Several items have been added during the day.
Press reports
Hattie Williams Church Times Bishop Mullally’s nomination to Canterbury welcomed by church and charity leaders
Mixed response from overseas Anglicans to Canterbury announcement
Bishop Mullally’s nomination to Canterbury welcomed by church and charity leaders
Francis Martin Church Times In the midst of chaos, acts of kindness and love are what matters, says Archbishop-designate of Canterbury
Sarah Meyrick Church Times My deep faith and working experience will help me as Archbishop, Bishop Mullally says
Madeleine Davies Church Times Profile: Who is Sarah Mullally, the next Archbishop of Canterbury?
Caroline Davies The Guardian Sarah Mullally is named as first female archbishop of Canterbury
Sarah Mullally: the former nurse who will be archbishop of Canterbury
Sky News Woman named as new Archbishop of Canterbury in historic first
Who is Sarah Mullally, the first ever female Archbishop of Canterbury?
Tim Wyatt Religion Media Centre Sarah Mullally, Archbishop of Canterbury
Religion Media Centre RMC Briefing: Courage and pastoral care – gifts of Sarah Mullaly, first female Archbishop of Canterbury
ITV News Archbishop of Canterbury: Dame Sarah Mullally becomes first woman to take on role
Muvija M Reuters UK names Mullally as first female Archbishop to lead Church of England
Anglican grouping GAFCON objects to female Archbishop of Canterbury
Franklin Nelson Financial Times Sarah Mullally named first female Archbishop of Canterbury
Archie Mitchell Independent Sarah Mullally becomes first ever female Archbishop of Canterbury
Gabriella Swerling The Telegraph Sarah Mullally appointed as first female Archbishop of Canterbury
Anglican Communion News Service The Rt Revd and Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally DBE to become 106th Archbishop of Canterbury
The Secretary General of the Anglican Communion shares a message of welcome to the next Archbishop of Canterbury
Christian Today Historic day for Church of England as Sarah Mullally appointed first ever female Archbishop of Canterbury
Evangelicals pray Sarah Mullally will restore Church of England to historic position on marriage and sexuality as next Archbishop of Canterbury
Craig Buchan and Michael Keohan BBC News Kent welcomes its first woman Archbishop
Aleem Maqbool and Paul Gribben BBC News Sarah Mullally named as new Archbishop of Canterbury
Lebo Diseko BBC News Conservative church group condemns choice of female Archbishop of Canterbury
Danica Kirka and Brian Melley Religion News Service Sarah Mullally named the first female Archbishop of Canterbury
Inside Croydon Former Sutton vicar to become 106th Archbishop of Canterbury
English diocesan responses
Bath & Wells, Blackburn, Bristol, Canterbury, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Chester, Chichester, Coventry, Derby, Durham, Ely, Exeter, Europe, Gloucester, Guildford, Hereford, Leeds, Leicester, Lichfield, Lincoln, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich, Oxford, Peterborough, Portsmouth, Rochester, Salisbury, Southwell & Nottingham, St Albans, St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, Truro, Worcester, York
Other reactions
Jill Duff Premier Christianity Dame Sarah Mullally is the new Archbishop of Canterbury. I’m praying she’ll lead with faith, hope and love
Helen King sharedconversations White smoke day: the new Archbishop of Canterbury
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and WalesCatholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales
Cardinal welcomes Archbishop-designate Sarah Mullally as new Archbishop of Canterbury
Vatican News Cardinal Koch congratulates Archbishop-designate of Canterbury Sarah Mullally
Forward in Faith The next Archbishop of Canterbury
The Society under the patronage of Saint Wilfrid and Saint Hilda The next Archbishop of Canterbury
Church of England Evangelical Council CEEC responds to the announcement of the next Archbishop of Canterbury
GAFCON Canterbury Appointment Abandons Anglicans
Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches GSFA Statement on the Appointment of the Rt Revd Dame Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London, as the Archbishop of Canterbury
Melanie McDonagh The Spectator The issues that will haunt the new Archbishop of Canterbury
For completeness of your list, you might add this. The GSFA includes provinces that ordain women, but for them that is not the issue.
https://www.thegsfa.org/news/gsfa-statement-on-the-appointment-of-the-rt-revd-dame-sarah-mullally-bishop-of-london-as-the-archbishop-of-canterbury
Thank you for that. I have added it to the list.
