Sarah Mullally installed as first female Archbishop of Canterbury > Now is a schism developing with the African Church?

 

Sarah Mullally installed as first female Archbishop of Canterbury > A schism with the African church?

 

Sarah Mullally becomes first woman archbishop of Canterbury

By Lisa Hornung

   

1 of 2 | Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally meets well-wishers after her installation in Canterbury Cathedral in Britain on Wednesday. The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop, leader of the Church of England, and ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Sarah Mullally is the 106th and first female Archbishop of Canterbury since the role was created in 597. Photo by Neil Hall/EPA

March 25 (UPI) -- Sarah Elisabeth Mullally was installed Wednesday as the first woman to hold the title of archbishop of Canterbury, the leader of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion.

Mullally, 63, is the 106th person to hold the title of the most senior cleric in the Church of England and spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, which includes some 85 million Anglicans around the world. And she is the only one who isn't a man.

In her first sermon as archbishop, she honored victims of church abuse.

"We hold victims and survivors in our hearts and in our prayers, and we must remain committed to truth, compassion, justice and action," she said.

"In a world already torn by conflict, suffering and division, we must also acknowledge the hurt that exists much closer to home," she said. "We must not overlook or minimize the pain experienced by those who have been harmed through the actions, inactions or failures of those in our own Christian churches and communities."

About 2,000 invited guests attended the ceremonial installment, which is historically called an enthronement, including William, Prince of Wales, and Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales. Prime Minister Keir Starmer was also there. Also in the congregation was a contingent of nurses and caregivers from Canterbury to honor Mullally's former career as a nurse.

While Mullally has served in the position since January, the Wednesday's ceremony marks the symbolic beginning of her service as the archbishop. She was named to the position in October.

She replaced the former archbishop Justin Welby, who resigned in January 2025 over his handling of a sex abuse scandal in the diocese.

A Christian camp organizer, the late John Smyth, had allegedly abused boys at the camp in the 1970s and '80s. A report found that Smyth might have faced charges while he was alive if Welby had reported the abuse when he learned about it in 2013. Smyth died in 2018.

The first archbishop of Canterbury -- St. Augustine -- was enthroned in 587. The Church of England officially allowed women to become priests in 1994.

"As I look back over my life at the teenage Sarah, who put her faith in God and made a commitment to follow Jesus, I could never have imagined the future that lay ahead, and certainly not the ministry to which I am now called," she told the congregation.

Her enthronement is not welcomed by all in the Anglican Communion. Many traditionalists in Britain and abroad still believe that only men can be priests.

Earlier this month in Abuja, Nigeria, conservative clergy selected their own leader to follow, Rwandan Archbishop Laurent Mbanda.

Mbanda issued a statement in January in which he said the "majority of the Anglican Communion still believes that the Bible requires a male-only episcopacy."

In the days before the service, Mullally walked an 87-mile pilgrimage for six days from London's St. Paul's Cathedral to Canterbury Cathedral. She is the first archbishop in modern times to make the trip, which was memorialized in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.

Ahead of the ceremony, the Very Rev. David Monteith, dean of the Canterbury Cathedral, said, "Today matters."

Monteith described Mullally as a person of "really deep and profound faith," as demonstrated by her giving up her nursing career, he told The New York Times.

"That's a big, risky thing to do, and it's born of somebody who had a lively sense of faith and connection with God, sufficient for her to hear a call to turn in a different direction and follow another path," he said. "And I think that speaks well to me of somebody of integrity and of depth as well."

Wolves Among the Sheep > Justin Welby finally steps down as Archbishop of Canterbury - It's about time!

 

Three times this year I have called for the resignation of Justin Welby for reasons not directly connected to this case. Twice supported by Melanie Phillips.

 The Archbishop of Canterbury sorely needs updating

Justin Welby should have stepped down last year, he is completely out of touch with reality.

Once again, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has proven that his reign at the helm of the Church of England should have been terminated years ago.

Britain's archbishop of Canterbury to quit as

Church of England head over abuse scandal

Justin Welby resigned as the archbishop of Canterbury on Tuesday amid a critical report over his handling of an abuse scandal. Photo provided by Rodrigo Sura/EPA-EFE

Nov. 12 (UPI) -- Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby on Tuesday resigned as head of the Church of England after a critical report over his handling of an abuse scandal.

