A Historic Day for the Church

Author:
October 06, 2025

A Historic Day for the Church: The First Female Archbishop of Canterbury

There are moments when history bends toward hope, when the Spirit shifts the air and what once
seemed impossible becomes possible. The announcement that Sarah Mullally has been named
the 106th Archbishop-designate of Canterbury, the first woman in nearly 1,400 years to hold the
role, is such a moment.

For Anglicans worldwide, and for Christians far beyond our tradition, this appointment is more
than symbolic. It proclaims that God’s call knows no gender and that the Church can, however
slowly, grow into a fuller reflection of God’s kingdom.

But alongside celebration must come realism. Archbishop-designate Mullally will step into this
new role not as a figurehead for one province but as a leader in a global Communion that is
deeply divided. Some Anglicans, especially in more conservative provinces, have already voiced
opposition to a woman in Canterbury. Her appointment will draw both support and criticism, and
her leadership will be watched under a microscope.

This points us to an uncomfortable truth: there will be Christians, within the Anglican family and
beyond it, who will take great delight in any missed step or failure she makes. They will use her
humanity as proof that women cannot or should not lead. This posture is not only cruel, but also
distinctly anti-Gospel. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is Good News that lifts up the lowly, restores
the outcast, and insists that every disciple, regardless of gender, is gifted and called to serve. To
root for another’s failure is to turn away from that Good News.

Archbishop-designate Mullally brings to this role not only years of ordained ministry but also her
background as a nurse and as England’s former Chief Nursing Officer. That perspective matters.
She has spent her life listening to pain, advocating for those who have been ignored, and
navigating complex systems where compassion and accountability must hold together. These
skills will serve her well as she confronts one of the Church’s greatest challenges: rebuilding
trust in the wake of decades of abuse and failed safeguarding.

Her leadership style likely will not be about domination or hierarchy. It will be about care,
humility, and service. That in itself is a different model for leadership, one more in line with
Christ’s pattern of washing the disciples’ feet than of ruling from a throne.

For women in the Church, her appointment is both encouragement and responsibility. It tells
every girl in Sunday school, every seminarian, and every ordained woman that the highest doors
are not closed to them. Yet it also places new urgency on the whole Church: to mentor, support,
and clear paths so that women’s voices are not tokens but essential to the fabric of leadership.
This cannot be the last first.

Here in Oklahoma, and throughout the Episcopal Church in the United States, we share in the joy
of this moment while also recognizing its challenge. We are called to examine ourselves. Do we
make room for diversity in leadership at every level? Do our assumptions, structures, and habits
reflect God’s full call, or do they lean toward comfort and exclusion, even if we are calling it
tradition?

As Archbishop-designate Mullally prepares for her installation in March 2026, I pray that she is
sustained with wisdom, courage, and compassion. I also pray that the wider Church resists the
temptation to spectate as though this were a performance. Leadership in Christ’s Church is not a
show. It is a vocation of costly service.

This is a historic day. May it not simply be a headline, but a turning point. May her tenure call us
all deeper into the life of the Gospel, one that delights not in failure but in the flourishing of
every child of God.

The Very Reverend Katie Churchwell is the 15th Dean of St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in
Oklahoma City and the first female dean in the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma. She can be
reached at deanchurchwell@stpaulsokc.org

 

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