GAFCON also includes provinces that ordain women – including the Province of Rwanda, the Province of the Chair. The East African Churches of the revival – Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Kenya and South Sudan have generally understood that ordination qualifies you to be a bishop and I believe that neither Kenya or South Sudan passed separate legislation when they consecrated women as bishops. The Chair of GAFCON is wrong if he thinks the majority of provinces object to women bishops. If it is the number of worshippers in provinces without women bishops, he may be right. It depends on how you… Read more »
Did you read my note? “The GSFA includes provinces that ordain women, but for them that is not the issue.”
Sure, I hope I was supporting what you wrote.
It would seem to be an issue for Mouneer
A predictably negative response to the new Archbishop’s appointment from GAFCON. CEEC appears to be more gracious in its welcome but by paragraph three they have defaulted to complaining about Living in Love and Faith, and theme looms over the remainder of their piece. Against such a background Archbishop Sarah will need our prayers for grace and wisdom!
And GSFAC. 75% of the Anglican Communion. Bit of a hammer blow on your first day to say the least, but not unexpected. Even premiership managers get a little longer to settle in!
The obsession of the GSFA (and others) with matters sexual is depressing but not surprising. Why they can’t learn to accentuate the positive is beyond me. Here we have a person of integrity and emotional intelligence who actually thinks. And believes. And prays. And cares about the world and the perilous state it is in. And cares about that rather more than enquiring into the private lives of other committed Christians.
She closed down investigations into abuse. Not someone of integrity and emotional intelligence!
Yes. Survivors are not happy with her appointment. And her refusal to be interviewed by Ch 4’s Cathy Newman is very worrying.
Really? Does Kathy Newman, or any journalist, have a divine right to summon any interviewee they wish?
That isn’t the issue. A bishop or archbishop appointee can expect to be asked for interviews by multiple media outlets. Most see this as a good opportunity to communicate to a wide audience.It’s foolish to turn down one of the major news channels, because it means their audience hasn’t been reached; it also tends to antagonise them. Wise leaders want to establish good media relations. In addition, Ch 4 has been at the forefront of holding the C of E to account over abuse. Dame Sarah has said she wants more transparency and openness over safeguarding – to immediately deny… Read more »
Alarm bells started ringing when Tim Dakin refused requests for interviews when he became Bishop of Winchester. ++ Canterbury is the principal spokesperson for the C of E and needs to interact with the media. I fear that this may be one aspect of the role that does not come naturally to her. Or she may have memories of ++ Carey’s disastrous interview soon after the announcement of his appointment. He compared the Church to an elderly lady. He went onto say that those who do not believe that a woman can represent Christ at the altar commit a serious… Read more »
I was listening last night to a podcast by Dr Gavin Ashenden, the former Anglican Bishop, now a Roman Catholic Layman and he was saying on his podcast that Cathy Newman is at present onto Sarah Mullaly’s case and is speaking with Survivors who felt they were failed by Sarah Mullaly and is raking over these cases. If this leads to a Channel 4 Broadcast, she will not need to interview Sarah Mullaly to do her work. If she was capable of bringing down the Bishop of Liverpool without needing to interview him, she will do the same with Sarah… Read more »
Thumbs up for that, Andrew! And thumbs up for the comments of Bishop Emily Onyango as quoted in the BBC article on this ( 5 hours ago at time of my writing–see link if you missed it). From BBC in italics: Bishop Emily Onyango – the first woman ordained as a bishop in the Anglican Church of Kenya – called the news that Dame Sarah had been named Archbishop designate “a new dawn”. She told BBC Focus on Africa that Gafcon’s view was neither theologically nor biblically sound, but more “patriarchal, which is not very useful to the Church”. Bishop… Read more »
It is fascinating that it’s a Kenyan woman Bishop who provided this quote. “Gafcon’s view was neither theologically nor biblically sound, but more patriarchal, which is not very useful to the church.” I love that attempt to split out patriarchy as a distinct issue or problem. Across the colonial world there is a huge amount of research into how European colonialism imposed patriarchal ideas onto indigenous cultures in the Americas, Africa, India and elsewhere. Before this imposition many of these indigenous cultures were gender egalitarian, and women had great economic, sexual and bodily autonomy, and often a powerful role, alongside… Read more »
