A Woman Archbishop: Reflections

A Historic Moment

Watching the enthronement of the new Archbishop of Canterbury left me with both a sense of awe and the resignation of acceptance. When the last Archbishop resigned in November 2024, it did occur to me that there was a likelihood the next person appointed to the office might radically shift from the norm, a woman perhaps.

I stated then that I was not particularly ready for that kind of change when the Church of England had only begun appointing female bishops barely a decade ago. Yet, with my Pentecostal exposure, I was already familiar with women teaching from the pulpit and leading Christian ministries.

Tradition and Change

The traditions of the Church of England have a history, constancy, and stability that I felt should not be defined by speed, but by the gentle persuasion of clergy and laity alike towards necessary aims. Obviously, there have been insurmountable issues in certain provinces of the global Anglican Communion: the ordination of women priests, the issue of sexual orientation, and the blessing of same-sex unions. The conversation must continue, even if agreement remains distant.

Generally, I have accepted the ministry of women in the Church of England, as canons, priests, archdeacons, and bishops. I also recognise that at ordinations, a separate service attends to those who do not accept the ministry of women, with a flying bishop of that persuasion presiding in that setting. I must confess, I have only seen female bishops in the media; I have never met one or been in a service with them in attendance.

The Ceremony Itself

The enthronement service brought the spectacle of religion, politics, and ceremony, along with the pomp and pageantry that the English excel at exhibiting. Representatives of all the different religious communities attended, including the Bishop of Ebbsfleet, one of those flying bishops of a different persuasion mentioned earlier.

For all the acclamation and pronouncements, I was surprised that the ceremony included no laying on of hands. It was more the dainty holding of a hand.

Moving Forward

This process was one in which I had no influence, apart from individually deciding whether appointing a woman as Archbishop sat well with my belief system. There was enough precedent in other provinces to suggest this would settle down into a kind of détente that demands both dexterity and political nous from the office holder.

I know I won't be rushing out to a service presided over by The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Dame Sarah Mullally DBE, yet I wish her term is blessed with success and the reconciliation of the church in whatever way possible. May we, in our misgivings or concerns, see the grace and beauty in what we as mere mortals fail to appreciate in the growth of the church.

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England: We have a new Archbishop of Canterbury, she's a woman

The lots of conversion

When Archbishop Justin Welby, the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury resigned his archbishopric with an announcement late last year, I confided in my best friend about how I might not be ready for a female to succeed him, but I had a premonition that the direction of travel was towards something unprecedented.

The selection, election, and appointment of the Archbishop of Canterbury as the spiritual head of the Anglican Communion closely resembles the story in Acts of the Apostles, where the disciples cast lots for Apostle Matthias, about whom we hear little after that event. In contrast, Saul of Tarsus’s conversion on the road to Damascus, from Pharisee to Apostle Paul, who authored about half of the New Testament, is a remarkable transformation.

The politics of enthronement

This nomination is both an administrative process conducted by the Crown Nominations Commission and a political one, where the Prime Minister, who could easily be non-Christian, presents the nominated candidate to the monarch, the titular head of the Church of England, for approval.

The enthronement of the Archbishop of Canterbury follows a legal Confirmation of Election, after which the individual legally becomes the Archbishop, followed by the Installation service at Canterbury Cathedral, signalling the start of their tenure.

Yesterday, the Bishop of London, The Right Reverend and Right Honourable Dame Sarah Mullally DBE, was appointed as the archbishop designate, to be installed as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury in March 2026.

A precedent in perspective

It was not until 1994 that women were ordained to the priesthood within the Church of England; this progressive move had already begun in some other Anglican provinces globally.

The first female bishops in the Church of England were elected in 2014, and by early 2026, we will have the first female Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All England and Metropolitan. [Wikipedia: List of female Anglican bishops]

I do not consider myself particularly conservative within the Anglican Communion. I am encouraged by the progress in ordaining women, improvements in safeguarding, and the church’s embrace of a broader understanding of spirituality across different sexual orientations, including even blessing same-sex relationships where churches are receptive.

Faith, however, is a journey with no final destination; only a continuous pursuit to understand more of God’s love and mercy, and how His Spirit leads and inspires the church to become more Christ-like.

