“If you want to go fast, go alone – if you want to go far, go together,” Dame Sarah Mullally said in her first public address as the new Archbishop of Canterbury designate.
But Friday’s choice – for the first time ever – of a woman as the spiritual leader of both the Church of England and the worldwide Anglican Communion already seems like it may exacerbate the deep fissures within that community.
The Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (Gafcon), which is a network of conservative Anglican churches across Africa and Asia, received the news “with sorrow”.
The Church of Southern Africa, on the other hand, called the appointment “historic” and said “we heartily welcome the announcement”.
The Church of England – which some people call “The Mother Church” because it was the first Anglican Church – is broadly considered to have moved in a more liberal direction than some churches elsewhere, not least in Africa, where it is estimated that two-thirds of Anglicans live.
The issues which divide the global Anglican Communion included the ordination of women bishops in 2014 and the acceptance of same-sex relationships in 2023.
Many conservative Christians believe that only men should be consecrated as bishops.
In a statement the Most Reverend Dr Laurent Mbanda, the Archbishop of Rwanda and chairman of Gafcon’s leadership council, argued that “the majority of the Anglican Communion still believes that the Bible requires a male-only episcopacy”.
Gafcon also objected to Dame Sarah’s support for the blessing of same-sex couples, accusing her of promoting “unbiblical and revisionist teachings regarding marriage and sexual morality”.
The group was formed in 2008 in response to theological differences within the Anglican Communion, in particular over the issue of same-sex unions.
At the time they released a statement which called on church leaders who had strayed from what they called “tenets of orthodoxy” to repent.
While they were clear that they were not breaking away from the Anglican Communion, they rejected the idea that “Anglican identity is determined necessarily through recognition by the Archbishop of Canterbury”.
That rift widened in 2023, when the group rejected the leadership of the previous Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, over proposals to bless same-sex couples, increasing fears of a split in the Church.
Gafcon claims to speak for the majority of the world’s Anglicans, although that is contested, and the view across Africa is by no means monolithic.
The Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba, who leads the Church of Southern Africa called Dame Sarah’s appointment “a thrilling development”.
Though South Africa is considered more progressive than other countries in terms of its approach, the announcement was also welcomed elsewhere.
Bishop Emily Onyango – the first woman ordained as a bishop in the Anglican Church of Kenya – called the news that Dame Sarah had been named Archbishop designate “a new dawn”.
She told BBC Focus on Africa that Gafcon’s view was neither theologically nor biblically sound, but more “patriarchal, which is not very useful to the Church”.
Bishop Onyango said the new archbishop was “a humble person [who] listens, which is what the Church needs.
“When you have a hardline stance and don’t listen to people, then there [are] a lot of problems.
“The new archbishop needs to address peace on the continent. Women and children are suffering, and she needs to work for peace and reconciliation.”
That places Bishop Onyango at odds with the archbishop of her country, who is part of Gafcon’s leadership.
When I asked the Archbishop of Rwanda whether this moment could prove to be an irreparable rupture in the worldwide Anglican Communion, he texted me that “nothing is irreparable with God, but it requires repentance.
“Gafcon has always called for erring church leaders to repent and return to the Bible’s teaching. But until they do so, we cannot walk with them in their apostasy.”