And in addition to the historical research you mention, there is the effort at a praxis level to recover traditions from patriarchy and obtain a new political idiom. Below is a story from the French news service Radio Canada. (I think there may be a translate button for anyone who may prefer that). <<La masculinisation de la politique autochtone est venue avec la colonisation et la sédentarisation. Le rôle des chefs a connu une certaine transformation durant cette période, au début du 19e siècle. Ils sont devenus des courroies de transmission entre leur communauté et les colons nouvellement arrivés sur leurs… Read more »
Thanks for the comment and the link Ruaridh. That Radio Canada article calls it exactly right, and there is an English translation available. These early cultures were widely gender egalitarian with women playing strong roles, but that was suppressed by an incoming patriarchy, often linked to colonial expansion. What is interesting is how these cultures and stories in Africa and Canada are broadly similar. Such narratives are gaining increasing academic strength in a huge number of contexts; colonial studies, gender studies, politics and religion. For myself my interest is because these pre-patriarchal cultures which valued woman’s roles also valued gender… Read more »
In terms of cultural recovery, you may be interested in this recent Anglican Journal reporting on the the Sacred Circle. See the section captioned, Comparing World Views. There is a struggle to work out Indigenous traditions within a church where governance is grounded in Canon Law. The ‘covalent family’ tradition is certainly part of the Mi’Kamw kinship, including a matriarchal orientation, here in Mi’Kma’Ki (Nova Scotia). https://anglicanjournal.com/sacred-circle-explores-meaning-of-indigenous-church-governance/ From the article: Where the European-Canadian worldview stresses homogeneity and dominion, Enright said, the Indigenous-Cree worldview emphasizes kinship—and the Indigenous church could use the latter model to find kinship between diverse expressions of… Read more »
Thanks Ruairidh, Using “biarchy” as a shorthand for these gender egalitarian cultures, then the biarchal question is so wide that it inspires research in all sorts of contexts. I have valued and learnt a lot from what you have taught me about Canada in the present day. That is hugely valuable work. But one can also look back thousands of years to Mesopotamia, which was also a strongly biarchal culture early in a slow transition to patriarchy which took thousands of years. In “Caesar’s Druids”, Professor Miranda Aldhouse-Green uses studies of 19th century/early 20th century shamanism in America and Siberia… Read more »
Thanks Simon. Engagement with First Nations here provides an ongoing opportunity for those of us descended from settlers of one type or another to have a critical lens through which to see the impacts of colonialism. Indigenous Language, spirituality, family structures and so forth are aspects. With regard to the other research you share in your posts here, you are way out in front of me. However, just last week I picked up a book titled, The Essential Gay Mystics. (you may know it, but links below for any interested). I might have passed it over but among the things… Read more »
Hi Ruairidh. This seems to be turning into a two-person conversation amongst the wider debate about Sarah Mullaly, but that’s fine by me. And maybe other readers may appreciate what’s been said. Wilfred Owen is interesting. One of my projects is to research the direct connection between four poets of war – Walt Whitman, Edward Carpenter, Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. Each in turn mentored the next-in-line in life and in poetry. The links between Whitman and Carpenter, and Sassoon and Owen, are well-known. The fact that Sassoon and Carpenter were in regular correspondence is less well known. But judging… Read more »
You’d think from this comment that England is The World! England has probably chosen the ideal person in their eyes. No one expected otherwise. The CofE will carry on and face its massive challenges. May she keep that ship afloat. The GSFA will face their own challenges. The ‘communion’ is already out of communion. Nothing new that any appointment in England can change. The previous incumbent knew that and I suspect she does too.
The statement from the Alliance shows the high level of dissent in England as well. So no not ideal.
