On March 25, 2026, I was fascinated by Dame Sarah Mullally’s installation as the first woman to serve as Archbishop of Canterbury. I knew that many female colleagues around the Anglican Communion would be watching it live, as I was. This was a momentous event in the life of the Anglican Communion and a milestone for Anglican women.
1944, Rev. Li Tim-Oi was ordained to be the first woman priest in Zhaoqing, China
1989, Bishop Barbara Harris was consecrated the first female bishop in Boston, USA
2026, Archbishop Sarah Mullally was installed as the first female Archbishop of Canterbury
Frankly, I did not envision living long enough to see this day: a female archbishop in the office’s 1,400-year history.
Many years ago, when I first visited the Canterbury Cathedral, I saw the names of past archbishops etched in stone on a wall. When I saw the name Anselm (1033–1109), the Benedictine monk who was appointed archbishop in 1093, history came alive for me. I have read “Anselm of Canterbury” so many times, and this was his cathedral. I hope Sarah Elizabeth Mullally’s name will also be etched in stone for posterity.
Archbishop Sarah was nominated as the 116th archbishop of Canterbury on October 3, 2025, not without controversy. Conservative Anglican bishops did not accept female bishops, and they disagreed with her more liberal views on LGBTQ issues. As the archbishop, she is not only the Primate of all England but also the bishop of the Province of Canterbury and the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion. Her election was legally confirmed at St. Paul’s Cathedral on January 28, 2026.
Before her installation, Archbishop Sarah took part in a six-day pilgrimage, walking 87 miles from St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, where she had been the bishop, to Canterbury. On March 25, the feast of the Annunciation, Archbishop Sarah was installed. The feast day commemorates the angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary, announcing she would bear a child. The archbishop’s sermon focused on the significance of Mary’s response to God.
The event displayed the close connections between church and state in Britain. Prince William and Princess Catherine attended the service, as did Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his wife, Victoria. When Archbishop Sarah processed out of the Cathedral, she stopped and bowed to the Prince and Princess. After the installation, she was greeted by the Mayor of Canterbury and blessed the city and the diocese (this part was not livestreamed).
When Archbishop Sarah was installed in the episcopal seat of the Cathedral and given the pastoral staff from the Dean of the Cathedral, she was visibly moved. She might have felt the burden of history and the tremendous responsibility before her.
Afterward, she was installed on the Chair of St. Augustine (a missionary to England in 595 and the first archbishop of Canterbury in 597) to symbolize her leadership of the Anglican Communion. When she took her seat, she was surrounded by five African female bishops. I was delighted to see the conspicuous place these African female bishops occupied.
I had the pleasure of meeting Bishop Vicentia Kgabe of the Diocese of Lesotho at a conference, while Bishop Emily Onyango, an assistant bishop of Bondo, Kenya, preached at an Anglican women’s meeting in Nairobi last February.
Twenty-seven women bishops from across the Anglican Communion held a prayer service with Archbishop Sarah the morning before the installation, among them were Linda Nicholls, the former Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada (2019–2024), Archbishop Marinez Rosa dos Santos Bassotto of Brazil (since 2022), Archbishop of Wales Cherry Vann (since 2025), Bishop Alba Sally Sue Hernández Garcia, who was elected to be the first female Primate of the Anglican Church of Mexico several days before.
Although the ceremony was dominant by men, because they occupied senior positions in the Cathedral, the Church of England, and the Anglican Communion, women and girls took part in the service, including greeting and welcoming the archbishop at the Cathedral door, representing ecumenical churches, reading the Gospel (by Bishop Sally Sue), singing in the choir, and offering prayers.
A week earlier, I interviewed Rev. Carter Heyward, one of the eleven women priests ordained in The Episcopal Church in Philadelphia in 1974. She was delighted that Archbishop Sarah was selected, and said, “I was shocked beyond belief that it could happen.” Noting that there would be people who disagreed with her nomination, Heyward said, “We have to keep doing what we have to do.”
After this festive event, I watched how other female colleagues in the Communion responded. Professor Jane Shaw of Oxford University posted on Facebook about the role the group “Leading Women” has played in Archbishop Sarah’s life. Professor Shaw founded this group with other senior clergy to encourage women to assume leadership roles. The group provided a yearlong mentoring program, and Mullally joined the second cohort in 2012.
My friend Dr. Jenny Te Paa Daniel, a Maori leader from Aotearoa New Zealand, who has worked tirelessly to promote women’s leadership in the Communion, said she “was watching and weeping with joy.” I posted the photo of the archbishop sitting among the African female bishops on Facebook. Dr. Esther Mombo, an Anglican theologian and leader from Kenya, said, “Congratulations to us all for this historical event.” My colleagues in the U.S. were elated as well, saying, “wondrous blessing!!!” and “What an incredible vision!”
Friends and colleagues from other denominations were watching the event live, too. My former colleague at Candler School of Theology, Dr. Robert Franklin, was impressed by the women’s lively singing from the Africa Choir of Norfolk.
Dr. Mary E. Hunt, co-director of the Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Rituals (WATER), said that Catholic women joined for a Watch Party hosted by the Women’s Ordination Conference, a group that has pushed for women’s ordination and gender equity in the Catholic Church since 1975.
Hunt has written a poignant reflection on the bittersweet moment she witnessed as the Anglican church moved forward to install a woman as the Archbishop of Canterbury. She says,
During the ceremony, we celebrated one stained glass ceiling broken into smithereens. We wept as millions of women living and dead were vindicated in our efforts to claim full humanity, the right to leadership in previously guarded sanctuaries. Our cheers were for Archbishop Sarah, but also for our peers and ourselves who minister despite excommunication (for ordained Roman Catholic Women Priests) and patriarchal stupidity.
Let us hope that the installation of Archbishop Sarah will hasten changes not only in the Anglican church but also in other Christian churches and denominations. It is way past time. It is 2026!
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