Judging by my social media and news feed, not everyone seems to be passionate about the alternative of Sarah Mullally as the brand new Archbishop of Canterbury. Or possibly – outside church circles – even cares.
But personally, a few weeks on from the announcement made within the grandeur of Canterbury Cathedral, I’ve made a choice to be optimistic.
Critics have identified that the primary female archbishop won’t be welcomed by those churches – on this country and overseas – who cannot accept women as priests, let alone bishops or archbishops.
Others have drawn attention to safeguarding problems in her current diocese of London and these concerns should be taken seriously. Some have questioned her age, at 63, and that she’s going to should retire in only seven years. Others disagree strongly along with her on a spread of social issues, including her support for same-sex blessings.
I’m selecting to be longing for a minimum of five reasons.
Firstly, Sarah Mullally spent greater than 35 years working within the NHS and has a ‘real world’ perspective on our society. Nurses often see people at their lowest point and are trained to bring compassion and care. She understands the pressures faced by frontline medical experts.
Secondly, she rose to the highest of her career, becoming the youngest-ever chief nursing officer for England. In that role, she had to barter the corridors of power in Whitehall and Westminster, and grew used to working with, and difficult, politicians and civil servants.
Thirdly, she volunteered as a priest in a church for several years, combining an unpaid role along with her paid career. Since a lot of the workforce of the CofE is unpaid, this offers her a specific empathy with a lot of the Church.
Fourthly, Mullally has worked in a spread of places: rural, urban, in a cathedral, in a neighborhood parish church, and as a bishop in Devon and London. She has experience of all types of individuals and places.
Fifthly, she’s a lady taking over a pioneering role at the top of a significant British institution. In my experience, it’s still true that ladies should be significantly better than male candidates to be chosen for these key roles. She has spoken of the discrimination against women that sadly still exists throughout the CofE and has lived with the truth of getting consistently to perform at a high level.
And yet … in some ways, it doesn’t matter that much to local Church of England churches who the Archbishop of Canterbury is. Our role is just to get on with the job of sharing God’s love – in motion and in words – in our community.
We seek to serve local individuals with activities starting from food banks to debt counselling, from old people’s clubs to toddler groups, from youth clubs to litter picks.
All along with our key role of searching for to follow the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, providing regular worship services, and holding funerals, weddings and christenings for the people in our parishes.
Lambeth Palace, the Archbishop’s London home, could also be just 26 miles from St Albans, where I minister, but lots of its preoccupations can seem a great distance from the problems facing churches in my city and across the country.
There’s a prayer within the old Book of Common Prayer that asks that we could also be “godly and quietly governed.”
That sums up my expectations for the brand new archbishop: that the emphasis of all that she does could also be directed to supporting the grassroots of the Church of England and our mission in communities – urban, suburban and rural – across the country.
I pray that, under Sarah Mullally’s oversight, parish churches will flourish quietly in cities, towns and villages across England and beyond. Maybe, that might be an important sign of her success.
Rev Peter Crumpler is a Church of England minister in St Albans, Herts, UK and a former communications director with the CofE.
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