The frayed bonds of unity

From a human perspective, I am uncertain whether, amidst ongoing disagreements about women’s ordination, even within my own diocese portends toward uniting the Anglican Communion.

Typically, two sets of ordinations occur: one for those who accept women bishops, and then a visiting bishop, representing those who do not, comes to ordain those of that persuasion. The debate over same-sex relationships keeps the church divided doctrinally and morally, yet this exists in a fragile détente.

Personally, I remain unsure whether the church has gained enough stature to fully weather these changes. It’s only been eleven years since the first female bishop was appointed. But this makes one reflect on the well-known African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”

The journey of persuasion

The church has come quite far, whether it is now the time to go fast, leaves me in a quandary of my Anglican faith, something that might have to grow on me, because the hierarchy in this selection seems way ahead of my current conviction.

While I have fleeting thoughts about exploring Catholicism, I have yet to find a way or a path to reach the gates of the Vatican and kiss the fisherman’s ring of the Bishop of Rome.

Nevertheless, there is work to be done; much like with other Church of England initiatives, to pause on some of these advances and draw into full fellowship those left unpersuaded of these fast forms of modernisation and progressiveness that we might all travel far together for the amazing aims of the gospel.

Ultimately, we pray that the ministry of the new Archbishop of Canterbury be blessed with purpose, insight, and unity within the church. An essential truth about our humanity is that we all struggle and seek to be persuaded beyond our narrow perspectives.

The sketch from Yes, Prime Minister, offers an intriguing perspective on the Church of England.

Choosing a New Bishop | Yes, Prime Minister | BBC Comedy Greats [YouTube]

References

Wikipedia: Archbishop of Canterbury

Wikipedia: Ordination of women in the Anglican Communion

The Church of England: Appointing a new Archbishop of Canterbury

The Church of England: Members of the Canterbury Crown Nominations Commission

Alas! The Patron Saint of Perfidious Albion

The saint of faraway

Friday, the 23^rd of April was Saint George’s Day, St George is the patron saint of Bulgaria, England, Georgia, Portugal, Cáceres, Alcoy, Aragon and Catalonia. Now, St George never visited England, he was born in what is modern-day Turkey and died modern-day Israel. However, his fame and legend spread wide along with the myths and mythologies of slaying dragons. [English Heritage: Saint George]

At church on Sunday, it being the 4^th Sunday of Easter we also celebrated the feast of St George and it was quite a very English-themed service in the Church of England, one I cannot recall ever experiencing before. It did not dawn on me when the first hymn included the line, ‘O help us, Helper of Saint George’ that we were at a feast. [Hymnal 162: Lord God of Hosts, within whose hand]

The setting for circumstance

The sermon did make some references to St George, but I also noticed that we did not have the sole cantor at the front of the congregation, but the choir was in the quire and the organist was playing the main pipe organ rather than the grand piano set to the right of the altar facing us.

However, after the Communion, we were full jingoistic and nationalistic when the choir went full throttle with Jerusalem, not that we were at the Last Night of the Proms, and until I saw the words in the pamphlet, I really had no idea what it was all about, yet this is the unofficial anthem of England. And where Jerusalem is mentioned in what was originally a poem by William Blake before it was put to song is in the third line of the 2 and 4 verse, though as a hymn we are presented with 2 long verses. [Wikipedia: And did those feet in ancient time]

Jerusalem, we await thee

And how I would have loved to sing the lines, ‘And was Jerusalem builded here, among these dark satanic mills?’ Which in the time of William Blake (1757 – 1827) lived and wrote the poem in 1804 would have been a picture of Industrial Revolution England and the flourishing hope of the final lines, ‘till we have built Jerusalem, in England's green and pleasant land.’ Which today still remains a prayer yet unfulfilled even with the promise of the sunlit uplands of Brexit. [Hymnal 488: And did those feet in ancient time]

And so, the Sung Eucharist ended with some British pride as we rose to the National Anthem, again, only sung by the choir and probably one republican who remained seated in probably a demonstration of defiance to the Queen who clocked 95 2 days before. The only thing I probably did not notice at all was the flag of Saint George. I might have forgotten to write this, then it occurred to me, it was an important and symbolic celebration. I sure have been more aware of its significance.

