On the appointment of senior leaders in the Church
by Ian Paul, Psephizo:
On 6th January, it was announced that Stephen Knott, who has been working as part of the Lambeth Palace team, was appointed to be Archbishops’ Secretary for Appointments in succession to Caroline Boddington. The role has attracted attention in the past, since Caroline developed the role so that it had significant control over the process of selecting clergy to be part of the (also controversial) senior leader training programme, which then fed into the selection of bishops. Questions were raised about how so much influence over the future leadership of the Church accrued to one (lay) position, and there was also a question of conflict of interest since Caroline is married to the former Bishop of Derby. At her farewell in General Synod in November 2021, Justin Welby described her as ‘the most powerful person in the Church of England.’ Apparently, this was intended to be a joke, but it was sufficiently close to the truth that only half the room laughed.
The role has in fact been changed, with a key part of the involvement in senior leadership training being moved across to Ministry Division—but that has not been mentioned in any of the announcements about the post.
By all accounts, Stephen Knott has been a competent and valued member of the team at Lambeth. But his appointment is controversial, as last year he entered a same-sex marriage with his partner of 20 years, the Governor of Edinburgh Castle, Major General Alastair Bruce of Crionaich, OBE, and did so in a service of the Scottish Episcopal Church conducted by the Bishop of Edinburgh. Discussing particular individuals appointed to specific roles presents a challenge, since it can easily look as though an individual is being singled out—yet there are some very significant questions of process, policy, and institutional integrity which are raised by this—and have been raised in several places.
Synod member Luke Appleton highlighted some of the issues the day after the appointment was announced:
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