Sarah Mullally: From Nurse to Head of the Anglican Church

Sarah Mullally, a former oncology nurse who became a priest at 40, entered the cathedral to celebrate her historic election as the first female Archbishop of Canterbury in the position's 1,400-year history. Mullally assumes the office of Archbishop in the presence of royalty and religious leaders. The 63-year-old Sarah Mullally formally became Archbishop of Canterbury in January, although Wednesday's ceremony marks the beginning of her public ministry as head of the Church of England and spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Church of England separated from the Roman Catholic Church in the 1530s during the reign of King Henry VIII. The church ordained its first female priests in 1994 and its first female bishop in 2015. Mullally begins her tenure as Archbishop at a difficult time for the Church of England and the Anglican Communion, whose members are deeply divided over issues such as the role of women and the treatment of LGBTQ+ people. She will also have to address concerns that the church has failed to eradicate the sexual abuse scandals that have plagued it and caused tension for over a decade. Mullally replaces former Archbishop Justin Welby, who announced his resignation in November 2024 after being criticized for not acting decisively and not reporting to the police allegations of physical and sexual abuse by a volunteer at a church-affiliated summer camp. In an interview with the BBC this week, Mullally said the church was 'seeking to be better informed about trauma, listening to survivors and victims of abuse'. Prince William, Princess Catherine, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and representatives from many of the communion's 42 member churches attended the service. The communion is an association of independent churches, including the Episcopal Church in the United States, which together have over 100 million members. 'We walk with God — trusting that God walks with us,' Mullally said in her first sermon as Archbishop. And the doors opened. 'The people of God, offering a listening ear, a word of encouragement, or a prayer for healing; offering food and shelter, sanctuary and welcome; in a world that so often seeks to divide us, tables at which to sit and conversations to share'. On Wednesday, the new Archbishop of Canterbury knocked three times on the doors of the city's grand cathedral, ceremonially demanding to be allowed entry, a centuries-old tradition for each new leader of the Anglican Church. But this time, for the first time, it was a woman who knocked. 'Trusting that — in all that we face, in the pain and challenges as much as in the joy and delight — we do not walk alone'.