Where the new Archbishop of Canterbury stands on same-sex marriage
Damaged by recent events, the Church of England has entered a new era. The appointment of Dame Sarah Mullally as the first female archbishop of Canterbury is momentous. But Mullally has a huge challenge ahead of him in healing the wounds afflicting his church. Restoring trust in the church’s senior leadership and preventing the church from splintering on sexuality and gender issues will be high on his agenda.
Mullally’s appointment comes on the heels of a period of crisis in the church. Justin Welby, the former archbishop of Canterbury, was forced to resign after it was revealed how he and other senior church leaders handled historic cases of child abuse.
Mullally made clear that his first task would be to restore confidence in the church’s senior management and safeguarding processes: “My commitment as archbishop will be to ensure that we continue to listen to survivors, care for the vulnerable, and foster a culture of safety and well-being for all.”
As the first female archbishop of Canterbury, Mullally faces unique challenges. Mullally, England’s former chief nursing officer, was one of the first women to become senior bishop in a diocese when she was made bishop of London in 2018. While many in the Church of England welcome female priests and bishops, some – particularly in the traditionalist Evangelical and Catholic wings of the church – continue to oppose the ordination of women.
Mullally’s role in guiding the global Anglican family is also complicated by the fact that most member churches do not accept female bishops and priests. Senior Anglican leaders in Africa and Asia openly criticized her appointment, both because she is a woman and because of her views on same-sex marriage.
As Mullally tries to build bridges with those who oppose female priests and bishops and therefore deny him the right to hold the office of archbishop, he will have to reassure them that the church can still provide adequate supplies.
Leadership culture
In addition to restoring trust in the church’s conservation processes, Mullally also needs to heal divisions in the church’s hierarchy over leadership culture. In the weeks before Welby’s resignation, both he and the archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, were accused of using “coercive language” by the bishop of Newcastle, Helen-Ann Hartley.
According to Hartley, both archbishops showed “a complete lack of awareness of how power dynamics operate in church life.” Mullally is now in a position to promote reconciliation within the church hierarchy and lead it in a way that promotes mutual respect and accountability.
About the author
William Crozier is Duns Scotus Assistant Professor of Franciscan Studies at Durham University.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read original article.
Mullally should also encourage more people to join the priesthood, especially those in their under 40s. The key will be to attract new vocations not only to the church system, but also to “non-salaried” forms of ministry (priests doing ordinary secular work while helping out in local churches). Mullally may have a unique advantage in this regard, given that she was a non-salaried priest before resigning as matron.
While church attendance has generally declined in recent years, this trend has reversed somewhat in the last few years. The number of people regularly attending Sunday services increased from 574,000 in 2023 to approximately 582,000 in 2024. Mullally’s task will be to foster this growth while finding new ways to communicate with a radically changing society.
gay marriage
Currently, the Church of England does not perform same-sex marriages and does not allow clergy to perform them. But in 2017, she launched Living with Love and Faith, a project to “listen, learn, and respond to changing views” on gender, marriage, relationships, and sexual identity.
In light of this, the Synod of Bishops, one of the church’s main governing systems, voted in 2023 to allow clergy to offer blessings for same-sex couples. Mullally was one of the bishops who voted for this move.
Many in the church, including several bishops, are pushing for the church to go further and allow same-sex marriages.
A 2023 survey of clergy by The Times found that 49.2% of Church of England clergy would be willing to hold same-sex weddings. But others oppose any change in current doctrine, arguing that such a move would be contrary to both the Bible and tradition.
How Mullally, as archbishop, guides the church on this issue will be one of the defining features of his tenure. But he cannot change church doctrine. Only the General Synod, the chief governing body of the church, has the authority to do this.
The issue is further complicated by the fact that, as the new archbishop of Canterbury, Mullally is also the spiritual leader of the global Anglican congregation of 85 million people.
The Anglican communion, present in 165 countries, consists of 42 member churches. Some of these, including the Scottish and Canadian Episcopal Churches, already allow same-sex marriage. But others disagree. Rwandan archbishop Laurent Mbanda said Mullally “has repeatedly promoted unbiblical and revisionist teachings on marriage and sexual morality.”
If the Church of England, the “mother church” of the Anglican communion, moves towards same-sex marriage during Mullally’s term in office, it is possible that the already deeply divided Anglican communion will be irreversibly torn apart.
