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The surprising election of Archbishop Ric Thorpe
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 October 2025
Abstract
For the first time in well over half a century, a Church of England bishop has been elected archbishop of an Australian metropolitan diocese with the election of Ric Thorpe, the Bishop of Islington in London, as Archbishop of Melbourne. It has come as a considerable surprise, not only for Melbourne but also for the Anglican Church of Australia. This paper will begin by dissecting the May election, contrasting it with previous Melbourne elections, before outlining the progressive character of Melbourne Diocese that exists no more. It will then discuss how the dramatic changes the election has revealed have come about, before turning to the impact on the broader Australian church.
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- © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Journal of Anglican Studies Trust
References
1 The term ‘catholic Anglicans’ is used in preference to either ‘Anglo-Catholics’ or ‘liberal catholics’. The first term has connotations of formal ritualism, which today describes only a limited number of catholic Anglicans in Melbourne, while ‘liberal catholics’ can connote a less than orthodox theological position.
2 Muriel Porter, ‘The Election of an “Outsider” Archbishop’, Journal of Anglican Studies (2024), p. 1–16. doi:10.1017/S1740355324000500.
3 In the first (failed) election attempt of 1990, the candidates included John Reid, a Sydney assistant bishop, and Melbourne archdeacon Alan Nichols, both Evangelicals. In the successful second attempt, Dr Bruce Kaye, a Sydney Evangelical, was a candidate. In 2000, Synod elected Sydney assistant bishop Peter Watson. In the first 2006 election attempt, Tasmanian bishop John Harrower, an Evangelical, was a candidate; in the second attempt, Melbourne archdeacon David Powys, an Evangelical, was a candidate.
4 churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2015/6-march/news/uk/chartres-sets-out-plan-for-bishop-for-church-plants. (accessed July 2025).
5 Peter Carolane, ‘Why we elected Ric: the quiet revolution that transformed Melbourne Anglicanism’, 27 May 2025, https://theothercheek.com.au/why-we-elected-ric/. (accessed July 2025).
6 Peter Carolane, ‘Why we elected Ric…’
7 https://www.boardofnominators.org/_files/ugd/b6a9bf_bdd9f64d3ca74219b5aaf6f2212eecca.pdf. (accessed July 2025).
8 In the first ballot, Megan Curlis-Gibson got 19 per cent of the clergy vote and 25 per cent of the lay vote, well above votes for either Tim Johnson or Wei-Han Kuan. Thorpe was well ahead in the first ballot, with 53 per cent of the clergy and 43 per cent of the laity. In the next ballot, with Tim Johnson excluded, Archdeacon Curlis-Gibson achieved 17 per cent of the clergy and 25 per cent of the laity, but not sufficient to challenge Thorpe, who achieved comfortable majorities in both houses. He was the sole candidate in the final ballot, where he needed to achieve two-thirds votes in each house. He achieved this standard comfortably with almost 72 per cent in the clergy and 69 per cent in the laity.
9 At the time of the election, the Board of Nominators had been reduced to fourteen members after four members, catholic aligned, had withdrawn at various times. Only three catholics – just one of them a cleric – remained. Their votes on decisions about who would be considered and who would eventually become candidates would have been irrelevant.
10 As we cannot access the board’s deliberations, we cannot know if other bishops were considered, and either were not deemed suitable or declined to participate. It should be noted that non-episcopal Australian clergy were candidates in previous elections, but in each case brought high-level ministry experience and significant reputations. For example, in the 1990 first election, Archdeacon Alan Nichols, a high-profile priest with significant social justice and media credentials, was a candidate; in the first 2006 election, Canon Ray Cleary – with a nationally high profile in social justice ministry – and John Parkes, then Dean of Brisbane, who later became Bishop of Wangaratta, were non-episcopal candidates.
11 https://adomportal.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Final-BoN-report-to-synod.pdf. 24. (accessed August 2025). Although this version of the report is marked ‘not for distribution beyond Synod members’, it is posted on the readily available Melbourne Diocese portal.
