Who are Sarah Mullally and Sean Rowe?

John Baiamonte, Ph.D.

Grace Memorial Parishioner, Vestry Member, and Christian Education Leader

To be honest with you, I didn’t know until I started writing this blog. Who is Leo
XIV? If you said the current Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, you get a star.
Who is Shannon R. Duckworth? If you said the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana, you get another star. ** (Sorry but I couldn’t find the start key!)

So let me tell you who Sean Rowe and Sarah Mullally are. 

Sean Rowe is the 28th Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church. He followed Michael Curry in November 2024. Ordained as a priest in 2000, he has served as rector for St. John’s Episcopal Church in Franklin, Pennsylvania, as the 8th Bishop of Northwestern Pennsylvania, and the Provisional Bishop for both the Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem and the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York.

Bishop Rowe received his undergraduate degree from Grove City College. He received the Master of Divinity from Virginia Theological Seminary and his PhD from Gannon University. He was introduced to the Episcopal Church by the chair of the history department who was an Episcopal priest. Born on February 16, 1975, he is the youngest Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. Rowe is married to Carly Rowe and has one daughter. The bishop is not afraid to venture into the political fray of American politics. On the day after the 2024 United States presidential election, Rowe sent a letter to the members of the Episcopal Church, stating “We are Christians who support the dignity, safety, and equality of women and LGBTQ+ people as an expression of our faith.” He added “I pray that President Trump and his administration will do the same.” On July 3, 2025, Rowe wrote in the Religion News Service that “the Episcopal Church must now be an engine of resistance and stop “intermingling” with the American federal government. He advocated for continued resistance against the second Trump administration’s “overreach and recklessness.”​

The Rt. Rev. Michael B. Curry, the 27th Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church Source: episcopalchurch.org

The Most Rev. Sean W. Rowe, the 28th Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church Source: episcopalchurch.org

The Most Rev. Sarah Mullally, the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury Source: members-api.parliament.uk

​Across the pond, Sarah Mullally is the Archbishop of Canterbury, the senior bishop and the principal leader of the Church of England. She is one of the 26 Church of England bishops who sit in the House of Lords of Parliament of the United Kingdom. The archbishop was confirmed on January 28, 2026, and is the first woman to hold the office.

Archbishop Mullally was born March 26, 1962. She is married with two children. She received her undergraduate degree and master’s degree from London South Bank University. She received her theological education at the South East Institute, her DipTh at the University of Kent, and a master’s at Heythrop College. While she studied for the priesthood, she served as the Chief Nursing Officer for England.

Pope Gregory sent the first archbishop, Augustine of Canterbury, to England in 597. The Archbishops of Canterbury were in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church until the English Reformation when King Henry VIII broke communion with Rome and proclaimed himself the head of the Church of England. In 1533, Thomas Cranmer became the first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury and one of the most important leaders in the development of Anglicanism. 

Technically, Mullally was appointed by King Charles on the advice of the prime minister of the United Kingdom. She was actually chosen by the Crown Nominations Commission, a Church of England body which advises the prime minister. Since the 20th century, the appointment of archbishops of Canterbury conventionally alternates between Anglo-Catholic and Evangelical Anglicans. Mullally is regarded as a theological liberal or part of the “Central Tradition” within the Church of England rather than representing the traditional Anglo-Catholic or conservative Evangelical factions.

Mullally serves four main roles: Bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury; Metropolitan Archbishop of the Province of Canterbury which covers the southern two-thirds of England; the Senior Primate and chief religious figure of the Church of England; spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion. In these last two roles the archbishop has important ecumenical and interfaith role speaking of behalf of Anglicans in England and worldwide. Unlike Pope Leo XIV Mullally can lead through persuasion only.

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