Notes:

"Perfidious Albion" is a pejorative phrase used within the context of international relations diplomacy to refer to acts of diplomatic sleights, duplicity, treachery and hence infidelity (with respect to perceived promises made to or alliances formed with other nation states) by monarchs or governments of the United Kingdom (or England prior to 1707) in their pursuit of self-interest. [Wikipedia] I can assure you, it remains true today if you consider the leaders we have.

Palm Sunday: Clean hands are of the conscience

Common service in the church

Probably something I have not taken due notice of before, on Sunday mornings, I will usually wake up to a live church service on BBC Radio 4, the ones from the Church of England, I am more attuned to. The time did Spring Forward to British Summer Time, though it was more like British Raining Time, this morning.

However, today, Palm Sunday, I recall that when the readings came up in church, it was like a déjà vu moment, I very remembered I had heard it before, recently too. At church, with the new normal of no congregational singing, a cantor doing most of the musical stuff in front of the congregation or in the choir, much of what we do is sitting down apart during the greeting and certain congregational recitations.

The gospel in song

The children without a Sunday School with preoccupied and distracted by toys, puzzles, or their colouring books. The gospel was first read to announce the triumphal entry of the Lord into Jerusalem on the ass of a colt the second gospel was of the Passion, the first 54 verses of 66, of the 27^th chapter in the Gospel according to St Matthew, sung by the cantor and a laudable feat at the best of times. [Bible Gateway: Matthew 27:1-54 (NRSVA)]

As I have been listening to books on Audible rather than reading them on Kindle, there was a sense of how the words we heard seems to take on life as you read the words being sung to our hearing. I could not help but see the level of human wickedness that greeted the desire for the chief priests of that day to get rid of Jesus Christ.

A window on religious wickedness

When Judas Iscariot realised what his betrayal of Jesus Christ would lead to, he went to return the 30 pieces of silver the chief priests and elders gave him for his dastardly deed and they indifferently said, “What is that to us?”, on picking up the money he threw down in the temple, they deliberated amongst themselves agreeing it was “the price of blood”, bought a piece of land with it, not for anything but the burial of strangers to whom they will have no duty, obligation, or responsibility and called it the field of blood.

They agitated the crowd to prefer a murderer and thief over Jesus Christ and even Pontius Pilate when he made to wash his hands off the matter, recognised that they were against Jesus out of envy. Just the thought that someone bringing succour, healing and peace to their people making them somewhat irrelevant as they could never rise to minister to those needs was their all-consuming passion to destroy Jesus, he had to be killed.

Culpable in every way

I could not entirely absolve Pontius Pilate, his wife warned him not to have anything to do with Jesus, he had the power and authority to set Jesus free, much as whatever the decision he took would determine the fate of Jesus Christ in that place.

Out of fear for his position and hoping to avoid an insurrection, all acts of self-preservation of status and person, he delivered Jesus to them and the ritual of crucifixion started with scourging and mockery, the act of capital punishment will also be carried out by those under his command, just as he decided to place a notice at the head of the cross declaring Jesus, the kind of the Jews.

It all made for sombre reflection; the Holy Week has begun. In these pandemic times, as we sanitise our hands to prevent disease and contamination, Pontius Pilate would never have been able to wash his hands clean of the matter that underpins the force of Christianity, the cross and the consequent resurrection of Jesus Christ. Clean hands are first of the conscience and the decisions we make long before symbolically washing them in a bowl of water would mean anything.

Thought Picnic: My old ways in new church services

A church for Sunday

Much as I have the tendency to seek out an Evangelical church with a Pentecostal leaning, I have many times before harked back at my Church of England, Anglican roots.

The order or service, the hymns, the read prayers, the confessions of the Lord’s Prayer, the Apostles’ Creed, the solemnity and the ceremony that accompanies Sung Eucharist still excites me.

Spending the weekend in Manchester, after searching for church where I could give thanks, I decided on the Manchester Cathedral. At the very least, because I am a confirmed Anglican, I can also partake in the Holy Communion.

Books and pamphlets

I arrived just as the choir were doing a processional hymn and I was offered a hard-covered green book and two pamphlets.

It took a while for me to catch on about what I needed to do to follow the service. I thought the book was a bible and the hymns were in the pamphlet, but then I realised it was the other way round. It appears the laity are allowed to participate in the singing and recitations but the bible and its interpretation is the job of the clergy.

