THE swift and virtually uncontested synodical election, on 24 May, of the Bishop of Islington, Dr Ric Thorpe, as the 14th Archbishop of Melbourne took many Anglicans by surprise (News, 30 May). Others were not so surprised: it has since been suggested that the election was the culmination of years of planning by Evangelicals, particularly church-planting enthusiasts, in the diocese.
The result has confirmed that the diocese is no longer evenly divided between Evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics, as it was when the 13th Archbishop, Dr Philip Freier, was elected in 2006. Long considered a progressive diocese, in sharp contrast with the hard conservativism of Sydney, Melbourne is now much closer to Sydney, certainly concerning same-sex relationships.
This dynamic shift to conservatism in the diocese of Melbourne — once the strongest counter-balance to Sydney’s hardline stance on gender and sexuality — will inevitably reshape the Anglican Church of Australia. It will bolster Sydney diocese’s already powerful dominance in the General Synod. How has this come about?
First, the number of Evangelicals in Melbourne diocese has been steadily increasing since the election of a Sydney regional bishop, the Rt Revd Peter Watson, as Archbishop in 2000. Given that he was not as conservative as his home diocese on issues such as the ordination of women, Archbishop Watson was accepted warmly by all sides in Melbourne.
The net effect of his brief Melbourne archiepiscopate — he retired in 2005 — nevertheless shifted the fine balance between Evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics. The Evangelicals in Melbourne, no doubt influenced by Sydney Anglicanism under Dr Peter Jensen, Archbishop from 2001 to 2013, became steadily more conservative, unlike their previous manifestation in Melbourne. It was Melbourne Evangelicals, after all, who had promoted the ordination of women, against Sydney’s opposition.
The shift in church tradition in Melbourne accelerated under the 17-year archiepiscopate of Dr Freier, who retired in February. Although nominally an Anglo-Catholic, Dr Freier was even-handed and allowed Evangelical projects to flourish. One such project that gained a green light was church-planting. Numerous church-plants, known as “Authorised Anglican Congregations”, have resulted, five of which are part of a larger conservative church-planting movement, City on a Hill. It has been estimated that Evangelicals now comprise 60 per cent of Melbourne Anglicans.
SECOND, there was little competition for Dr Thorpe among the four candidates brought to the synod by the Board of Nominators. He was the only bishop; the other three were Evangelical Melbourne clergy.
Melbourne has not elected a non-bishop as Archbishop since 1929. That the one bishop on the list was an Englishman, and not an Australian bishop, was a surprise, given that there are diocesan and regional Evangelical bishops in Australia, in Melbourne itself and elsewhere. It is close to 70 years since Melbourne last elected an English bishop — Frank Woods, Bishop of Middleton, in Manchester diocese — in 1957.
As the lone bishop on offer, it was relatively easy for Dr Thorpe to gain 70 per cent of the synod vote in just three ballots, in marked contrast to the prolonged processes of all the previous synod elections. The last election, in 2006, required two sessions of the synod months apart, each meeting over four days.
Unlike the lists brought by previous Boards, which have always honoured the diversity of Melbourne’s tradition, the Board this time, dominated by Evangelicals, not only did not bring any Anglo-Catholics, but also brought no one likely to be progressive on same-sex issues.
Before the Church of England’s General Synod debated the Bishops’ proposals for the blessing of same-sex unions, in 2023 (News, 3 February 2023), Dr Thorpe published a defence of restricting marriage to a traditional understanding as between a man and a woman. His record of opposing blessings and prayers for same-sex relationships was clearly a bonus for his candidature rather than the liability that it might have been, say, two decades earlier.
In the Anglican Church of Australia, same-sex blessing services were deemed not to violate the Church’s constitution by its highest court, the Appellate Tribunal, in 2020; blessings have followed in some dioceses, though not Melbourne, given the recent strength of conservative Evangelicals. It is telling that GAFCON Australia has praised Dr Thorpe’s election.
THIRD, on the basis of a survey that it had conducted, the Board of Nominators had argued that the diocese wanted radical change, given that the diocesan budget was in deficit and that the Church was in decline. In the 2021 Australian census, Anglicans were 5.5 per cent of the Melbourne population, half the number at the time of the last Melbourne election in 2006.
A century ago, the Anglican Church was the dominant Christian denomination, accounting for almost half the Australian population. Then, the Anglican Church had quasi-establishment status, and, even until Dr Freier’s election, attracted enormous press interest when an archbishop was elected. This time, there has been no reporting in the secular media.
A church-planter, it seemed, was what was required, and it has now been revealed that the appointment of a church-planter Archbishop has been planned for some time. The Revd Dr Peter Carolane, a Melbourne church-planter, writing on social media, has called the election the result of “the quiet revolution that transformed Melbourne Anglicanism”.
“Ric’s election involved multiple factors,” he wrote. There were “back room” people, conversations in corridors, strategic phone calls, and “careful coalition-building that helped crystallise support around Ric’s candidacy”. Dr Thorpe’s regular visits to Melbourne in recent years to advise on church-planting will undoubtedly have raised his profile.
Whatever factors contributed to his election, this is undoubtedly a watershed for both the diocese of Melbourne and the national Church.
Dr Muriel Porter is Australia correspondent for the Church Times.