"Having sought the gracious permission of His Majesty The King, I have decided to resign as Archbishop of Canterbury," Welby wrote in a letter explaining his departure.

Pressure had been mounting for Welby to step aside following a damning publication last week which outlined the Church of England's role in the alleged cover-up of abuse of young boys at the hands of the now-dead John Smyth in the 1970s and 1980s and then later allegedly in South Africa and neighboring Zimbabwe.

It's alleged there could be up to 130 victims.

A news report, wrote Welby, "has exposed the long-maintained conspiracy of silence about the heinous abuses of John Smyth."

The Makin Review, an independent publication, concluded that Smyth might have been brought to justice long ago had the archbishop sooner contacted police 10 years ago.

"When I was informed in 2013 and told that police had been notified, I believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow," Welby claimed.

It is "very clear," he added, that "I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatizing period between 2013 and 2024."

"With sadness, I fully respect and understand Archbishop Justin's decision today to resign," Dr. Joanne Grenfell, the Bishop of Stepney and lead safeguarding bishop of the Church of England, told the BBC. Grenfell says its "now necessary for others to take up the baton."

Exactly when Welby, 68, intends to step-down from his role has yet to be announced. The "exact timing," he wrote in his letter, will be decided "once a review of necessary obligations has been completed, including those in England and in the Anglican Communion."

According to Grenfell, Welby's choice "does not absolve any of us from bringing about the wholesale changes in culture and leadership that are essential in every part of the Church," she added.

The Makin report outlined how Smyth -- an unordained church barrister and lay preacher -- ran summer camps and singled out dozens of younger boys there and at Winchester College before he would beat them with a cane in his shed after taking them to his home in what Keith Makin contends was a "clearly sexually motivated, sadistic regime."

Smyth relocated to Africa in the 1980s where it's alleged a further 85 to 100 other "young male children aged 13 to 17" suffered abuse at the hands of Smyth.

But he died in 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa at age 75 while under investigation by Hampshire authorities but was "never brought to justice for the abuse", Makin wrote last week.

He has been by now, I'm sure. And a better form of justice than this world has ever seen.

Makin claims Smyth "could and should" have been been reported to authorities by Welby and the church "missed opportunity to bring him to justice."

And missed several opportunities to save young boys from traumatic abuse, and save some respect for God in the church.

Welby, according to the Makin Review article, "may not have known of the extreme seriousness of the abuse," it said, but "it is most probable that he would have had at least a level of knowledge that John Smyth was of some concern," it said, adding "it is not possible to establish whether Welby knew of the severity of the abuses in the U.K. prior to 2013."

Whether he knew or not, he should have! He should have investigated such cases before deciding whether or not to cover them up or to drain the swamp.

On Monday, Helen-Ann Hartley, the Bishop of Newcastle, said Welby's position had become "untenable" after the report prior to his announced resignation.

"I hope this decision makes clear how seriously the Church of England understands the need for change and our profound commitment to creating a safer church," Welby wrote Tuesday in part of his letter. "As I step down I do so in sorrow with all victims and survivors of abuse."

Hartley, meanwhile, said "it's very hard" for the Church of England "to continue to have a moral voice in any way, shape or form in our nation, when we cannot get our own house in order with regard to something as critically important [as abuse]," she said.

"I think rightly people are asking the question: 'Can we really trust the Church of England to keep us safe?' And I think the answer at the moment is 'no'," Hartley added.

Christian Insanity > The Archbishop of Canterbury sorely needs updating; Catholics to pray with Islam in Ramadan; Lost Pastor finds his real home

 

Justin Welby seems to be completely unaware of the tens of thousands of British girls who have been raped and gang-raped and trafficked by Muslim men, almost all from Pakistan, over the past 30 years. He seemed surprised and horrified by the kidnapping of 287 children in Nigeria last week, as if Muslim gangs there have not kidnapped several thousand children, mostly girls, and mostly Christians, to become wives and sex-slaves for insane men. 

Retire Justin, it seems like you have been in retirement mode for many years now.