Christopher you have been opining for months that the Anglican Communion really didn’t care about the appointment of the new archbishop as it didn’t really impact them anymore. That’s not the impression that these statements from the GSFA and GAFCON give. They seem really bothered. Granted a lot of GAFCON aren’t really Anglicans and the ACNA seems to be in a terrible mess – no big surprise there – but the GSFA might have shown a little more grace and nuance. Ruairidh thanks for the link to Bishop Emily’s interview. I used to work on Focus when I was a… Read more »
It will be very important to be in steady prayer for the new ABC. I am sure you will feel the same.
It shows a vast amount of colonial snobbery. The communion is far more important than the tiny Church of England. Yet CNC have ignored that. Desperate.
Quite the reverse. This CNC included 5 members of the communion in its deliberations, the first time this has been done in an appointment. I understand that many provinces view questions about women’s ministry and same sex relationships as important but internal matters. We are not appointing a Pope when we gain a new Archbishop, and there is a great deal of independence and autonomy between provinces.
The CNC 5 members from overseas were hardly representative of the Anglican Communion. The word “gerrymander” comes to mind.
“The communion is far more important than the tiny Church of England.” To whom? The Church of England is the established church of England. It obtains massive privileges in England — crowning the monarch, voting seats in the Lords — on that basis. If it doesn’t like that, I suspect that there would be very little public objection to a letter from the Archbishop saying declaring unilateral disestablishment.. We could get someone else to run coronations: Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daley, maybe. But the CofE cannot have it both ways: it can either be the established church or answerable to… Read more »
And of course there have been Archbishops of Canterbury for several hundred years longer than there have been Kings or Queens of England or the United Kingdom. Kings of England got themselves crowned by the Archbishop because it helped give them more legitimacy.
Yes exactly. ‘North South Schism threat as new Archbishop nominated’ might have been the headline in the Church Times, so relief all round
Please can you provide evidence of the 75% claim for membership of GSFA. None of the following are full members: Nigeria, Kenya, West Africa, Central Africa, North India, South India, Pakistan, Tanzania, South Africa. This alone is way over 25% of the Communion. Put in the Churches of the North – especially England and I just don’t get the maths. Of the 12 members of GSFA, two are not in the Anglican Communion (Brazil and North America) and others are small and very small. There is one diocese in TEC that has as twice the membership of one of the… Read more »
Phil. Thanks for giving us the actual facts to refute this familiar claim by conservatives that they are a majority in the Global South Anglican churches.
and to refute the assumption that the members of the congregation and clergy share the patriarchal views of their senior bishops
Here are numbers of active members –
Uganda – 13.3 M
Nigeria – 7.4 M
Kenya – 5.9 M
South India – 4.5 M
South Sudan – 3.5 M
Southern Africa 2.9 M
Australia – 2.5 M
North India – 2.2 M
Tanzania – 2 M
TEC – 1.5 M
England – 1.0 M
Burundi -0.9 M
Central Africa – 0.9 M
Congo 0.5 M
Indian Ocean – 0.5 M
Pakistan 0.5 M
Britain, Ireland And North America between them make up about 3 M of a total active membership of about 52 M, ie about 6%.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglican_Communion
Ok so GSFA provinces do not include Nigeria, Kenya, South India, Southern Africa, Australia, North India, Tanzania, TEC (with seval Global South but not GSFA dioceses included), England, Burundi, Central Africa or Pakistan.
Glad you agree.
Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Central Africa — to clarify, are you saying these provinces are opposed to the GSFA? I am confused about your larger point.
Thanks David, but I would not give actual figures. It is far more complex. Having travelled in many provinces I am aware that there are always immense diversity of views everywhere you go. It is immensely complex to even say what is ‘conservative’. Ugandan campaigners for gender equality – going back to Kivengere – would regard themselves as entirely biblical. I am utterly sure Kivengere would have delighted in a woman as ABC. It would be entirely in line with his witness to ending misogyny. The division in African Anglicanism on sexuality is between those who seek increasing criminalisation of… Read more »
Could you kindly supply your evidence for “the latter” (oppose “equal marriage” — your English term, not theirs) interested in being in communion with TEC, which is not in the least “strongly disagreeing with gay marriage”? This seems like an effort to claim some kind of anecdotal “I know more than” the provinces in question know. I welcome your clarification. Otherwise it sounds a bit like an English effort to tell us something other than what the provinces themselves say. I too have some experience of “travelling in many provinces” and I would hesitate to speak above their heads. Kind… Read more »
I was combining the Gafcon (referred to in the previous post to my post) and GSFAC figures. Apologies that I didn’t not make that clear.
