Updated
Suffragan Bishop of Crediton: Sarah Elisabeth Mullally
From:Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
First published: 9 June 2015
The Queen has approved the nomination of Reverend Canon Sarah Elisabeth Mullally to the Suffragan See of Crediton, in the Diocese of Exeter.
The Queen has approved the nomination of the Reverend Canon Sarah Elisabeth Mullally, DBE, MA, MSc, BSc, RGN, DSc honoris causa Canon Residentairy and Canon Treasurer of Salisbury Cathedral in the Diocese of Salisbury, to the Suffragan See of Crediton, in the Diocese of Exeter, in succession to the Right Reverend Nicholas Howard Paul McKinnel, MA, on his translation to the See of Plymouth on 19 April 2015.
Notes for editors
The Reverend Canon Dame Sarah Mullally (aged 53) studied first at South Bank University for her BSc followed by a MSc and then at Heythrop College, University of London where she got her MA. She was awarded Honorary Doctorates of Science from Bournemouth University, (2004), University of Wolverhampton (2004) and University of Hertfordshire (2005) and was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 2005 for her contribution to nursing and midwifery. She is a late ordinand who before ordination was Chief Nursing Officer in the Department of Health. She trained for the ministry at the South East Institute for Theologian Education and served her first curacy at Battersea Fields in Southwark Diocese from 2001 to 2006. From 2006 to 2012 she was Team Rector at Sutton in Southwark Diocese. Since 2012 she has been Canon Residentiary and Canon Treasurer at Salisbury Cathedral.
Dame Sarah Mullally is married to Eamonn and they have 2 children. She has continued her interest in the health service, having been a non executive director at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and then at Salisbury NHS Foundation Hospital. She is a novice potter.
Update
The Exeter diocesan website has this news item New Bishop of Crediton to be Dame Sarah Mullally. This states that she will be consecrated at the same service as Rachel Treweek, ie on 22 July 2015.
The Salisbury diocesan website has Canon Chancellor Announced as Bishop.
After some intense googling, it would appear that Dame Sarah has never said anything, ever, about LGBT issues – which is quite a feat in itself for a senior member of the clergy! It will be interesting to find out what she thinks when, inevitably, she is asked for her opinion.
Battersea curate to Surrey incumbent to Salisbury Canon to Bishop. I wish her well and hope that she will support the multibeneficed clergy of her largely rural area.
Coming thick and fast…women bishops. Contrast this with provinces that elect women bishops. How much harder it is for women to get elected. Maybe TEC could learn from the C of E or those other provinces where bishops are elected could pass legislation insisting on a quota of women represented on the episcopal bench.
Thrilled! This is about highly talented women using their God given and recognised influence in God’s church. I have no doubt she is the right person for this place.
Already we have highly diverse and gifted women in the House of Bishops.
Clergy are traditionally not dubbed on being made knights (or presumably dame) since it is inappropriate for clergy to bear arms, and do not use the honorific ‘Sir’ (or presumably ‘Dame’). Canon Sarah was deaconed in 2001, priested in 2002 and made a DBE in 2005.
So I reckon she should not be called ‘Dame’ Sarah.
Clergy are traditionally not dubbed on being made knights… On the other hand, I understand that a knight who is then ordained does use the title ‘sir’ (or Dame in the case of women). It would not do for the Dean of the Chapels Royal or the Dean of Westminster Abbey or the Clerk to the Closet to start calling themselves Sir or Dame, on receipt of the customary K/DCVO, but it could be argued that Dame Sarah has every right to use an honour which relates to what she did before she was ordained. I am sure that, as… Read more »
I seem to recall that if someone is knighted or appointed a Dame BEFORE they are ordained, they keep the prefix. If they are ordained first they don’t use the prefix but do use the post nominals (The Rt Revd John Smith KCVO). This is a relatively rare occurrence and I suspect Dame Sarah is unique in being both ordained and the recipient of a damehood…
According to the official website of the British Monarchy, only knights receive the accolade (ie are dubbed with a sword).
http://www.royal.gov.uk/RoyalEventsandCeremonies/Investitures/Overview.aspx
So although dames have the same status as knights they are not knights and I see no reason for Canon Mullally not to be addressed as Dame Sarah.
Re-reading Simon’s comment I see the ordination came first. My mistake. Peter’s observation seems sensible – the restriction seems only to apply to male clergy who are knighted (because they cannot be dubbed on account of not being able to bear arms).
The significance of this shouldn’t be lost on some of us. Not the Dean, but the Chancellor of Salisbury for the purple. But may be a Suffragan See is not what the great June is hoping for?
Notwithstanding the advice in Ecclesiastes 7:10, I am wondering if it is a sign of the times, when even the Prime Minister’s Office doesn’t know how to spell “Residentiary”.
