First Female Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally

For the first time in the history of the Church of England, the new archbishop of Canterbury is a woman, Sarah Mullally.

The new archbishop is a former cancer nurse who became a priest at the age of 40. Now, at the age of 63, she is the head of the Church of England and the spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

During her first sermon as archbishop, she said, “We walk with God – trusting that God walks with us. Trusting that – in all that we face, in the sorrow and the challenges as much as in the joy and the delight – we do not walk alone.”

Archbishop Mullally Ceremony

The ceremony at Canterbury Cathedral was attended by Princess Catherine, Prince William, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and representatives from 42 churches that makes up the Anglican Communion.

In a nod to the historic appointment, the ceremony was held on the Feast of the Annunciation, which marks the moment Mary was told she was chosen to be the mother of Jesus. A day the church celebrates “one of the great women of the Bible and thinks about how we can respond to God’s call.”

The celebration marks a major milestone in 597 when  the pope sent St. Augustine to Britain to convert the people to Christianity, and is now recognized at the first archbishop of Canterbury. The English church broke away from the Roman Catholic Church is the 1530s, during the reign of King Henry VIII.

The first female priest was ordained in 1994 and the first female bishop in 2015.

State of the Anglican Communion

Mullally enters her role as archbishop during a difficult time for the Church of England and the Anglican Communion. Members are deeply divided over issues like the role of women, and the treatment of those in the LGBTQ+ people.

Mullally will also have to deal with the concerns the church has failed to stop the sexual abuse scandals.

She replaced Archbishop Justin Welby who resigned in November 2024 after being criticized for failing to tell police about allegations of physical and sexual abuse by a volunteer at a church-affiliated summer camp.

Earlier this week, during an interview with BBC, Mullally said the church was “seeking to become more trauma informed, listening to survivors and victims of abuse” and “light should be shone on all our actions, and the more senior we are, the more light should be shone.”

During her sermon, the new archbishop stated she has “such hope” for the church and considered ways she saw God in action.

“The church, through the ordinary lives of its people, contains so many extraordinary acts of love. God’s people, offering a listening ear, a word of encouragement, or prayer for healing; offering food and shelter, sanctuary and welcome; in a world that so often seeks to divide us, tables to sit at and conversations to be shared.”

Sarah Mullally

The new archbishop is married with two adult children. She was born in 1962 in Woking, which is southwest of London.

She attended school locally and was a nurse in Britain’s National Health Service until named chief nursing officer for England when she was 37 years old. She is the youngest person ever to hold the position. While working, she began studying for ministry.

In 2015, Mullally was named a bishop and the fourth woman in the Church of England to do so. Three years later, she was named bishop of London, which is one of the most prominent positions in the church.

Sources:

NPR: For the first time in more than 1,400 years, Church of England gets a woman leader
Episcopal News Service: Sermon text: Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally preaches at her installation
AP News: Cancer nurse turned archbishop celebrates election as first woman to lead Church of England

Featured Image Courtesy of Anita Gould’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License