Woman heads search for Carey successor

Christian Century, April 10, 2002

A woman may not be eligible to become the next archbishop of Canterbury--the Church of England is still quite some way from allowing women to become bishops--but a woman will play a leading role in deciding who will succeed George Carey as head of the Anglican Church when he retires at the end of October.

She is Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, one of Britain's top judges and president of the family division of the High Court. She was named March 26 by Prime Minister Tony Blair to chair the Crown Appointments Commission when it meets to decide on Carey's successor. Butler-Sloss was most recently in the news when as a judge she ruled that "Miss B," who has been paralyzed from the neck down and dependent on a ventilator for the past year, can demand to have her life-support system switched off.

Within the next two or three months the commission will put forward two names to Blair, who will select one to put before Queen Elizabeth for nomination. If Blair does not like the two names put forward, he can ask the commission to think again. --RNS