“The Queen has approved the nomination of Reverend Canon Sarah Elisabeth Mullally to the Suffragan See of Crediton, in the Diocese of Exeter”
The official press announcement has it as Simon Kershaw suggests but it would be lacking in courtesy to ignore her DBE when discussing her background etc. This by the way is an excellent and imaginative appointment which we need more of, female or male. Late ordinands were often regarded as not papabile, often not Oxbridge and/or Ripon Cuddesdon as well. The world has changed, for the better!
Philip is correct that the order matters (thus “the Revd Sir Derek Pattinson” but not “the Revd Sir Diarmaid MacCulloch”) and Peter is correct that the restriction does not extend to dames, who don’t have the same martial history. Apparently it does not apply at all in the recently revived Australian honours, as Archbishop Moxon not long ago became “the Most Revd Sir.”
“Not the Dean, but the Chancellor of Salisbury for the purple” James A Contrary to the announcement above “Canon Chancellor Announced as Bishop” Surely, that should read . “CanonTreasurer Announced as Bishop”? So, James A it would seem to be “Not the Dean but the Treasurer of Salisbury for the purple” which just goes to shew that, as portrayed in song in the great musical “South Pacific”, “There is nothing like a Dame”! But isn’t it odd that from all those women whose names have been trail blazed for many years (not least “the great June” among them) as among… Read more »
@RIW, re “How much harder it is for women to get elected. Maybe TEC could learn from the C of E”
TEC went a mere 17 years from the first woman consecrated bishop, to a woman bishop consecrated the Primate. Do you think the CofE will see a female ABC (or even an ABY) in that amount of time? [I rather hope so, but am dubious.]
“How much harder it is for women to get elected…” You don’t need to look as far as TEC to see this. Here in Ireland, we made provision for women bishops at the same time as priests and deacons; but no woman has ever been elected. We got Pat Storey after the House of Bishops appointed her after an election failed to reach consensus. The truth is that people say they want women bishops; but few are prepared to elect them. It’s a bit like the reverse of all those ‘secret Tory voters’ who put David Cameron back in Downing… Read more »
As Peter says, I’m reasonably sure knighted-after-ordination rule doesn’t apply to dames-after-ordination; I would venture it is because a damehood is not so symbolic of warfare as a knighthood.
Some in this thread may be interested and encouraged to learn of last Saturday’s election of a woman as (diocesan) Bishop of Montreal, Canada. The electoral process had limited publicity, even within the diocese, let alone further afield. Their website announcement is equally muted: http://www.montreal.anglican.ca/latest-news/2015/6/6/is-our-new-bishop-elect. The website of St George’s Cathedral, Kingson, Ontario, where the bishop-elect is the Dean, has not yet announced the result which is subject to provincial episcopal approval. http://www.stgeorgescathedral.ca/index.cfm/home/ However, there is a bit more below about this low-key election and the candidates: http://www.anglicanjournal.com/articles/-first-woman-bishop-for-montreal I am told that the bishop-elect believes that Jesus rose from the… Read more »
I think that the Church of England Episcopate could be 40 per cent women by 2025…..compared to the t paltry 12 per cent in TEC. I take your point about primate thou..as not all provinces ordain women, no doubt this will be a long time coming.
Isn’t it interesting that both Dame Sarah and Glyn,Bishop of Beverley are both nurses.Surely the first time that two nurses have been bishops at the same time?I should think that multiples of teachers and lawyers have managed this
So is this the first female bishop in England not married to another priest (or bishop)? Nor did she attend Cranmer Hall.
Please, Geoff McLarney, Archbishop Sir David Moxon is a New Zealander, not an Australian. But you are still correct; from an antipodean perspective the whole debate about whether and when it is right for a priest or bishop to call themselves “Sir” or Dame” sounds rather ridiculous. While it is clearly true that knighthoods derive from military titles, it has been some centuries since that aspect of things has been relevant to the honours system. New Zealand has had two archbishops knighted. The one before Moxon was Paul Reeves, who resigned as our Archbishop to become Governor General. I am… Read more »
“Please, Geoff McLarney, Archbishop Sir David Moxon is a New Zealander, not an Australian.”
How embarrassing (especially for a Canadian)! I’m afraid I must have fused him in my mind with his predecessor at the Anglican Centre, who is an Australian. I did not realize NZ had brought back knighthoods as well. Under the “Nickle Resolution” successive Canadian governments have blocked (though not consistently) titled honours for Canadian citizens, with Lord Black of Crossharbour being obliged to renounce his Canadian citizenship in order to accept a peerage in his capacity as a British national.
Funny how fascinated we seem to be with titles. Seems a bit incongruous in the Body of Christ, to me anyway.
Apparently the pre reformation secular clergy were called SIR, and father was reserved for religious priests. Nuns were also out of respect addressed as Dame.