Will the installation of Dame Sarah Mullally as Archbishop of Canterbury prompt a flood of tradition-minded Anglicans into the Catholic Church? I doubt it.

At this point the Anglican communion is held together by convention, not by faith. Anyone whose faith is formed by Christian confidence in Revelation must surely have recognized that the Church of England has abandoned that approach.

Yes, there are the growing Anglican churches in Africa, which reject the liberal theological approach. But they too are divided; it seems unlikely that they can emerge as leaders of a cohesive worldwide community of faith.

The Church of England has survived thus far by fudging all serious theological disputes. That approach has worked (more or less) to preserve fragile bonds that hold the whole thing together. But can the serious questions by ducked forever? Damian Thompson observes in First Things that the great question facing the new archbishop is whether she “can persuade the Church of England not to commit suicide.”