Editor’s Note: This essay is part of an extended series, February 10-21, focused on the related subjects of the succession at Canterbury and the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals crafted by Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order. Although this series features several contributors, Bishop Graham Kings here continues his essay which appeared yesterday.
In the first part of this essay, I offered a consideration of the six post-war Archbishops of Canterbury (1945-2012) and the archiepiscopate of Justin Welby (2013-25). In Part Two, we turn to descriptions of six Church of England bishops who may be among the candidates to succeed him, and outline the process of choosing the next archbishop.
Six Possible Successors at Canterbury
There have indeed been some murmurings that 2025 is “time for some Mary.” So, who may be the Mary called to be the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury? The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell (66); the Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally (62); the Bishop of Gloucester, Rachel Treweek (61); and the Bishop of Sheffield, Pete Wilcox (63), are usually considered to be too old, in their 60s, for this role, one which generally lasts for at least 10 years.
Is this ageism or pragmatism? On the other hand, Donald Coggan served for only six years, and some may think that a shorter term, after this particular crisis, could be helpful. God loves surprises, and Pope John XXIII was seen as an older caretaker.
Guli Francis-Dehqani (58), the Bishop of Chelmsford, has been identified as a leading candidate by many, including Pippa Bailey, assistant editor of The New Statesman. In her article (14 Sept., republished on 12 Nov. 2024), Bailey also mentioned Graham Usher (54), the Bishop of Norwich, and Martyn Snow (56), the Bishop of Leicester.
Giles Fraser, the vicar of St. Anne’s Church, Kew, published an article on UnHerd (21 Nov. 2024), “Burn Down the Church Machine. Only radical reform will do.” He is in favor of same-sex marriages in the Church of England and recommends the Bishop of Chelmsford.
Fraser notes that Guli Francis-Dehqani gave a lecture at the University Church, Cambridge (26 Sept. 2024), “Encouraging the Weary with a Word.” The video may be seen here. Fraser writes, citing and summarizing her:
“I’m not so comfortable with the language of ‘Vision and Strategy’ being deployed in the church,” she confessed to a congregation at Great St. Mary’s in Cambridge a few months ago. Too secular in its thinking, too obsessed with growth charts, as if the success of the Church were down to us and not down to God. And way too powerful. In exposing all this before, the Bishop had received what she described as a “slap on the wrist from central church” — after which the congregation burst into laughter and applause.
I have known Francis-Dehqani since 1996. Her father, Hassan Dehqani-Tafti, was the first Persian Bishop of Iran, and miraculously survived an assassination attempt — five bullets circled his head on his pillow. Her mother, Margaret, was the daughter of the English-born Bishop of Iran, William Thompson. Her brother, Bahram, was murdered by Iranian government agents in 1980. That year the family came as refugees, with their three daughters, to live at Ridley Hall, one of the Cambridge theological colleges.
Guli Francis-Dehqani studied music at the University of Nottingham and theology at the University of Bristol, where she later gained her Ph.D. in 1999. Her thesis was Religious feminism in an age of empire: CMS women missionaries in Iran, 1869-1934. She trained for ordination at the South East Institute for Theological Education; served as chaplain at the Royal Academy of Music and St. Marylebone School, London; and, after extended maternity leave, became curate training officer in the Diocese of Peterborough. She was Suffragan Bishop of Loughborough from 2017 and has been Bishop of Chelmsford since 2021. She is the lead bishop for housing.
During his early years, Graham Usher (54) lived in Ghana. He studied ecological sciences at the University of Edinburgh, theology at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and was an ordinand at Westcott House, Cambridge, where I remember teaching him mission studies. He served as rector of Hexham Abbey before being Suffragan Bishop of Dudley, and then becoming Bishop of Norwich in 2019. He is an active beekeeper, the lead bishop on the environment, is liberal on issues of sexuality, and is a member of the Anglican Consultative Council. He was one of two bishops who escorted Queen Camilla at the Coronation. King Charles III appointed him Lord High Almoner on 13 November 2024.
Martyn Snow (56) was born in Indonesia, where his parents were working with the church. He studied chemistry at the University of Sheffield and theology at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, where he trained for ordination. He was Suffragan Bishop of Tewksbury before becoming Bishop of Leicester in 2016. He invited me to lead two ordination retreats for the Diocese of Leicester in 2020. Although he was one of the 14 bishops who published a statement (in Jan. 2023) in defence of the traditional doctrine of marriage, as the lead bishop on the subject he is committed to find ways of introducing prayers for same-sex blessings.
I will mention three other bishops. Michael Beasley (56) is the Bishop of Bath and Wells. His doctorate from Cambridge was in epidemiology and he has specialized in child infectious diseases in low-income countries, including work on Ebola and HIV/AIDS in Africa. He trained for ordination at Cranmer Hall, Durham. Before his appointment as director for mission in the Diocese of Oxford, he served half time as a parish priest and half time as a research scientist at Imperial College, London. Then he became vice principal of Westcott House, Cambridge, and Suffragan Bishop of Hertford before moving to Bath and Wells in 2022.
He was one of two bishops who escorted King Charles III during his Coronation and helped him robe and disrobe during the service. His speech in General Synod in July 2024 stated that, although he was in favor of the prayers, a vote for “standalone same-sex blessings” would imply a major change in relation to the doctrine of marriage. “A clear understanding and spelling out of the particular doctrinal implications of the introduction of standalone services is needed before we can move forward safely and together.”
