New Bishop of London ‘opens door for woman at Canterbury’
THE new Bishop of London could pave the way for a female archbishop of Canterbury, campaigners have said.
Supporters have celebrated the appointment of the Rt Rev Sarah Mullally, currently Bishop of Crediton, to the third-most senior role in the Church of England.
The surprise appointment is a controversial one in a diocese divided over the issue of women’s ordination.
The previous incumbent, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres, ordained neither male nor female priests in a concession to conservatives who opposed the ordination of women, and a female successor was widely considered unlikely.
Announcing her appointment, Bishop Mullally was conciliatory towards those who opposed it.
“I am aware that for some the appointment of a woman as a bishop will be difficult. I am very respectful of those who for theological reasons cannot accept my role as a priest or as a bishop,” she said.
She admitted that her appointment had been a “surprise” to some, adding “I would probably share some of that surprise.”
It is understood that members of the diocese who do not believe in women’s ordination will likely be ordained instead by the bishops of Fulham and Maidstone.
Commenting on the appointment, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, said: “As one of the first women consecrated as a bishop in the Church of England, she has not only blazed a trail for others but lived out the principles of mutual flourishing and acceptance, which I know will continue to bear fruit in London.”
Campaign group Women and the Church, which was founded in 1996 to advocate for women’s leadership, celebrated the appointment.
“Perhaps those who were thinking ‘[a woman will] never be an archbishop’ are now thinking that all things are possible,” said the Rev Jody Stowell, the spokesman for the group. “This has been a very clear marker for the direction of travel of the Church in terms of wanting to have full gender equality.”
However, conservative groups said the appointment would result in a “deeper impairment of communion”.
A statement from Forward in Faith, which opposes women’s ministry, said: “We remain committed to maintaining the highest degree of communion that is still possible in these changed circumstances, while being realistic about its limits.”
The statement, signed by the Bishop of Wakefield, the Rt Rev Tony Robinson, added that there had been “numerous appointments of women as bishops and archdeacons, but only one new appointment of a traditional catholic”.
Last week one of the largest churches
in the diocese threatened to split from the Church of England if the next bishop had a liberal view on sexuality.
The rector at St Helen’s Bishopsgate, the Rev William Taylor, said in a sermon that his first question to the new bishop would be whether they are “prepared to openly declare as sin what God calls sin”.
A spokesperson for the Church of England said: “The nomination of Bishop Sarah Mullally as Bishop of London shows powerfully that the Church of England is open to all.”
A trained cancer nurse, Bishop Mullally rose to become chief nursing officer for England and was made a dame for services to nursing in 2005, before becoming a priest in 2006.