13 smh.com.au/national/nsw/anglican-church-on-a-path-to-disintegration-over-blessing-same-sex-unions-20201209-p56m1c.html. (accessed July 2025).
14 abc.net.au/news/2022-08-17/australia-anglican-church-splits-over-same-sex-marriage/101341078. (accessed July 2025).
15 https://scd.org.au/our-churches/. (accessed July 2025).
16 churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2023/13-october/news/uk/bishops-go-public-with-their-rift-over-blessings-for-same-sex-couples. (accessed July 2025).
18 Brian Porter, ‘Woods, Frank (1907–1992)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/woods-frank-16264/text28200, published online 2016. (accessed July 2025).
19 Graham Willett, ‘Into the Present: Anglicanism and homosexuality in the 1970s’, in Colin Holden, ed., People of the Past? The Culture of Melbourne Anglicanism in Melbourne’s Culture (Melbourne: History Department, University of Melbourne, 2000), https://search-informit.org.divinity.idm.oclc.org/doi/epdf/10.3316/informit.734777681533497. (accessed August 2025).
20 The Age,12 October 1971, 3.
21 The Age, 14 October 1971, 4.
22 Graham Willett, ‘Into the Present: Anglicanism and homosexuality in the 1970s’. (accessed August 2025).
23 The Sydney Morning Herald, 18 October 1973, 2.
24 Year Book of the Diocese of Melbourne (Melbourne: Diocesan Registry, 1972), 320.
25 Year Book of the Diocese of Melbourne (Melbourne: Diocesan Registry, 1973), 316.
26 Remarriage of divorced persons was formally permitted by the ‘Marriage of Divorced Persons Canon 1981’, which finally came into force in 1985.
27 Brian Porter, ed., Frank Woods: Sermons and Addresses. Forward in Depth (Melbourne: JBCE, 1987), 87–89.
28 Glenn Davies, ‘Letter to Members of Synod Regarding Domestic Abuse and Remarriage’, 17 July 2019. https://docs.sydneyanglicans.net/s/sfsites/c/sfc/servlet.shepherd/document/download/069Ol00000EFiXMIA1. (accessed July 2025). Woods’ decision was progressive, not just in comparison to Sydney. The Church of England did not permit the remarriage of divorced persons in church until 2002.
29 Year Book of the Diocese of Melbourne (Melbourne: Diocesan Registry, 1977), 242.
30 The Age, 1 October 1976, 1.
31 The Age, 1 October 1976.
32 Muriel Porter, Women in the Church: The Great Ordination Debate in Australia (Ringwood, Vic: Penguin, 1989), 70-71.
33 Muriel Porter, Women in the Church, 68–70, 86.
34 Muriel Porter, Women in the Church, 77.
35 Keith Rayner, ‘The Decision Makers: By What Authority?’, Preachers, Prophets and Heretics: Anglican Women’s Ministry, Elaine Lindsay and Janet Scarfe, editors (Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2012), 148.
36 Sydney Diocese continues to hold a firm line against women priests and bishops. Any who visit and undertake any form of ordained ministry in Sydney Diocese are treated as deacons only.
37 The last significant debate took place in the Melbourne Synod in November 2007, when it adopted legislation to allow the appointment of women as assistant bishops in the diocese. It was overwhelmingly supported, leading to the consecration of Melbourne’s first woman bishop, the late Barbara Darling, in May 2008.
38 https://adomportal.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Final-BoN-report-to-synod.pdf. 34.(accessed August 2025).
39 Colin Holden, ‘Melbourne Anglicanism: A Distinctive Culture?’ in Colin Holden, ed., People of the Past? (accessed August 2025).
40 Colin Holden, ‘Melbourne Anglicanism’. Ridley College was founded as an Anglican Evangelical theological college for regional Victoria in 1910. It now trains students from numerous Christian denominations.
41 All three Melbourne candidates in the Synod election are graduates of Ridley College.
42 Bishop Barbara Darling recalled that when she first preached as a student at a Ridley service in 1976, some male students walked out. https://www.smh.com.au/national/gracious-and-gentle-pioneer-was-a-role-model-for-anglican-women-20150216-13gcet.html. (accessed August 2025).