Archbishop of Canterbury hails Muslims for

‘great contribution’ to society, then is

‘shocked’ by Nigeria kidnappings

MAR 12, 2024 7:30 AM BY ROBERT SPENCER

The archbishop is “shocked and saddened,” but he wouldn’t dare even get close to identify the motivating ideology behind the Nigeria kidnappings. If he did, his Ramadan greetings might catch in his throat.

“As for the captives, the amir [ruler] has the choice of taking the most beneficial action of four possibilities: the first to put them to death by cutting their necks; the second, to enslave them and apply the laws of slavery regarding their sale and manumission; the third, to ransom them in exchange for goods or prisoners; and fourth, to show favor to them and pardon them. Allah, may he be exalted, says, ‘When you encounter those [infidels] who deny [the Truth=Islam] then strike [their] necks’ (Qur’an sura 47, verse 4)” — Al-Mawardi, al-Ahkam as-Sultaniyyah (The Laws of Islamic Governance).

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Watch this Justin!

Muslim men destroy girls/women, and they often start when the girls are in single digits of age. The truth be known, Muslim men hate women, women only point out the weakness of Muslim men, just by being there. That's why they keep them at home or invisible when they are not.

Italy: Catholic Diocese Urges Faithful to Participate

in Islamic Prayers During Ramadan

MAR 12, 2024 6:00 AM BY ROBERT SPENCER

New in PJ Media:

Another Ramadan is upon us, and as is always the case, the eager-to-be-fooled infidels are out in force. A Catholic diocese in Italy has just called upon priests and laypeople to seek out opportunities to participate in Ramadan observances, as a gesture of goodwill toward Muslims. When will Muslim leaders tell Muslims to participate in Christian worship to show friendship with Christians? Don’t hold your breath.

The Catholic Herald reported Friday that the Italian diocese of Bergamo is “instructing its priests to participate in Islamic rituals, citing Pope Francis’ directives on interreligious dialogue.” Diocesan officials issued a directive “urging priests to seek out opportunities for interreligious dialogue during the ‘holy month’ of Ramadan by inviting the faithful to join in praying with Muslims and joining in the Iftar ritual meal.”

This directive was the handiwork of Fr. Massimo Rizzi, who is the director of the diocese’s Office for Interreligious Dialogue. Fr. Rizzi is such a hip, up-to-date, Church-of-what’s-happening-now type of priest that he even went so far as to give this letter the date 23 Sha’ban 1445. He wasn’t trying to fool anyone into thinking that the directive had been written nearly six hundred years ago; the date he gave was that of last Monday according to the Islamic calendar.

Given Fr. Rizzi’s clearly firm commitment to multiculti pieties, it’s no surprise that is directive is also heavily larded with today’s fashionable cant and blather. He asks Catholics to pray for “a continuous realization of all the dimensions that make up humanity desired by the Creator,” as well as for “continuous growth in the dialogue between peoples and different faiths.”

Yeah, we gotta keep that dialogue growing. Fr. Rizzi was, however, too busy racing to the multicultural mountaintop to take the time to explain that dialogue’s effects. Why do so few Christians in the West speak out about the rampant persecution of Christians in the Islamic world? Because they don’t want to harm the “dialogue.”

Yet this “dialogue” has not saved one single Christian from being murdered. Robert McManus, Roman Catholic Bishop of Worcester, Mass., said it on Feb. 8, 2013, as he was suppressing a planned talk (by me) at a Catholic conference on that persecution: “Talk about extreme, militant Islamists and the atrocities that they have perpetrated globally might undercut the positive achievements that we Catholics have attained in our inter-religious dialogue with devout Muslims.”

Remember also that Mohamed Atta, about the plane he had hijacked on Sept. 11, 2001, told passengers over the intercom: “Stay quiet and you’ll be okay.” The Catholic Church appears to have adopted that statement as its policy regarding Muslim persecution of Christians.

There is more. Read the rest here.

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You don't have to be a Christian to become the pastor of a Christian church. There are lots of pastors who have no real relationship with Jesus Christ. Shaun King didn't convert from Christianity to Islam, he just found his real home.

Progressive activist, former Christian pastor

Shaun King converts to Islam

By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter Monday, March 11, 2024

Activist Shaun King speaks at the fifth anniversary memorial event marking the death of Eric Garner at Canaan Baptist Church in Harlem, New York, on July 30, 2019.  | The Christian Post/Leonardo Blair

A well-known progressive activist and former Christian pastor has announced his conversion to Islam and expressed solidarity with Palestinians amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. 