The estimates vary depending whether they are based on attendance or membership eg number of infant baptisms. The following assessment gives a percentage of 85% of the whole Anglican Communion belonging to Gafcon and GSFC. 75% seems to me to be reasonable if not an underestimate.
https://americananglican.org/what-portion-of-the-anglican-communion-does-gafcon-and-the-gsfa-represent/
The growth in these churches is truly phenomenal.
Thank you Adrian. We should not trust in numbers – they are alwys misleading. There are very basic questions to ask. Does a Primate turning up at a meeting mean support of the whole Province? Kenyan and Tanzanian bishops have consistently and consciously elected Primates who said they would not support GAFCON (they don’t really think about GSFA). A couple of Primates changed their tune. When it came to a next election they elected a non GAFCON primate. Bishop Emily Onyango (who was on the original GAFCON theological committee in 2008) illustrates that you cannot assume that a Primate speaks… Read more »
I doubt whether you speak for the BBC, you certainly don’t speak for the majority of the Anglican Communion or even a significant minority of the C of E. We can argue about exact numbers but the truth is the new Archbishop is out of touch with the people she is nominated to serve, safeguarding failures not withstanding. One wonders how?
Surely the role of the new Archbishop is as much to speak to the nation as it is to speak within?
Do we not live in times where the political parties have lost credibility and a prophetic voice is needed? It does not need to be a party political voice, but it can be a moral distinctive voice.
England needs a spiritual leader who will shepherd the Church of England. That’s got to be the ABC’s primary mission.
And those of us in the wider Anglican Communion who are not conservative evangelicals also have a voice, I believe. We may be a minority, but we also seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance and want to walk faithfully with Jesus. And there is some justification in the words of Jesus for believing that the largest crowd is not always right.
For those here who may not know – Phil Groves is one of the acknowledged authorities of the Global Anglican Church. He was a CMS Mission partner Tanzania and is fluent in Swahili. He served at the Anglican Communion Office for 10 years. He has attended two Lambeth Conferences, three Primates’ Meetings and four ACCs. He knows many of the bishops personally. He has a PhD on Partnership in the Anglican Communion. I always value seeking him out. His knowledge is encyclopedic, he knows what he is talking about, and he is a shrewd, gracious and wise observer.
Thanks so much for this reminder David. It is always good to have Phil’s input here, providing, as it does, unbiased fact over a long period.
The idea that we should shape the Communion according to the way that only conservatives in the Global South see it is a troubling one and needs to be resisted.
Thank You for this comment. It is informative and helpful in terms of evaluating comments back and forth. Much appreciated.
Or, as head of the Church of England, she could do her job and be just that: the head of the Church of England. Opposition to same-sex marriage runs at about 10% of the population in every age group under seventy, and a significant proportion of that will be Muslim and therefore not exactly relevant for the setting of the theological and moral stance of the Church of England. Amongst the segment of the population in scope for the Church of England (the Christian, the nominally Christian, the atheist and agnostic) same-sex marriage is a settled issue. For the head… Read more »
“Or, as head of the Church of England, she could do her job and be just that: the head of the Church of England.”
In a oner. Exactly.
May God bless her and give her wisdom and fortitude for the job ahead. The Church of England is in desperate need of rejuvenation and she might well be the best tonic on offer.
I pray for her.
PS. Do people here expect the safeguarding issues will not finally hurt her?
I confess to only now reading about the terrible suicide case. I should have expected the LGB reaction to be quite negative, but these are not circles I fully understand.
I’m pretty sure those issues will be a stumbling block for her. Many survivors are already up in arms at her appointment. And if journos start looking closely at the Fr Alan Griffith case and her role in it….
I did find it shocking. Especially the coroner’s report and conclusions.
Communion conservatives want Cantuar to stamp out innovations in other provinces. But Cantuar lacks that authority, as the provinces are entirely independent.
