There is so much going on everywhere and all at once that it’s hard to focus on any one thing, and not just because so much of what is going on is so awful. But there is something happening today that is a positive change in the world.

That’s because later today the Anglican Church will install the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally. Her formal installation will mark the beginning of her public ministry as ABC. While she will be the 106th ABC, she is the first female bishop to hold that title.

As you can probably imagine, lots of English people are upset about the idea of a woman taking over that role. But at this point, all I can muster in response to them is a hearty “fuck off”. The Church of England ordains women to the priesthood and elevates them to the position of bishop and this isn’t something to have the vapors over.

So how was she chosen? Well, it’s not quite as mysterious as electing a pope. Essentially there is a committee (the Crown Notification Commission) which votes to produce a candidate, whose name is then presented to the prime minister, who presents it to the monarch, who approves the candidate, and then a formal election by the College of Canons of Canterbury. You can read a bit more detail here.

The ABC is the primate of the Church of England, and also serves as its representative to the Anglican Communion. The ABC is not a pope, and is recognized as the Anglican Communion’s titular head, although she will have considerable influence beyond her position in the national church.

Mullally was initially trained as a nurse, and rose to become the NHS’s Chief Nursing Officer, for which she later received the Order of the British Empire. She obviously supports women’s ordination but she also acknowledged that others don’t accept it. She is pro-choice. And she has said she supports blessings for same sex unions, although that isn’t the same as advocating for marriage.

The same sex marriage issue has plagued the Anglican Communion for decades. The Episcopal Church—the American member of the Anglican Communion—has been openly advocating for LGBTQ+ people since 1976 and refused to back down on the issue of ordaining LGBTQ+ people which led to its being punished by the AC. And those issues are still not settled either in the Church of England or even across the whole of the Anglican Communion. In fact, the AC will meet soon after her installation, and those issues will be at the forefront.

The installation of the first female Archbishop of Canterbury is a historic moment. Let’s hope she’s able to make some historic change to the religious community she symbolically leads.

Her installation at Canterbury Cathedral will be live streamed at 3:00 PM GMT. You can watch a live feed of it here.

I’ll leave you with one of the hymns from the installation, but sung here to a different hymn tune (a better one IMO):