In a post on Telegram early Monday morning, Shaun King announced that he and his wife “converted to Islam to start off Ramadan” at their mosque in Dallas, Texas. A video excerpt from the conversion ceremony shows King agreeing that “there is only one God and his messenger is Muhammad.” 

After describing his conversion as a “beautiful, powerful, meaningful” experience that he will “never forget,” King said he planned to “begin fasting in the morning with over 1 billion Muslims around the world.” King’s post about fasting reflects that fasting from sunrise to sunset is a custom practiced by various Muslims sects when they observe Ramadan.

King added, “My heart is with my dearest friends in Gaza and I’m proud that we were able to provide meals tonight to thousands and thousands of families from the North to the South in Gaza and will do so every day of Ramadan.” His Telegram account consists of multiple posts documenting the situation in Gaza following the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks on Israeli civilians, expressing sympathy with the Palestinians there and outlining his efforts to provide them with hot meals during Ramadan. 

In a subsequent post Monday afternoon, King vowed to “begin sharing our journey with Islam this Ramadan.” He also expressed gratitude that “we have received hundreds of messages from all over the world of men, women, and children that want to convert to Islam with us.” 

King first became a source of national controversy in 2015, when he emerged as one of the most prominent voices in favor of the Black Lives Matter movement. King, a former Christian pastor, suggested that the man listed as his biological father on his birth certificate was not his biological father and that his real biological father was a “light-skinned black man” whom his white mother had relations with. His comments led to allegations that he was merely pretending to be black. 

King has also been mired in several controversies surrounding the accounting of money he managed for social justice causes and his relaunch of Frederick Douglass’ abolitionist newspaper, The North Star. While The Daily Beast noted he’s never faced criminal or civil charges related to the accusations of wrongdoing, professor and author Keisha N. Blain said in a post on Twitter/X in 2020 that she was “warned” about King. Blain claimed that she learned through personal experience that he is a “liar and a fraud.”

Which means, of course, that he was never a real Christian. There are no liars in Christendom, only pretend Christians.

Following the mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Oct. 1, 2017, King suggested that “whiteness, somehow, protects men from being labeled as terrorists.” He noted that the perpetrator behind the Las Vegas mass shooting was white and contrasted the treatment he received from the media with the treatment directed at non-white mass shooters by the media. 

In 2020, following the death of George Floyd in police custody, King generated backlash for proclaiming that “the statues of the white European they claim is Jesus should also come down” along with statues memorializing historic figures who owned slaves and/or supported slavery. King described the depiction of Jesus as a “form of white supremacy.” 

“In the Bible, when the family of Jesus wanted to hide, and blend in, guess where they went? EGYPT! Not Denmark. Tear them down,” he demanded. 

King maintained that “all murals and stained glass windows of white Jesus, and his European mother, and their white friends should also come down.” Characterizing them as a “gross form of white supremacy,” he claimed they were “racist propaganda” and “tools of oppression.” 

“I am a practicing Christian. I am an ordained minister and was a senior pastor for many years,” he noted in response to the blowback and alleged death threats he received for his condemnation of “white Jesus.” King defended his comments, doubling down on his belief that “Christian whiteness has ALWAYS been dangerous.” 

King elaborates more on his background and experience on his personal website. An archived version of the website as it appeared in 2020 highlights King’s “astounding 1,500 articles on injustice” that have appeared in The Intercept, New York Daily News, Harvard Law’s Fair Punishment Project and the Daily Kos.  

The website portrays the speaker and writer as a journalist, humanitarian, and activist as well as a “magnetic element of the Black Lives Matter movement” and a “humane and passionate advocate for justice and families.” It mentions that King previously served as a “popular high school history and civics teacher in Atlanta, then a traveling teacher and counselor at a dozen different jails, prisons, and youth detention centers in Georgia–speaking and teaching 5 times a day, 5 times a week, for years.”

“Shaun started and pastored a church in inner city Atlanta and launched several award-winning social good campaigns that raised millions of dollars for causes around the world,” the website added. A 2016 interview with BuzzFeed News identifies the church King started as Courageous Church.