So demands for “order” and “unity” and “sound doctrine” cannot be enforced by the Communion or by any Instrument. Those who want a global magisterium will not find it here.
The sooner everyone grasps this fundamental fact of governance, the healthier the Communion will be.
Meanwhile, the presence of Communion members in a Church of England CNC was unnecessary, indeed improper, and raised false expectations. One wonders what was ever intended by it.
“One wonders what was ever intended by it.”
Indeed. It was a phony concoction, whose purpose was to appear — here comes the word — “inclusive.”
“Communion conservatives want Cantuar to stamp out innovations in other provinces. But Cantuar lacks that authority, as the provinces are entirely independent.” Indeed, but I suspect that GAFCON want the Archbishop of Canterbury to stamp out innovations in their _own_ province and, indeed, their own discese. Look at what their complaint basically is. They are upset about what is said by English archibishop whose authority barely runs to the end of their own dinner table but, in theory, runs from Penzance to Berwick on Tweed. But doesn’t, because they can’t do anything significant about doctrine or litergy without the agreement… Read more »
Look, I think it is fair to say 1) The CofE is struggling on all kinds of fronts, for basic survival, given attendance, aging and dearth of baptisms; this isn’t news 2) Welby already acknowledged that the Primates of the Communion really needn’t look to the See of Canterbury any longer, for these and other obvious reasons 3) this appointment doesn’t change any of that, and I’d venture that the CNC realizes this is so, so the appointment has nothing to do with the (now questionable) role vis-a-vis the Communion, and 4) the responses from Global South provinces simply register… Read more »
Here is the Statement just released by the ( new) Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, The Most Rev. Shane Parker. (Parker is the son of Irish parents.) https://anglicanjournal.com/new-archbishop-of-canterbury-personifies-thoughtful-christianity-at-heart-of-anglican-tradition-primate-says/ “I think the selection of Archbishop-designate Sarah Mullally is timely and inspired,” Parker said in an email to the Anglican Journal. “She is a highly respected and experienced leader and a wise, kind and decent human being. She is well-known and appreciated by many members of the Canadian House of Bishops, and has been a guest here as recently as last year. I believe she, in turn, has a sincere appreciation… Read more »
Quick follow up. If inclined to read the article reporting the congrats from the Cdn Primate, scroll down and read those from Chris Brittain re The new Archbishop on the safeguarding and sexuality issues in the C of E, and working in an age of social media. Brittain is Dean of Divinity and director of Anglican Studies, at Trinity College , TST, in T.O.
Are you playing the acronym game in reverse, Rod? 🙂
lol.as Dr. Evil would ask, ” too much ? “
I am old enough to remember a 1974 interview with Donald Coggan when he was appointed ABC at the age of 65. “Don’t you think that perhaps you will be regarded a something of a caretaker?” he was asked.
“Oh, do you really think so?” he replied. “How kind! I can’t imagine a better way of being regarded than as someone who will take care of the church.”
Now the same can be said of +Sarah. Prayers from New Zealand that she will be able to take good care of her new Diocese and of the wider church.
Wow! I remember the same interview and I think he went on to quote St Paul saying “Take care of the church”.
Yes, I too thought of that utterance by Coggan. I think he said something about ‘taking care’ much earlier in his Bradford enthronement sermon.
Quite amazing how little mainstream press interest there is in this. I am not finding much in the way of reporting or opinion pieces in the secular news. It would have been very different just 13 years ago.
The Times devoted a whole page to it yesterday, plus a leader. The BBC TV news reported on it, and the Ch 4 news mentioned it last night, in the context of the C of E and abuse. Dame Sarah refused to be interviewed by Ch 4 on Friday; they might have given her election (daft term for someone selected by a secret committee) more coverage.
Janet, unless I missed something on Friday, she has not yet been *elected*. The College of Canons of Canterbury Cathedral has to be convened for that to happen (and then Confirmation of Election has to happen for her legally to enter the post). I presume dates have been set for these things (well in advance of enthronement), but they have not yet happened, so she is currently Archbishop-designate, not -elect.
