00:00So first of all, Bishop Moira, how do you feel about the announcement today of Dame Sarah Mullally as next Archbishop of Canterbury?
00:10I'm really delighted, and I'm mainly delighted because I think she has the experience and the gifts given to her by God that are going to be just right for what we need in the Archbishop of Canterbury at the moment.
00:22But of course I'm also delighted that we have a woman occupying this role.
00:26What makes it significant for you that she's a woman?
00:30For me, it means the Church of England in its leadership is fully inclusive.
00:38There's any level of the Church of England where if the right person happens to be a woman, then they'll be the person.
00:46There's also something else about having the lived experience of women in the Archbishop's Council at that senior level.
00:53Although every one of us has different experience, there are some things we share as women.
00:59And one of those things is the vulnerability we have.
01:04Often we're shorter than other people.
01:07And we will have all been taught not to walk in certain places at night because you might get attacked.
01:13And that is something that I think is desperately sad.
01:21And yet it is our lived experience.
01:22And so by the very nature of what she is and what she's lived through, Sarah will have a view for the vulnerable.
01:31And she also will have a lot of lived experience of being a bishop to a very rural area of Devon, which is obviously the position you hold now.
01:42What do you think that will mean in terms of how she's able to consider and represent the rural parts of our country?
01:47Yeah, there'll always be a bit of her that is reversing down a Devon Lane.
01:52You can never quite forget that after you've done it as often.
01:54I mean, even in three months, I've done it quite a lot.
01:57So in her three years, I'm sure she's done that.
02:00But also that joy of turning up to quite a small village where God has been worshipped and honoured.
02:06And this church is still a beacon of hope in that community is something she will have in her heart, alongside all those experiences she's had of London, of the large and the small churches there, each serving, each bringing God's love into their different communities.
02:24Now, she consecrated you, a bishop, only back in July at St Paul's Cathedral, which was a lovely day.
02:31What advice do you have for her as she steps into this very significant new role?
02:34Well, it's quite difficult when I've only been in my role three months to advise someone else.
02:40But if I were to advise her, my advice would be, firstly, what she already knows is that the number one thing is prayer.
02:49We don't do this by our own strength.
02:51We do this by the strength God gives us.
02:54She's taken on a role that some are calling an impossible role.
02:57Well, it's possible because of God's grace and because of God's wisdom in choosing.
03:03Which things are she going to respond to?
03:07Which is she going to say, that's not for me?
03:09That's number one.
03:10Number two would be to encourage.
03:13All sorts of things she will have seen in her ministry as a bishop are deeply encouraging.
03:19There is a sense that God is on the move, that things are happening.
03:22And if she, in a situation where sometimes people will be throwing difficult things at her, can still say,
03:29and yet, God is great, God is love, God is here, and good things are happening,
03:36then I'm sure she will do brilliantly.
03:40Bishop Mario, thank you very much indeed.
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