, Anglicanism offers something quieter but stronger."
She said that the Communion continued to fill her with “joy and hope” and that “Anglican churches strengthen one another in mission; stand alongside one another in times of adversity and speak out on matters of injustice and inequality.”
She continued: “Let us be a communion that strives to bridge divisions, look outward in compassion, and stand with the vulnerable, modelling the love of God.” She was, she said, “committed to listening deeply, serving faithfully, and fostering unity and mutual support throughout the Anglican Communion.”
Dame Mullally will officially become the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury on Jan. 28, when her ceremonial election by the canons of Canterbury Cathedral will be confirmed at a service at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. She will be formally installed on the Throne of St. Augustine at a service in Canterbury Cathedral next March.
Compiled from various sources including: The Telegraph, The BBC, The Church Times, RNS, TLC, & Reuters
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She has been the Bishop of London since 2018.
In her first comments since accepting the role, the Archbishop said: “As I respond to the call of Christ to this new ministry, I do so in the same spirit of service to God and to others that has motivated me since I first came to faith as a teenager.
From the beginning, being a bishop was connected to a place. At a time when surnames were not yet a “thing,” we have known bishops in history as “of someplace,” unless they had some specific gift which marked them out, like St. John “Chrysostom” (the golden-tongued). So it is we know of Irenaeus of Lyon, or Ignatius of Antioch or Augustine of Hippo. In fact, the location of a bishop in geography is often used as a shorthand to explain their place in the development of theology. In theology we talk of the “Alexandrian school” or the “North African school” of divines.
IN RECENT YEARS, the Anglican Church of Canada has been wrestling with a series of scandals related to clergy misconduct.
When in 1989 Charlie Arthurson was elected the first Indigenous bishop in Canada, he retired to his church in LaRonge, where he locked the doors and spent the day weeping uncontrollably, as he took the measure of the historic responsibility that had overtaken him. On August 30 at 8:15 in the evening, thirty-six years after that tearful retreat, he passed peacefully into the near presence of God, his loving wife Faye at his side, as she had been throughout their marriage.
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