The installation of a female Archbishop of Canterbury highlights the Catholic Church’s continued hesitation on women’s leadership and the need to listen more closely to women’s voices.

On Palm Sunday, the crowds were united. The people were joyous. They were together following Jesus. There was a similar sense on Wednesday, the feast of the Annunciation, when Sarah Mullally was installed as the Archbishop of Canterbury, the leader of the Anglican Church.

While our own Vatican officials continue to kick the can down the road, intimating that the door is not completely closed forever on the question of women’s ordination in the Roman Church, it just looked and sounded so natural to have a woman on the feast of the Annunciation reflecting on Mary’s own call and being installed as the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Mullally said: “Over the last week I have walked the ancient pilgrim path from St Paul’s Cathedral in London to Canterbury Cathedral. Each day my heart and spirits were lifted immeasurably by the people young and old we encountered, even though my aching feet and limbs tell a different story!”

She reflected on Mary’s call: “For Mary, … following God’s invitation to trust in his promises meant trusting in a future she couldn’t yet see – a future she could never have imagined. Mary was invited to put her faith in God, and to trust in the angel’s words of assurance: ‘For nothing will be impossible with God’. I resonate with this, as I look back over my life – at the teenage Sarah, who put her faith in God and made a commitment to follow Jesus. I could never have imagined the future that lay ahead, and certainly not the ministry to which I am now called. Mary followed in the footsteps of the faithful, her story resonates with the beautiful stories of women like Hannah in the Scriptures. Mary put her hope in God’s future. She trusted that He was with her, and through Mary, God did a new thing!”

I daresay there will be many women in the Roman Church who will take heart from Mullally’s life and ministry, though they be only part way along the journey she has travelled.

The Presidents of Churches Together in England presented Mullally with their covenant to work and worship together. Inviting Mullally to sign the covenant, they said: “Dear sister in Christ, our Lord Jesus solemnly prayed for the unity of his disciples in truth and love, and he has given us the Holy Spirit who renews our hearts as he equips and calls us to service and witness for the life of the world.”

For Catholics, there were many hopeful signs at the Canterbury installation. Mullally wore the pastoral ring given to her predecessor Archbishop Michael Ramsey by Pope Paul VI. Richard Moth, the Catholic archbishop of Westminster, read the first reading. The Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity was there as were two English cardinals. All up there were seven Catholic bishops in attendance.

Gone are the days of staying apart and simply denying the validity of Anglican orders. Pope Leo sent a fraternal message affirming “it is through the witness of a reconciled, fraternal and united Christian community that the proclamation of the Gospel will resound most clearly.” Leo said, “I firmly believe that we need to continue to dialogue in truth and love, for it is only in truth and love that we come to know together the grace, mercy and peace of God (cf.2 Jn1:3), and thus can offer these precious gifts to the world.”

In response, Mullally asked that Pope Leo “continue to pray for the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion, that we may be guided by the Holy Spirit in faithfulness, unity, and charity.”

The Final Report of our recent Synod’s Study Group on the Participation of Women in the Life and Leadership of the Church notes:

“Reflection on the role of women in the Church is both necessary and urgent for the full recognition of the Church’s identity. Faced with a world as complex as ours, the first attitude to adopt is that of listening to women before any decision or position is taken. Such listening allows for reflection that does not remain at a merely abstract level but takes into account the diversity of women’s life experiences, education, and cultures across different parts of the world.”

“In approaching this reflection, certain attitudes must first be avoided. First, one must guard against the temptations of fear and haste. It is necessary both to foster the freedom to speak according to conscience, even when this proves “uncomfortable,” and to resist the impatience to achieve concrete results at all costs within a short time.”

This Palm Sunday as we process joyously proclaiming ‘Hosanna in the highest’, let’s pledge ourselves and urge our bishops to listen to women. Like those at the first Palm Sunday, let’s not be motivated by fear. As we wave our palms, let’s have the confidence to speak according to conscience even when this proves uncomfortable.

At the commencement of Archbishop Mullally’s installation, she was questioned by some children: ‘How do you come among us and with what confidence?’ She answered: “I come knowing nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified, and in weakness and fear and in much trembling.” The children then replied: ‘Let us then humble ourselves before God and together seek his mercy and strength.’ After the gospel, the African Choir of Norfolk danced magnificently and sang: ‘Our Creator we praise, everything was created by you'.

This is an extract of Frank Brennan's Palm Sunday Homily