a schism within the Anglican world?

With 77 million faithful around the world, will the great family of Anglican Churches be torn apart? Since Sarah Mullally was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury – becoming the first woman to head the Church of England – some bishops have applauded while others choked.

At the head of the protesters, the Global Anglican Conference (Gafcon), which represents conservative Anglican territories, expressed its “sadness”, regretting a choice which “further divides an already charged communion”, in its official press release. In fact, the Anglican Communion is a federation of Anglican theological churches “in communion” with the Canterbury See, but it is deeply divided.

The network is divided between northern provinces (Canada, England, United States, etc.) with a predominantly liberal tendency and conservative southern provinces (Central Africa, Nigeria, etc.), which advocate greater fidelity to the Bible. Despite these very different sensibilities, the Archbishop of Canterbury is supposed to embody the unity of the Anglican world. How can it fulfill its role when the Global Anglican Conference claims not to be able to recognize it “as an instrument of communion”?

In recent years, refractory bishops have already sent several worrying signals. In 2022, the primates of the communities of Rwanda, Uganda and Nigeria refused to participate in the Lambeth conference which brings together the Anglican Churches, approximately every ten years.

Already opposed for a long time to the ordination of women, they contested with even more virulence the possibility of blessing same-sex couples, open in several Churches. To prevent the schism, Justin Welby, then Archbishop of Canterbury, astutely declared that Anglicanism was “deeply divided and this is not about to end”. A diplomatic way of recording disagreements to better preserve unity.

But that did not prevent the Church of England from authorizing the blessings of same-sex couples at its General Synod in February 2023. Immediately, the news had the effect of an earthquake. Twelve primates from Africa, Asia and the Americas members of the Global South Fellowship declared that their organization was “no longer able to recognize the Most Reverend Justin Welby as (…) leader of the World Communion”.

“A role of presidency of the bishops”

However, the Global South Fellowship has enormous demographic weight. All of its provinces – in Bangladesh, Brazil and Congo – represent around 75% of the Anglican faithful in the world. But his threat of rupture is not sufficiently credible according to journalist Stephen Bates, a specialist in religious issues.

“The Churches in the South have many more faithful, of course,” concedes the former Guardian correspondent in France. But the Churches of Australia or England are richer and support numerous development or mission projects in Africa or Asia. Conservative primates regularly alert Canterbury headquarters of a possible departure but it does not take shape. For them, it is very important to stay in an international organization of this scale.”

Can we really speak of a “schism” in a federation of autocephalous Churches? This last term, a little rough to the ear, means that each primate benefits from total independence on a legal level. “The Archbishop of Canterbury does not have a function equivalent to that of the Pope of the Catholic Church, continues journalist Stephen Bates. He assumes a role of presidency of the bishops and he is a spiritual leader for the Anglican Communion but he does not really have the power to apply sanctions if his authority is opposed. He cannot excommunicate anyone.

With such restricted powers, Sarah Mullally would not worry these already very autonomous primates so much. Stephen Bates’ wife, Alice, even adds in her capacity as a female Anglican priest: “In choosing Sarah Mullally, the Church of England is taking a strong and courageous decision. But she is a fairly consensual figure in our community, and other more charismatic and committed female bishops could have taken on this role. We know that the power of the Archbishop of Canterbury is limited in the Communion Anglican! I think we should therefore have made an even more radical choice!” An opinion which reflects the growing polarization of ideas within the Anglican clergy.