Church of Uganda Dismisses Sarah Mullally’s Appointment as Anglican Head Over LGBT Support

The Church of Uganda has strongly rejected the appointment of Dame Sarah Mullally, the Bishop of London, as the next Archbishop of Canterbury, calling it a “grievous” decision that further alienates the Church of England from the wider Anglican Communion.

Dame Sarah Mullally, 63, becomes the first woman to be chosen as Archbishop of Canterbury, succeeding Justin Welby who resigned last year following a damning safeguarding scandal. A former NHS chief nurse, Mullally was ordained in 2006 and made history in 2018 as the first female Bishop of London, the third most senior role in the Church of England.

But in Uganda, her appointment has been met with disappointment and outright rejection. Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, The Most Rev. Dr. Stephen Samuel Kaziimba Mugalu, issued a strongly worded statement condemning the decision, citing Mullally’s support for same-sex marriage and her departure from what he described as the “historic, biblical faith of Anglicanism.”

“Our sadness about this appointment is her support and advocacy for unbiblical positions on sexuality and same-sex marriage that reveal her departure from the historic Anglican positions that uphold the authority of Scripture for faith and life,” Archbishop Kaziimba declared.

He stressed that the appointment has only deepened the “tear in the fabric of the Anglican Communion,” a split that began in 2003 when the Episcopal Church in the United States consecrated Gene Robinson, a divorced father in a same-sex relationship, as bishop.

“The tear in the fabric of the Anglican Communion has now reached the highest level of the Communion. There appears to be no repentance,” he said. “Make no mistake, this is a grievous decision at the highest levels of the Church of England to separate itself from the vast majority of the global Anglican Communion.”

Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, The Most Rev. Dr. Stephen Samuel Kaziimba Mugalu, issued a statement condemning the decision. PHOTO BY ALEX MASEREKA JOEL

Kaziimba reiterated that the Church of Uganda and its allies in Gafcon and the Global South Fellowship of Anglicans no longer recognize the Archbishop of Canterbury as a global leader of the Communion.

“As we declared in our 2023 Gafcon statement from Kigali, we no longer recognize the Archbishop of Canterbury as having global authority, and the office is certainly no longer an Instrument of Communion,” he emphasized. “With this appointment, the Archbishop of Canterbury is reduced simply to the Primate of All England.”

Despite the rejection, Kaziimba assured Ugandan Christians that they remain part of a strong global fellowship of Bible-believing Anglicans.

“We want to assure our Christians in the Church of Uganda that, through Gafcon and the Global South Fellowship of Anglicans, we are part of a worldwide communion of Anglicans who continue to proclaim the historic and Biblical faith of Anglicanism – faithfulness to Christ and submission to the authority of Scripture,” he said.

The Archbishop also reached out to disillusioned Anglicans in England, extending solidarity and fellowship.

“We offer our prayers for those in the Church of England who are disillusioned by this appointment, and we extend our hand of fellowship to them through Gafcon and the Global South Fellowship of Anglicans,” Kaziimba added.

Looking ahead, he expressed confidence in the growth of gospel-centered mission across Africa and the Global South.

“The future of Gospel-centred mission in our Anglican tradition is bright. The fields are ripe for harvest; we pray for laborers to go into the harvest,” he said. “As we declared at our 2018 Gafcon meeting in Jerusalem, we will proclaim Christ faithfully to the nations.”

Mullally’s appointment marks a watershed moment in the Church of England’s history but also underlines the deepening fractures in the global Anglican family. While some hail her rise as progress for women in leadership, others, including the Church of Uganda, see it as further evidence of a theological and moral crisis that threatens the unity of the Communion.