A modern-day version of the Levitical priesthood, at least in the church setting. However, the readings between Isaiah and Matthew heralded the coming of Jesus Christ and it did not occur to me until this morning that Galilee was of the Gentiles and not of the Jews, much as it might have had a significant Jewish population.

The old and new

As we service progressed, I found that my knowledge was based on the Book of Common Prayer (1662) but the recitations were based on Common Worship (2000), I suddenly realised I am quite old school, Old English, cut from Ancient and Modern practice. Christ! I was confirmed 33 years ago.

It appears my ‘thou helpeth me as I prayeth to thee, O God’ was no more the vernacular, where have I been all this time as the Church of England moved on?

At Communion, I did not drink from the cup, rather, I dipped my wafer in the wine, this I learnt from the fear of catching colds or flus, how we have been seized upon but such modern ideas.

Water and tea

At the end of the service, I join the congregation for tea and then made conversation with a lady who happened to walk in with a watering can in one hand and a cup of tea in the other.

Mischievously, I quipped about how unusual that combination was as she watered the flowers that should have gone into the nave but for constraints of time before the service.

She had the office of the Head of Flowers and to me that was just as much a calling and ministry as any in the church. That is something I miss about church when I was in Amsterdam and in London when I attended C3 Church, there was always something to get involved in, the ushering or the cleaning up was always a pleasure.

For convenience of travel in London, I recently started attending Hillsong London that meets at the Dominion Theatre, which offers the choice of one of four services on Sunday, though, I think I would just find a church to attend on Sunday and critically, it must reflect the community in which it is set.

Academic theologians creating Islamic disquiet

The Purview and the voice

The Archbishop of Canterbury and Pope Benedict XVI are superb intellectuals and formidable theologians – it would be far from me to suggest with my little learning and experience the ability advice on any matter that decides to offer an additional erudite perspective on their pronouncements.

However, I can recall that when the Pope gave an academic lecture at Regensburg University in September 2006 entitled Faith, Reason and the University: Memories and Reflections; he touched on a topic that should probably entertain the purview of the learned but not the voice of the powerful.

Debate and reason

There, he alluded to the seventh conversation between a Byzantine Emperor and a Persian scholar on the subject of the truth of Christianity and Islam.

Emperor Manuel II Paleologus said “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”

This was a conversation recorded in the 14^th Century and I am sure the Persian scholar would have reasoned intelligently and probably answered with views and ideas that validate Islam and Muhammad positively whilst trying to broaden the view of the Emperor to an enlightened perspective of Islam.

Unfortunately, very few would have taken time to put this all in context of the 14^th Century conversation or the academic lecture of the 21^st Century.

Whilst that question or statement should have offered the opportunity for those most concerned to reflect and offer a “gospel” of Mohammedanism that makes that view insignificant, many rose to the gathering of the mob and gave credence to that contention.

Stirring troubled waters

The wisdom of the Pope in giving voice to a latent view of the violence of Islam is still a matter for debate and history; in the end, he was able to placate the offended and make peace with those who mattered.

Lessons should have been learnt from the fact that Christian leaders are better suited to commentary on their areas of specialisation than on their appreciation, understanding or even ignorance of other religions where they hold no offices.

For Sharia Law relevance

Whoever the advisors of the Archbishop of Canterbury are, they surely must be pensioned off because in an academic lecture - Civil and Religious Law in England: a religious perspective - delivered to lawyers in London preceded by an interview (BBC audio) on Radio 4’s World at One the archbishop did touch on viewing aspects of Islamic law in a favourable light but it has created another set of unintended consequences.

It is quite revealing not a squeak has been heard from any of the major Anglican Archbishops in England in support of Dr. Rowan Williams, he might just weather this storm with the voice of support from the Presbyterian Prime Minister .

Considering the furore this has created, this great knight of the Anglican faith might just fall on his sword.

Allowances of the law for conscience

One cannot dispute the fact that certain aspects of conscience or conscientious inclinations by reason of religious belief are given the benefit of exception from legal duress in civil law.

However, the primacy of civil law must remain when a conflict arises that either removes the premise of equality before the law or religious law allows for illegal or unlawful actions.

Sharia law might be used to settle disputes for adherents of that faith but in cases where the female sex does not have equal access, evidence and representation before those courts; it becomes incompatible to existence in broad Western democratic societies as the interviewer stated when chatting to the Archbishop.