43 The Age, 10 June 2010.
44 The Age, 10 June, 2010.
45 The Age, 10 June 2010.
46 https://www.ridley.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/3.-Gender-and-Ministry-Policy-app-12-05-10.pdf. (accessed August 2025).
47 I have documented Jensen’s impact on these areas extensively in Muriel Porter, The New Puritans: The Rise of Fundamentalism in the Anglican Church (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2006) and Sydney Anglicans and the Threat to World Anglicanism (Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 2011).
48 https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/reformed-theology/ (accessed August 2025).
50 The Revd Matt Paterson, https://www.eternitynews.com.au/opinion/the-aussies-who-loved-fallen-pastor-mark-driscoll/. (accessed August 2025). He added the comment that ‘With the benefit of hindsight, I suspect that most of us look back on that time with a mix of emotions, including shame, regret, and that sinking feeling of “how did we not see it?” Truthfully, we should have listened to the older and wiser Christian leaders who warned us about Driscoll at the time.’
51 https://www.premierchristianity.com/news-analysis/the-rise-and-fall-of-mark-driscoll/761.article. (accessed August 2025).
52 https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/about/foundation-documents. (accessed August 2025).
53 https://au.thegospelcoalition.org/about/council/. (accessed August 2025).
54 https://cityonahill.com.au/melbourne. (accessed August 2025).
55 Keith Rayner, ‘The Decision Makers: By What Authority?’ 148.
56 https://www.ridley.edu.au/about-us/ridley-mission-and-values/. (accessed August 2025).
57 https://gafcon.org/about/the-jerusalem-statement/. (accessed August 2025).
58 https://adomportal.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Synod-Minutes-October-2019-Final.pdf. (accessed August 2025).
59 https://gafcon.org/latest-resources/evangelical-anglicans-on-the-fault-line-in-new-zealand/. (accessed August 2025).
60 https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/anglicans-vote-for-change-with-new-archbishop-20250614-p5m7eo.html. (accessed August 2025).
61 https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/anglicans-vote-for-change-with-new-archbishop-20250614-p5m7eo.html. (accessed August 2025).
62 https://theothercheek.com.au/melbournes-new-archbishop-likely-to-tip-the-balance-of-the-anglican-church/. (accessed August 2025).
63 Church Times, 13 May 2022.
64 https://anglican.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/220511-GS18-Minutes-Day-3.pdf; https://theothercheek.com.au/melbournes-new-archbishop-likely-to-tip-the-balance-of-the-anglican-church/. (accessed August 2025). It is believed that the then Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr Philip Freier, voted against the statement.
65 I have discussed this in detail in Muriel Porter, A New Exile? The Future of Anglicanism (Northcote, Vic: Morning Star Publishing, 2015).
66 Muriel Porter, A New Exile? 15.
67 Muriel Porter, A New Exile? 15.
68 According to the Table annexed to the Constitution, the figure is based on incumbents (whether or not full-time or stipendiary) plus full-time or substantially full-time stipendiary clergy: https://www.anglican.org.au/governance/documents/canons/constitution%20canons%20book%20finalrevclient_indexed.pdf.
69 The 1993 Sydney Standing Committee report to Sydney Synod made it plain that it decided to withhold the special assessment because the General Synod decision to ordain women priests the previous year had ‘left a significant number of persons in the Diocese of Sydney with the view that parts of the Anglican Church of Australia have departed from biblical tradition and ought not be supported’. ‘1993 Synod Summary: Income and Expenditure Ordinance 1993’, Year Book of the Diocese of Sydney 1993, 639–640. Four other dioceses aligned with Sydney Diocese – Armidale, North-West Australia, the Northern Territory and Tasmania – also no longer pay the special assessment because ‘some of that goes to support the global Anglican Communion’. https://www.boardofnominators.org/_files/ugd/b6a9bf_bdd9f64d3ca74219b5aaf6f2212eecca.pdf, 24. (accessed July 2025).
70 Muriel Porter, A New Exile?17.
71 https://anglican.org.au/governance/reporting-groups/. (accessed August 2025).