Mark Tanner (54), the Bishop of Chester, was born in Canada and studied at Christ Church, Oxford, and trained for ordination at Cranmer Hall, Durham, and later gained an M.Th. at Liverpool. He served as a vicar in Doncaster, and then in Ripon, before becoming Warden of Cranmer Hall (2011-16), when I came to know him. He became Suffragan Bishop of Berwick in 2016 and Bishop of Chester in 2020. He wrote The Introvert Charismatic in 2015. He abstained on the vote on “standalone same-sex blessings” in July 2024.
Helen-Ann Hartley (51), the Bishop of Newcastle, was born in Edinburgh and studied theology at St. Andrew’s University, Princeton Theological Seminary, and the University of Oxford (M.Phil. and D.Phil.). She trained for ordination on the Oxford Ministry Course, based at Ripon College, Cuddesdon, where she later taught New Testament after Oxford curacies at Wheatley and Littlemore. She then moved to New Zealand and served as Dean (of European heritage ordinands) at St. John’s College, Auckland, before becoming Bishop of Waikato in 2014. In 2018, back in England, she became Area Bishop of Ripon in the Diocese of Leeds and Bishop of Newcastle (2023). She believes that same-sex marriage should be legislated in the Church of England.
Process of Choosing the Archbishop of Canterbury
So, what is the process for discerning and choosing between candidates? This was helpfully outlined by Dr. Colin Podmore, former clerk to General Synod, in “Choosing the Archbishop of Canterbury” (The Living Church, Nov. 2024), and a dedicated page on the Church of England website has been set up.
There will be 17 voting members of the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) for Canterbury, which will recommend a candidate to the Prime Minister to pass on to the King:
- the chair, a lay Anglican, prominent in public life and chosen by the Prime Minister, after consultation;
- a bishop from the Province of Canterbury;
- the Archbishop of York;
- five people, one from each of the Anglican Communion’s five regions (they must include at least one primate, one priest or deacon, and one layperson);
- at least two of them must be male, two female, and three of “Global Majority Heritage”;
- three people from the Diocese of Canterbury’s Vacancy in See Committee;
- finally, six members (three clergy and three lay) from the General Synod’s Crown Nominations Commission.
On 16 November 2024, the Prime Minister’s Office announced that Lord Evans of Weardale will chair the CNC for Canterbury. Jonathan Evans is a former Director of MI5 and a lay communicant of the Church of England.
On 20 January 2025, the Archbishops’ Secretary for Appointments, Stephen Knott, wrote a public letter to all members of General Synod outlining the following points. In February and March, he and the Prime Minister’s Appointment Secretary, Jonathan Helliwell, will undertake an extensive consultation. In mid-March the names of all members of the CNC for Canterbury will be announced. Three meetings will take place in May, June, and September to “agree the ‘Role Profile’ and ‘Person Specification’ for the next Archbishop, as well as longlist, shortlist, and interview potential candidates.”
The shortlisted candidates will be interviewed and, out of the 17 voting members, at the moment a majority of at least 12-5 of its members will be needed, although it is worth adding that the February General Synod may adjust the voting number (e.g., down to 11, or 64.7%).
Given this composition, some consider that the Canterbury CNC may be somewhat conservative. Philip Groves, however, has speculated that the five Anglican Communion members of the CNC for Canterbury may turn out to be less uniformly conservative than many imagine.
With the current deep divisions over sexuality, there is likely to be interest in preventing certain people from being nominated. Another wry quote springs to mind from Owen Chadwick’s biography of Michael Ramsey. This concerns Ramsey’s election as Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge in 1950: “We have the proverb that no one is elected to anything except to keep two other people out” (p. 69). This may, perhaps, reflect Chadwick’s surprise election as Regius Professor of History at Cambridge in 1968.
Conclusion
Finally, it may be worth remembering Daniel W. Hardy’s contemplative wisdom in his posthumous book, Wording a Radiance: Parting Conversations on God and the Church (2010). He applied to Scripture and to the Church a word that was new to him, granulation:
I would say that Scripture enables the healing powers deep within a pilgrim (whether a community or a person) to “granulate.” Recovering from a medical treatment recently, I learned that granulation refers to the body’s capacity to generate new connective tissue from deep within the flesh, just underneath the diseased tissue that lies above it. This is a hopeful sign, because it shows how the rebuilding of tissue is possible from within the deepest parts of the human body. I would extend the metaphor to the capacity of societies and persons to be regenerated from deep within themselves. (p. 64)
Therefore, following the focused example of Mary, who “sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying” (Luke 10:39), let us pray fervently for the victims of John Smyth, for their just compensation, for Justin and Caroline Welby, for the Crown Nominations Commission for Canterbury, for bishops who may be shortlisted for the post, for the Church of England, and for the Anglican Communion. Lord, have mercy. Amen.
The Rt. Rev. Dr. Graham Kings, in his retirement in Cambridge, is honorary assistant bishop in the Diocese of Ely and research associate at the the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide, which he founded in 1995. He has served as Mission Theologian in the Anglican Communion; Bishop of Sherborne; and vicar of St. Mary’s Church, Islington, London, where he co-founded Fulcrum.