The time bombs in the new Archbishop of Canterbury's in-tray for 2026

The time bombs in the new Archbishop of Canterbury's in-tray for 2026 The church of Holy Trinity is a solid red-brick presence at the top of Guildford's medieval High Street. There has been a place of worship on the site since at least the 14th Century, and today's Georgian building includes the tomb of an archbishop of Canterbury from the reign of the Stuarts. The pre-Christmas scene here could not be more traditional - children from the local Church of England school putting on a Nativity show of song, dance and drama. But there is a quiet revolution unfolding at Holy Trinity. In defiance of the Church of England's current rules, the rector of Holy Trinity and St Mary's, Simon Butler, is conducting stand-alone same-sex blessings (blessings that are carried out individually, rather than as a small part of a normal scheduled service). This quiet act of defiance is a metaphor for the state of the Church as a whole, as Dame Sarah Mullally, the Bishop of London, prepares to take over the C of E's top job on 28 January. The sense of crisis facing the Church in the aftermath of Justin Welby's resignation this time last year has subsided. Archbishop Welby stood down after being accused of failing to follow up information about abuse committed by the late John Smyth, a lawyer who ran Christian camps here and in Zimbabwe. While the process of finding a permanent replacement for Justin Welby has taken time, it has all been done by the book, and the choice has been welcomed by many, though not all. But beneath the smooth-sailing surface, the icebergs are still there. Many of the big issues that troubled Justin Welby's time in office remain unresolved, and the evidence suggests Dame Sarah is facing truly turbulent times when she is installed at Canterbury Cathedral. Splits over same-sex couples The debate over same-sex relationships has troubled the Church for decades. Sir John Wolfenden, whose 1957 inquiry concluded that sex between men should be decriminalised, was a committed Anglican, and his recommendation was couched in grudging terms. "We do not see," he declared, "why this particular form of sexual behaviour, which we regard, most of us, as morally repugnant... should be a criminal offence." The archbishops of Canterbury and York of the day (and in the 1950s the views of archbishops carried much greater weight) both supported the change in the law, but also both condemned homosexuality in moral terms. Michael Ramsay, then Archbishop of York and later of Canterbury, declared, "Christianity abhors the indulgence of lust, whether by fornication, adultery or homosexuality." In 2023 it looked as if the cycle of debate which had held the church in its clutches for so many years had been broken. The General Synod, the Church's parliament, voted to approve a set of prayers for blessing same-sex couples, and also decided that stand-alone blessing services should be trialled - even though many traditionalists argued that these are gay weddings in all but...

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