The new Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally is welcomed by the congregation during her installation service. Photo: Neil Turner/Lambeth Palace
LWF welcomes Archbishop Sarah Mullally, the first woman to lead the Church of England
(LWI) - The Lutheran World Federation General Secretary, Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt, and the Assistant General Secretary for Ecumenical Relations, Prof. Dr Dirk Lange, were among some 2,000 people gathered in England’s ancient Canterbury Cathedral on 25 March for the installation of Anglican Archbishop Sarah Mullally, the first woman elected to lead the Church of England.
“This is a historic moment and we are delighted to be here representing the global Lutheran communion as Archbishop Sarah inaugurates her ministry in this diocese of Canterbury, in the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion,” Burghardt said. “Anglicans and Lutherans enjoy close and fruitful relationships, including some full communion agreements in different parts of the world and so we are happy to join other ecumenical delegates here to pray and to wish Archbishop Sarah every blessing as she begins her new role,” she added.
Mullally was elected last December after spending eight years as the Anglican Bishop of London. Before her ordination in 2002, she had a successful career in nursing, rising to become England’s youngest Chief Nursing Officer. Following her election as the new archbishop of Canterbury, she reflected that, in her new calling, she would “strive to carry the care and compassion that shaped my vocation as a nurse into everything that I do.”
Bishop Paulina Hlawiczka-Trotman of the Lutheran Church in Great Britain (right) and Rev Dr Tessa Henry-Robinson, Moderator of the Free Churches with Archbishop Sarah Mullally during the signing of an ecumenical covenant at the installation service. Photo: Neil Turner/Lambeth Palace
LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt processing into Canterbury cathedral with other ecumenical delegates during the installation service. Photo: Neil Turner/Lambeth Palace
LWF Assistant General Secretary for Ecumenical Relations Prof. Dr Dirk Lange with Rev. Dr Natasha Klukach of the Global Christian Forum, Rev. Dr David Wells of the Pentecostal World Fellowship, and Lutheran Bishop Cindy Halmarson, co-chair of the Anglican Lutheran International Commission on Unity and Mission. Photo: LWF
Pilgrimage of prayer and encounter
In preparation for her installation, Mullally spent the past week walking 140 kilometers along an ancient pilgrimage route from St Paul’s Cathedral in London to Canterbury, where Saint Augustine founded and became the first archbishop of the church in 597A.D. Walking along the route believed to have been travelled by her 12th century predecessor Thomas Becket, she stopped to meet and pray with congregations, schools and ecumenical organizations.
Among the items that the new archbishop chose to wear for her installation service was a bishop's ring, gifted to one of her predecessors by Pope Paul VI in 1966 as a sign of the growing friendship between Anglicans and Catholics. While the service was steeped in historic liturgy and symbolism, it also included contemporary music, prayers and readings in Urdu, Swahili, Bemba and Spanish, representing communities in some of the many different traditions which make up the global Anglican Communion today.
Prof. Lange noted that Lutheran leaders from other countries were also present, especially from the Nordic countries, Baltic states, Canada, the United States and other countries which have established full communion between Anglicans and Lutherans. “Over the past half century, we have resolved many of the theological issues which divided us and we are now focused on how to live out that restored unity in different local contexts,” he said. “At a recent meeting in London earlier this month, we reflected deeply on the way that full communion between all our churches is not a static event, but rather a relationship that evolves over time and takes different forms in different places,” he added.
I look forward to working closely with Archbishop Sarah to strengthen the Christian witness and respond to the needs of people around the United Kingdom and beyond.
Bishop Paulina Hlawiczka-Trotman of the Lutheran Church in Great Britain
Bishop Paulina Hlawiczka-Trotman of the Lutheran Church in Great Britain, one of the presidents of the Churches Together in England network, took an active part in the installation service, as one of the Christian leaders inviting the new Archbishop of Canterbury to sign an ecumenical covenant.
“While I was preparing for this service,” she said, “I researched the historical role of the Archbishops of Canterbury in ecumenical relations and I discovered that this is a specific requirement of their role – not just to lead their own Church of England, but also to work for the unity of the whole church. I look forward to working closely together with Archbishop Sarah to strengthen the Christian witness and respond to the needs of people around the United Kingdom and beyond,” she added.
The service, which took place on the Feast of the Annunciation, was attended by members of the British royal family, political leaders, members of all the main churches and faith communities in the United Kingdom, together with representatives of schools, charities and healthcare institutions.