Indeed (see my similar comment). The dates for these other events are largely known and are included in our post of the announcement. The enthronement is (perhaps tentatively) set for 25 March next year/
Lack of coverage does not surprise me. Having a female ABC may be big deal for CofE, but the country as a whole is so well used to having women in top jobs that it is a damp squib.
Have to say that although there is no doubt that Cathy Newman would have given her a tough interview, it was not a good look for ABC (designate) to dodge it. The questions will not go away.
She has not yet been elected. At present, the Crown has accepted the advice given that she should be nominated to the see, and that is what has been announced. She is “archbishop-designate”. That advice comes via the Prime Minister (who is the constitutional adviser of the Crown) from the Crown Nominations Commission. The CNC is not a secret body — its membership and its remit are public — but its proceedings are confidential. In due course the Crown will give the College of Canons of Canterbury Cathedral permission to hold an election, and at the same time will formally… Read more »
Thanks for this clear outline of the process. I believe that the monarch does not attend but is represented by a senior royal, in recent years that has been the then Prince Charles. This is to prevent the monarch taking precedence over the new archbishop at their own enthronement in their cathedral church.
I hope that the Enthronment will not be ‘a major event’. There are obviously important reasons for it to seen as such, not least the important and significant fact of her being the first woman etc. In the current circumstances I would opt for as simple s liturgy as possible with a minimum of fuss and the opportunity for +Sarah’s personality and message to shine through. If that can be achieved without endless processions of the great and the good and the insertion of various bits and pieces just because someone thinks they ,’ought to be there’ then so much… Read more »
I watched the Runcie enthronement (not live) from Adelaide. A local TV guide announced the event as the Archbishop’s ‘environment’.
++ Coggan’s secretary typed ” enthornment” rather than “enthronement” in one document.
In addition to Simon’s informative list of events in the process of becoming Archbishop, there will presumably be a farewell service in St Paul’s Cathedral. This may be followed by a dinner/ reception at Guildhall for the great and the good.
There has been a move away from using the word Enthronement in Anglican circles and the words Installation or Inauguration of Ministry have been preferred words to describe the liturgical process of a Bishop beginning their ministry in their Diocese and to avoid monarchical connotations . In Some diocese they have even moved the Bishop knocking three times on the door of the Cathedral at the start of the Service as was the case in recent years in both Gloucester and Bath and Wells Dioceses. Back in 1975 Bishop Alaistair Haggart refused to knock three times at his installation as… Read more »
Once when a new Bishop of London was being enthroned at St Paul’s and duly knocked three times at the entrance, there was an unexpected delay in opening the doors. The Bishop turned to his chaplain and said ‘Have we come to the wrong house?’.
I agree that it has been reported, but there was a time when it would have been front page news.
Thanks all for your corrections and explanations.I would question whether the ‘election’, when it happens, is rightly so called, since there is only one candidate.
It is from one point of view a complete farce. Attempts were made to abolish the requirement for an election and confirmation of election in the early 80s but various Tory MPs voted to keep it.
There is no requirement to elect the Bishop of Sodor and Man. However, ++ York went to the Isle of Man to deliver the charge which would otherwise be given at the confirmation of election.
I am not sure about the requirements for the Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe.
The first meaning listed at the OED (and it’s not marked as “obsolete” in any way) is 1.a. The formal choosing of a person for an office, dignity, or position of any kind; usually by the votes of a constituent body. c1270. The quote from that year refers to — the chapter of Canterbury, so presumably an archiepiscopal election. So this is very specifically the earliest recorded meaning and still in use. c1270 Þe Eleccioun was i-maud in þe chapitle at Caunterburi. St. Edmund in Saints’ Lives (1887) 443 (This must have been the election of William Chiffenden, whose election… Read more »
Reuters, WSJ , CBC, CNN, NBC, Globe & Mail, South China Morning Post, etc. etc.
I’ve just read Ian Paul’s contribution. It’s full of references to ‘evangelical’ and hopes for an increasing number of evangelical bishops, including in London. Why? He also thinks the Five Guiding Principles are safe. I disagree and think they’ll be rescinded by 2030. Has there been any response from WATCH?
