First Female Archbishop of Canterbury Will be Installed Wednesday
History will be made when Sarah Mullally becomes the first female Archbishop of Canterbury on Wednesday. She will be installed at Canterbury Cathedral before 2,000 guests, including Prince William and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, according to Reuters.
The service for Mullally’s enthronement as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury will blend centuries-old tradition with global symbolism. She will formally seek admission by knocking on the cathedral’s west door, greeted by children. Prayers and readings in multiple languages, including Urdu, and African choruses will reflect the global reach of the Anglican Communion, her office said.
More than 100 guests will travel to Britain from provinces across 165 countries for the ceremony, which will seat Mullally in the Chair of St. Augustine, made from Purbeck marble in the early 13th century. St Augustine, who brought Christianity to early Anglo-Saxon England, became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in 597. “To be welcomed into the city and diocese of Canterbury is an immense privilege,” Mullally said.
Her appointment in October drew sharp criticism from Anglican churches in mostly African and Asian countries, which this month established a new council in a direct challenge to her leadership. The bloc, which had rejected Mullally’s predecessor Justin Welby’s leadership over same-sex blessings, opposes the ordination of women and greater inclusion of LGBTQ+ members.
Mullally, who previously served as England’s chief nursing officer, was ordained as a priest in 2002 and became one of the first women consecrated as a bishop in the Church of England in 2015. She has invited nurses and carers to the service, her office said. She inherits a Church of England facing decades of declining attendance and working to rebuild trust in its 16,000 parishes after historic safeguarding failures, one of which caused Welby’s resignation.
Nevertheless, the church remains woven into British life, running thousands of schools and overseeing charities and community projects. Britain’s monarch remains the Supreme Governor of the Church, a role dating back to the 16th-century Reformation.
–Alan Goforth
