Press release from Number 10
Bishop of London: Sarah Elisabeth Mullally
Confirmation of the nomination of the Right Reverend Sarah Elisabeth Mullally for election as Bishop of London.
Published 18 December 2017
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
The Queen has approved the nomination of the Right Reverend Sarah Elisabeth Mullally, DBE, MA, BSc, MSC, DSc(Hons), RGN, Suffragan Bishop of Crediton in the Diocese of Exeter for election as Bishop of London in succession to the Right Reverend and Right Honourable Richard John Carew Chartres, KCVO, PC, on his resignation on the 28 February 2018.
Further information
The Right Reverend Sarah Mullally, DBE, (aged 55) 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. From 2012 to 2015 she was Canon Residentiary and Canon Treasurer at Salisbury Cathedral before taking up her current role in 2015 as Suffragan Bishop of Crediton in the Diocese of Exeter.
Sarah Mullally is married to Eamonn and they have two children. She has continued her interest in the health service having been a non executive director at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust then at Salisbury NHS Foundation Hospital. She is a member of Council at King’s College London University. She is a novice potter.
What wonderful news for London, and a sad loss for us in Devon.
Her CV is unusual for a bishop. It’s clear she is a darling of the establishment, probably because she avoids saying anything controversial. It’s hard to imagine someone less qualified to be a bishop – I like my bishops to challenge the establishment. But there is no doubt she fits the profile which might, very sadly, be necessary for the See of London.
This explains the timing of the Carlile publication. I hope that both diocese and Bishop designate enjoy her pontificate.
Vast experience since 2006
My guess is that this will not be straightforward. Behind all the delight and the sense that London dared to do what everyone thought impossible, there will be large numbers of parishes (and clergy) unable to rejoice at this news. That will have serious consequences for the mission and unity of the Diocese. Doubtless, David Ison was a key player in this one; and Welby may be relieved to have a safeguarding supremo a short hop away. But, all said, this is a very ‘safe’ appointment (she won’t dissent in the way Stephen Cottrell might have done – and she… Read more »
Good News for the Diocese of London! Bishop Sarah you will be missed in Exeter, but love and prayers go with you. Anne Foreman
May God bless Sarah, and through prayer (her own and other people’s for her) may she serve this diocese with grace and sharing and teamwork, and all the compassion she has had to draw upon as a nurse.
At the outset of new journeys, nearly everything is prospect, but one thing’s for sure: God promises to accompany us every step of the way.
God also longs to accompany so many people who are struggling and feeling marginalised in the corners and thoroughfares of this great city.
Safe appointment, and I wish her well — but where’s the Lucy Winketts of the church, who we were told would, upon equal consecration being passed, revolutionize the CoE? Even if Winkett herself has decided that her calling lies elsewhere, what’s happened to the others?
Haven’t yet spotted a mention of her supporting a football club. Alleluia!
I cannot help thinking that this falls into the same category as all other female episcopal appointments: safely ‘on message’; theological lightweight; a supporter of The Regime. I cannot speak for Lucy Winkett and The Pioneers of yesteryear, of course. But there is a perception that they cannot be controlled in the same way. Don’t expect too much challenging of the status quo (political, social or eccelsiastical) from Bishop Mullally.
The Six O’Clock news on Radio 4 told us all we need to know. Rod Thomas is happy because Sarah Mullally has affirmed her commitment to a traditional view of marriage. ‘Safe’ in the issues that matter at the top of the food chain.
“South East Institute for Theologian (sic) Education”??
Who’s proofreading announcements from Number 10?
