Cardinal Nichols welcomes first woman Bishop of London

Bishop Sarah Mullally

Source: CoE News/CCN

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, has offered his congratulations to the Rt Rev Sarah Mullally who is to become the next Anglican Bishop of London.

The Cardinal said: "Today I congratulate the Rt Rev Sarah Mullally DBE, on her appointment as the Bishop of London. I assure her of my prayers as she prepares to take up leadership in the thriving Diocese of London.

"I look forward to our partnership in making Christ known in this diverse and unsleeping city."

The Rt Rev Sarah Mullally DBE, currently Bishop of Crediton, will succeed Bishop Richard Chartres KCVO, who retired earlier this year. She will be installed as the 133rd Bishop of London at St Paul's Cathedral in the new year.

Bishop Sarah was a senior civil servant in the Department of Health before ordination. A trained nurse, she became Chief Nursing Officer for England in 1999, the youngest person to be appointed to the post. She was ordained in 2001 and served her curacy in St Saviour's Battersea Fields, initially as a self-supporting minister, before leaving her Government post in 2004, subsequently taking up full-time ministry in the London Borough of Sutton.

Bishop Sarah was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 2005 in recognition of her outstanding contribution to nursing and midwifery. In 2012 she was installed as Canon Treasurer at Salisbury Cathedral, before becoming Bishop of Crediton in the Diocese of Exeter in 2015, primarily serving North and East Devon. She is a member of the Church of England's National Safeguarding Steering Group. Bishop Sarah is married to Eamonn and they have two children.

She said: "It is a great honour to be nominated to the See of London. Having lived and worked in London for over 32 years, the thought of returning here is about returning home. I am often asked what it has been like to have had two careers, first in the NHS and now in the Church. I prefer to think that I have always had one vocation: to follow Jesus Christ, to know him and to make him known, always seeking to live with compassion in the service of others, whether as a nurse, a priest, or a bishop. To be given the opportunity to do that now in this vibrant world-city is a wonderful privilege."

Bishop Sarah was introduced to representatives from across the Diocese of London at St Paul's Cathedral on Monday morning, before meeting staff and students at the Urswick Secondary School in Hackney, where 70% of pupils are eligible for Pupil Premium Funding. As part of an initial tour of some of the parishes and projects at work in the Diocese, Bishop Sarah will also be visiting a foodbank preparing Christmas packages at St John's in Hoxton and she will be introduced to leaders from the Tower Hamlets Interfaith Forum, to discuss unity, solidarity, and the challenges that London's faith communities face together.