Later this month, the Crown Nominations Commission is expected to decide the name of the next Archbishop of Canterbury, who will be the spiritual leader of the Church of England and head of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The appointment comes at a time of unprecedented turbulence in the church, the country and the world.
In this Religion Media Centre briefing, people from a range of perspectives within the Church of England joined journalists in considering the qualities they are looking for in their next leader.
The new archbishop will inherit a church wrestling with disputes over sexuality, safeguarding failures, financial shortfalls, declining congregations and a fractious global fellowship of churches. There was broad agreement that the appointment must be a unifying figure, someone whom each warring faction in the church can live with, and also someone not obsessed with internal church matters, but able to address social, economic and political challenges in wider society, which have led to polarisation.
For the record, the frontrunners were named as the Bishops of Bath and Wells, Chelmsford and London. But speculation over this appointment is traditionally a fool’s errand, with outsiders often pulling through, and among those names so far are Gloucester, Sheffield, Liverpool, Dover, Lancaster, Salisbury, Leicester, and St Edmundsbury and Ipswich.
Rosie Dawson hosted this discussion with guests:
- Journalists – Tim Wyatt & Francis Martin
- Bishop Humphrey Southern, Principal Cuddesdon
- Rev Prof Andrew Atherstone, Professor of Modern Anglicanism, Tutorial Fellow in Church History and Latimer Research Fellow, Wycliffe Hall, Oxford
- Ven Dr Rachel Mann, Archdeacon of Bolton and Salford
- Rev Angela Sheard, Anglican Tutor as part of the Ministerial Formation team at Queen’s College, Birmingham
- Susie Leafe, Director Anglican Futures
- Edward Nickell, deanery synod member and secretary of the Sea of Faith Network
To join future RMC briefings, join our mailing list here >>