The popular Sharia view is scary

Obviously, the concern that has drawn the greatest opprobrium has been the vision of the more dramatic Sharia law judgements that include floggings, amputations and beheadings – these definitely have no place in the Western criminal justice systems, they should for all intents and purposes of a modern civilised world be consigned to history.

Meting out those punishments are considered deterrents that instil fear in the general populace acting as an opiate of contrived civility though they are as cruel and as barbaric as anything dragged out of the darkest ages.

Failed to convey understanding

Dr. Williams whilst understanding these complexities in his interview failed to demonstrate those differences clearly enough for people to appreciate the facts and temper their reactions to the possible visitation of the presumed evils of Sharia on our liberal Western comforts.

As one commentator stated on one of the Daily Telegraph columns; it is amazing that a man whose job it is to be clearly understood failed to convey understanding that he has become so misunderstood and left many seriously displeased.

Like smart person knows well to stick to their own knitting; the leaders of the church should stick to matters that concern the church and stop peering over the wall into mosques with academic lectures that get delivered to select audiences but create an unedifying rumpus amongst the masses.

If he survives, the grace of God with the munificence of Allah does abound towards him, he might find mercy but he would need to do a lot for the forgiveness of men. I, for one can see their points but the wisdom in giving voice to issues that can be so easily hijacked, misinterpreted and manipulated for unintended ulterior ends leaves one rather suspect of their good judgement.

The Archbishop of CounterBury

The Bishop's bad move

The furore over the Archbishop of Canterbury's comments about the inevitability of Sharia Law in the UK is gathering considerable moss and it might just roll over the man who started it off.

Now we have to deal with clarifications and re-interpretations of what the archbishop said so that we do not all get in a tizzy about the balance of conservative adherence to the role of the Church in the State and the development of liberal contemporary ideas from the headship of the church that questions the basis of our faith.

One only has to read the synopsis of the Bishop's Gambit episode of Yes, Prime Minister to realise that the appointment of the Archbishop of Canterbury is probably more a political than a spiritually lead anointing.

The Prime Minister of the day recommends names to the Queen who is the defender of the Faith on the advise of the Church of England and influenced by political and religious leaders.

Between adherents and atheists

It was interesting to note that Sir Humphrey Appleby argued that the government had to keep a balance of bishops in the Church between those who believed in God and those who were agnostic bordering on atheists.

The problem is, unlike the papacy, this position is only available to archbishops in England, and if any ethnic minority of the larger representation of the church in Africa were to assume that position, they would have to lead diocesan archbishoprics in England.

The greater risk is to find a heretic or an apostate leading the Church.

In a time when the Anglican Communion worldwide is undergoing the turmoil of schism regarding the ordination of woman bishops and the acceptance of homosexual clergy, it beggars belief that the Archbishop of Canterbury would suggest that the cradle of Anglican Christianity, flawed as its inception might be would suggest that Sharia law be juxtaposed with civil law in the UK.

This is England NOT Arabia

Indeed, The UK is now accommodating larger numbers of Islamic faith adherents, but they very well recognise that the UK is not an outpost of Arabia, we all have a clear equality before the law in terms of civil law.

One is however not encouraged when even in the Netherlands, a Calvinist/Catholic entity that it once was, not one person in my office challenged the view that Easter was 27 days after Ash Wednesday - maybe, it is indeed time to allow all these alien cultures and traditions to subsume our traditional identities.

The need for conservatism

This encroachment however, should never be encouraged by the leader of the Church, having veered into Pentecostalism; I still hold my High Church Anglican upbringing dear and would rather be at a traditional Christmas service than the raucous cacophony of a happy-clappy bazaar.

Before long, with this man at the helm, would allow the Anglican Book of Common Prayer to be infiltrated with references to Quranic Suras and worse. Gone are the days when the tower served its function, then it was believers in God would were executed, it is time for apostates, just as you have in Sharia Law to be decapitated forthwith.

In other words, maybe, it is time for Dr. Rowan Williams to vacate his office and seek the counsel that returns him to the core tenets of the Faith.

He is acknowledged as a formidable theologian but cannot continue to counter our beliefs and bury the faith, erudite and liberal as his thinking might be.