wfn.org | Episcopalians: British paper says Blair will tap Welsh leader for Canterbury

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

July 10, 2002

2002-175

Episcopalians: British paper says Blair will tap  Welsh 
leader for Canterbury

by James Solheim

(ENS) Following the lead of the Times of London, the UK 
newspaper Guardian said in its July 10 edition that 
British prime minister Tony Blair is ready to send the name of 
Archbishop Rowan Williams of Wales on to Queen Elizabeth II, who 
makes the final choice for archbishop of Canterbury. The Times 
announced June 20 that Williams was the first choice of the 
Crown Appointments Commission.

"The decision, authoritatively confirmed last night to the 
Guardian, has still not gone through all formal procedures," 
Stephen Bates and Michael White wrote in their article. They 
said that an announcement would "nip in the bud growing anxiety 
among senior figures in the Church of England that Mr. Blair's 
delay must mean he was considering overturning the favoured 
choice of the Crown Appointments Commission. The prospect that 
the prime minister might pick the second short-listed 
candidate--Michael Nazir-Ali, bishop of Rochester--would be 
almost unprecedented for such a senior constitutional post at 
the head of the Church of England's hierarchy, at a time when 
calls are growing for it to be disestablished as the official 
state church."

A meeting of the church's General Synod in York resisted 
efforts to change the arcane and complicated procedures for 
choosing archbishops of Canterbury, supporting the involvement 
of the prime minister and the queen. 

The Times quoted a Labour Party source that said that 
the prime minister was "very impressed by Rowan and thinks he is 
a terrific theologian," adding that supporters believe he has 
"the charisma and catholicity necessary to lead the Church of 
England in the 21st century." If appointed, Williams would be 
the first archbishop of Canterbury to come from outside the 
Church of England since the Reformation.

Williams has acknowledged that he has ordained a gay man who 
was living in a committed relationship, and that has led to 
opposition to the appointment from conservatives in the church 
and in the worldwide Anglican Communion, especially church 
leaders in some of the African provinces.

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--James Solheim is director of the Episcopal News Service.