New Archbishop of Canterbury Further Fractures a Fragile Anglican Communion

Dame Sarah Mullally, the current bishop of London, is the new Archbishop of Canterbury designate. This is a landmark appointment, as she will be the first female Archbishop in the Church of England, often called “mother church” of the worldwide Anglican Communion (estimated to be around 85 million to 100 million members). It comes after a nearly year-long process of “discernment” by the Crown Nominations Commission, chaired by the former head of the security service (MI5), Lord Evans of Weardale.

This story briefly made the news, but was nowhere to be found on the BBC News website homepage (more than 50 top stories) when I checked again 24 hours later. Will her tenure be as instantly forgettable? Or does it presage further troubles ahead for the embattled Anglican world?

Reactions to the Appointment

The initial response has been predictably mixed. Some have rejoiced to see a woman appointed to this historic role. Theological liberals have welcomed the elevation of someone known to support progressive theological positions.

However, a comunique from the chairman of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (GAFCON) Primates Council said that global Anglicans received the news with sorrow and that it left them abandoned. Representing the vast majority of the Communion, these primates no longer recognize the leadership of Canterbury “due to the failure of successive Archbishops of Canterbury to guard the faith.” The Council went on to say that “the majority of the Anglican Communion still believes that the Bible requires a male-only episcopacy,” and Mullally’s support for the revisionist position on same-sex marriage in the Church of England means she has failed to uphold her consecration vows (to hold, teach, and defend the “doctrine of the Christian faith as the Church of England has received it”).

Similar lament came from the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches. Australian Anglicans have called it a “disappointing decision” and in England, Church Society said that “we need a change of direction, not just of sex” and lamented that this was the third consecutive appointment to Canterbury of someone who does not uphold the church’s teaching on marriage and sexuality. Many in the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA) have been quick to remind the world that they have never been in communion with Canterbury.

While she has opposed assisted suicide, the new Archbishop seems to be pro-choice as well as pro-gay blessings. She’s not a theologian or known as a gifted preacher. And she may well have certain safeguarding failures to account for on her watch in London according to many observers. All this does not bode well in a post-Welby world, and looks set to lead to further fracturing of the already fragile global communion.

Who Is Sarah Mullally?

Mullally, born in 1962, began her professional life in nursing, and rose to become the chief nursing officer in the UK’s National Health Service (the youngest person ever appointed to that role). She was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her services to nursing and midwifery. After this distinguished nursing career, she trained for ordained ministry at the South East Institute of Theological Education, which provided part-time, non-residential ministerial formation for those ordained later in life.

Her early ministry was in south London, first as a curate in Battersea Fields and then as team rector of Sutton. In 2012 she was appointed canon residentiary and treasurer of Salisbury Cathedral, before becoming Suffragan Bishop of Crediton (in the South West of England) in 2015. Three years later she was translated to London, becoming the first woman to hold that historic see and, from 2019, dean of Her/His Majesty’s Chapels Royal. Honored with several doctorates, Mullally will be officially “enthroned” next year, bringing to the office experience from both health-care leadership and senior roles within the Church of England. While for some this makes her a consummate and pragmatic civil servant, others have criticized her as “the lanyard class archbishop” and “the pure distilled essence of everything wrong with the Church of England.”

What Lies Ahead for Anglicans?

Mullally will be the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury since Augustine of Canterbury landed in England on a mission from Rome in the year 597. She follows in the footsteps of Anselm, Thomas Becket, Thomas Cranmer, and other distinguished former Archbishops. Not all of her predecessors were gospel-hearted preachers, reformers, or unifiers of the church. One was killed during the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381. Archbishop Laud (1633-1645) was executed after playing a polarizing role in the outbreak of the British civil wars. And Gilbert Sheldon (1663-1677) oversaw the persecution and marginalization of Puritans after the Restoration of the monarchy. How will history characterize the legacy of the first female primate of All England?

The bishop of Ebbsfleet, who looks after conservative evangelicals in the Church of England (and is severely overworked because of the flourishing nature of this constituency), has pointed out the challenges this appointment creates for those with complementarian convictions. Having worked with Mullally in London, however, he points out that she “has a long track record of gracious engagement, and real understanding of the particular theological convictions we hold,” and has no doubt this will continue. He will need to seek alternative spiritual oversight for his own role, however, now that the Archbishop is to be a woman.

The biggest challenge for the new Archbishop is the crisis of trust and credibility she faces. She has led the way in an attempt to institutionally gaslight the entire church, claiming that she and other revisionist bishops are not changing the doctrine of the church on marriage and sexuality, even while they attempt the most radical change to Church of England teaching and practice for 500 years. This has led to the collapse of confidence in Canterbury around the world and a severe split not just in General Synod but in every parish and chapel in the land.

Whether Mullally will have the ability to heal these deep rifts or not, remains to be seen. I am hopeful (because Jesus reigns!), but not optimistic. To use Augustus Toplady’s phrase: she will certainly have our prayers, but her errors will have our opposition also.