wfn.org | Archbishop from Wales to lead Anglican communion

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #7352 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

24-July-2002
02265

Archbishop from Wales to lead Anglican communion  
  
by Cedric Pulford  
Ecumenical News International

LONDON - A prominent Anglican intellectual and theologian, Rowan Williams, has been named as the next archbishop of Canterbury in succession to George Carey.  

As archbishop, he will be the spiritual head of the Church of England and leader of the nearly 70 million-strong Anglican Communion world-wide.  

Dr Williams, 52, who is currently the archbishop of Wales, said when the appointment was announced today: "An enormous trust has been placed in my hands, and I can only approach it with a degree of awe as well as gratitude that I have been thought worthy of it."  

He said that he hoped "with all my heart that I can serve to nurture confidence and conviction in our church".  

The Daily Telegraph described Williams as "a holy man, profoundly learned, one who watches the signs of the times with the wisdom and compassion of the unworldly".  

One of his strongest backers was the former South African Anglican archbishop, Desmond Tutu, who described Williams as the Church of England's leading theologian and someone with a deep spirituality.   

Dr Keith Clements, general secretary of the Conference of European Churches, said of Williams: "As I personally know, he is a rare combination of spirituality, intellectual rigor and ecumenical commitment.   

"A few years ago, he described ecumenism as a shared passion in our understanding of God. We need that kind of simple but profound insight to refresh the ecumenical movement at this time."  

Williams is from Anglicanism's liberal wing, and his appointment was welcomed by gay and women's groups within the Church of England. The appointment of women bishops and the admittance of practicing homosexuals to the ministry, both presently disallowed, are the two most divisive issues facing the church.  

Williams's liberal stance on homosexuality will likely rankle many in Africa and Asia. However, Anglican provinces are autonomous, and although the archbishop of Canterbury wields moral authority, he has no power to impose his views on the provinces.  

Richard Kirker, general secretary of Britain's Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, said of the appointment: "This is extraordinarily good news and we are tremendously excited. No longer will we need to feel shut out of the heart of the church. 

"For too long the Church of England has marginalized lesbian and gay people. It has been responsible for legitimizing prejudice, discrimination and injustice. Dr Williams's reputation as a man of prayer and reflection gives us great hope that those days are now coming to an end."  

Christina Reese, chair of WATCH (Women and the Church), said she was "excited" by the appointment of Williams. "He will consecrate the first women as bishops," she told ENI.  

Reese claimed that sentiment in Church of England parishes had already moved decisively in favor of women bishops, which she expected to be approved by 2006 or 2007.  

Geoffrey Kirk, national secretary of the Anglican traditionalist group Forward in Faith, told ENI: "It is a high-risk strategy to have chosen someone so closely associated with the issues of women bishops and homosexuality.  

"He is seen as of such towering stature [as an intellectual] that his difficulties in this area are diminished."   

Kirk said the appointment of Williams was "on the surface a dangerous choice" because of the possible negative reaction in the southern hemisphere, and the appointing authorities "might have been more cautious".  

This month Williams gave an early indication that he may be more outspoken than his predecessor, Dr Carey. He was a signatory to a statement in the Roman Catholic journal, The Tablet, describing the prospect of a renewed attack on Iraq as "both immoral and illegal".  

The statement said: "It is deplorable that the world's most powerful nations continue to regard war and the threat of war as an acceptable instrument of foreign policy."  

Born in Swansea into a Welsh-speaking family, Williams graduated from Cambridge University and spent two years at the Community of the Resurrection, an Anglican monastery in Mirfield, in northern England.  

He was Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at Oxford University from 1986 to 1992. He was enthroned as bishop of Monmouth in 1992 and archbishop of Wales in 2000.  

He has written a number of books on the history of theology and spirituality and published collections of articles and sermons - as well as poems.  

His reflections on the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US have been published as Writing in the Dust. Williams was in New York, close to the World Trade Center, when the Twin Towers were struck.  

In a letter sent to Williams today, Dr Konrad Raiser, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, said: "Your recent reflections on the events of September 11 and its aftermath have been a voice of sanity, clarity and Christian witness in the midst of confusion and dehumanizing tendencies." Raiser paid tribute to Williams's "considerable gifts of theological insight, ecumenical commitment and pastoral sensitivity".  

Williams emerged as the 104th archbishop of Canterbury from an elaborate selection process that started last January when Dr Carey, 66, announced his retirement to take effect on October 31.

A Crown Appointments Commission was set up, including representatives of the diocese of Canterbury and clergy and lay members from the Church of England's ruling general synod.   

Because the Church of England is an "established", or state, church, the final choice for the post was made by the government in the name of Queen Elizabeth II.  

Meeting in secret, the commission considered a range of names and put two forward to Prime Minister Tony Blair. The second name has not been made public.  

As one of the youngest appointees to Canterbury in recent times, Williams will be able to serve for almost two decades before he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70.  

Williams's wife, Jane, is a university teacher. The couple has two children, Rhiannon, born 1988, and Pip, born 1996.  

Williams will have another distinction: he will be the first bearded archbishop of Canterbury for more than 300 years, according to church authorities. The last bearded primate was Archbishop Gilbert Sheldon, who held the office from 1663 to 1677.
------------------------------------------
Send your response to this article to pcusa.news@pcusa.org

------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send an 'unsubscribe' request to

pcusanews-request@halak.pcusa.org