It is interesting to see how the Evangelicals and Gafcon seem interested only in sexual issues, which they seem to think are what the “apostolic faith” is really about. There is more than a little condescension a s they paint themselves as the true Christians. Meanwhile, Gafcon opjects to a female AOC and one suspects that evangelicals are not far behind. It seems that these “Christians” spend a great deal, in fact too much, time and energy thinking about sexual matters. And misogyny and homophobia are usually connected. It’s really about males who see their power eroding, since the world… Read more »
You are using the label evangelical too loosely – most evangelicals in the C of E support women’s ordination and many women clergy – including bishops -are evangelical. Increasing numbers of evangelicals support same sex partnerships.
I saw +Sarah in action as part of a wider team, holding together an intensely complicated and divided gathering of clerics a few years back. A couple of times I observed her quietly praying in a corner of the chapel in between events. She had a quiet but clear authority about her. There was something about +Sarah at that moment that convinced me that she would almost certainly be the choice of the CNC for the impossible role of ABC. I should have put some money on it, but happily I’m more into gambolling (probably the ADHD) than betting. Let’s… Read more »
https://survivingchurch.org/2025/10/04/what-does-the-nomination-of-bishop-mullally-to-canterbury-say-about-the-church-of-england/
This is an important, critical without being shrill, nuanced reaction to Sarah Mullally’s appointment.
On the face of it this looks like a rerun of the Welby scandal. if an Archbishop can’t look Channel 4 News in the eye and speak the truth on safeguarding issues facing the church, then either the nomination needs to be withdrawn or she needs to step back. Too much is at stake.
It’s worth reading Andrew Brown’s comments on the safeguarding scandal and what, if anything, could have been done at an earlier stage and by whom. The Channel 4 approach has real weaknesses in it that Brown highlights. I’m not seeking to exonerate the previous Archbishop but Cathy Newman may have seriously misunderstood some aspects of the tragic saga. It’s at: https://andrewbrown.substack.com/
I am slightly concerned that the media narrative will become that she is too frit (to use Mrs Thatcher’s Lincolnshire word) to face the media.
I don’t know if she took questions at the end of her address in Canterbury Cathedral. I am not aware that she is giving any other interviews.
Not every informed observer is so convinced by Cathy Newman still less that Channel 4 new is the best judge of who should be an ABC. https://substack.com/home/post/p-175343388
That’s the Andrew Brown article I referred to above. Three groups seem to come out of it much worse than the former Archbishop: the Iwerne network in Cambridge, some leaders at Winchester and the police. But it’s all very murky and a very long time ago.
On the contrary, as I read it, Andrew Brown’s article largely vindicates Winchester (meaning Winchester College) and the police with careful explanations why at the time of the events, not the clamour and rush to judgement by people in 2025 assuming that 2025 standards can be applied retrospectively to the conditions of the 1980s. As I have pointed out previously, Mr Makin’s terms of reference specifically instructed him not to make findings based on hindsight.
Point taken. But I think Andrew Brown has also pointed out that the criticisms of the Church of England and the Archbishop by Channel 4 did not seem to take into account the times that Church leaders did contact the police, without any action being taken, and subsequently contacted the relevant African bishops. I appreciate that without victims’ statements the police’s hands were also tied.
True, I am no journalist, but an attention grabbing headline including the words archbishop, rent boys and suicide may prove too hard to resist. Archbishop how do you respond? The thorough interview process would surely have been fully investigated this question, so perhaps we can relax knowing that there is really nothing to see here. Strange then that an interview request with Channel 4 News was apparently turned down. But it seems inevitable that this interview will happen sooner or later. This is the least the survivors deserve.
Yes, many pertinent points.
left the power brokers of the Church firmly in charge alongside a general culture of churchiness which had little appeal or attraction to the outsider.
This sentence stood out for me.
I may have got side-lined by issues of hair style, but the underlying issue is one of a prophet or conformist. I have no idea which she will turn out to be, but my wish is for a prophet.
My own prejudice is that someone who rises to the top of large organisations is likely to be a conformist, but I hope I am wrong.
Amused to see that Melanie McDonagh does not recognise Cardinal Pole as a genuine Catholic ABC.