Isn’t the ability to make or keep safe, and to give security an important quality in a leader? That is not the same as dull – but nothing I have encountered in +Sarah’s ministry suggests that. There is no shortage of leadership around in the church that is simply causing exhaustion and anxiety at the moment in pursuit of strategy and renewal. Nor is it so obvious to me that appointing a woman to a diocese as large, complex and conflicted as London could seriously be called ‘playing safe’. Elsewhere this appointment is being received with a great deal of… Read more »
Am I alone in thinking (as an enthusiastic supporter of equal ordination) that gender equality has taken complete priority over all other factors in this appointment? Despite all the nice glow on the BBC yesterday, I am left asking who is going to benefit from this appointment? Was the over-riding priority to appoint a Bishop of London who would effectively and imaginative serve wider society, and bring a critically intelligent and distinctive theological voice to bear on (what Wesley Carr used to call) ‘the pressure points at the edges of the Church’; or was this more about the current internal… Read more »
This is David Richards – member of London Diocesan Synod, Bishop’s Council, Lay Chair Westminster (St Margaret’s) Deanery, LDBS, etc. etc. – and I should just like to make it clear that the posting by another David Richards at 0811 on 19/12 was not me! As someone quite heavily involved in diocesan matters in London I have plenty of opportunities to raise questions, be listened to, be ignored, etc. etc. within the relevant synods and councils, and so haven’t been posting here on Thinking Anglicans.
Glad to meet you, David W Richards. Sorry if another one of us by the same name caused you an identity crisis. Very glad to confirm that you are not me – and vice versa!
David Runcorn makes an interesting point. The newly appointed +London is hardly likely to say anything that renders her partisan before she even starts in her new role. The only real proofs of what any bishop thinks will be their contribution to the ‘teaching document’ and how they vote should any substantive measures (the Hereford Motion for instance) appear before synod. I would, however, suspect, given her medical background, that although she might not be an out and out progressive she is also unlikely to be ultra conservative. But as always I may be wrong.
“Am I alone in thinking (as an enthusiastic supporter of equal ordination) that gender equality has taken complete priority over all other factors in this appointment?” No (the other David Richards!), you’re not. I support equal consecration in every province as a matter of basic justice, but have no time for the bold claims, often bordering on gender-essentialism, that women will revolutionize an institution simply by virtue of their sex. We should be judged not by who we are, but by what we do. Male or female, we’re all fallible, and all susceptible to institutional groupthink. A fact shown clearly… Read more »
David W Richards, you say that as someone quite heavily involved in the diocese of London you have not been posting here.
Pete Broadbent, currently the acting bishop of London, is perrhaps even more heavily involved and he has been known to post here.
No problem David Richards! Best wishes, David W Richards!
David Richards (the real one) ‘gender equality has taken complete priority over all other factors in this appointment’. Can I ask what is your basis for claiming this? Is it clear to you that +S is clearly not otherwise equipped for this role – or that a number of men would have been more suited that her? Given that we are a church with a senior leadership with a very large numerical bias in favour of men (including many diocesan senior teams) I find your claim difficult to sustain. And in such circumstances I would expect the appointment of only… Read more »
T Pott: +Pete is quite vocal and has been around a long time in the diocese. I am sure he does post here quite often because he’s quite au fait with doing such things – unlike so many bishops. I think I was only trying to say that whilst I have many views – possibly as many as the Lake District – I am conscious that I am privileged to have a formal opportunity within the diocese to express them. I could express views about the appointment, but as I was on the vacancy in see committee in the diocese… Read more »
James: many of us support the ordination of women because of the Bible, not in spite of it. We have not set aside the Bible to ordain women but have followed it to its logical conclusion.
David W Richards – I was on Vacancy in See Committee too. I thought that was difficult enough but thanking God that I was not part of the Crown Nominations Commission now.
Every cloud has a silver lining
Fine by me, Charles, just so long as the same generous interpretation’s extended to LGBT people.
I’m saddened by some of the comments on the appointment of the Bp elect for London, partly because I’ve generally worked with the idea that as a priest I don’t always get to choose who I work with, nor do I have to feel I must always like the people we work with along the way. Like it or not bishop Sarah is already a bishop in my Church, chosen and consecrated according to the appropriate procedures. If she were my diocesan I should want to support her and respect her position as is her due. Does it matter she… Read more »