July 24, 2002

Broad support for next Archbishop of Canterbury

Many church leaders in Britain and around the world have welcomed the appointment of the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Wales, as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury. Archbishop Williams will succeed Archbishop George L. Carey, who will retire at the end of October.

The general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser, has acknowledged the considerable gifts of theological insight, ecumenical commitment and pastoral sensitivity which Dr Williams will bring to his new office.

Dr Raiser also referred warmly to the book, Writing in the Dust, which Dr Williams wrote following the September 11 tragedy in the USA. Dr Raiser called it a "voice of sanity, clarity and Christian witness in the midst of confusion and dehumanising tendencies".

Writing to congratulate Archbishop Williams, Dr Raiser said, "This is a critical time for the Church, the society and the world as human and humane values seem to be increasingly distorted, and the challenges of tolerance and inclusion are actively resisted ... In your poetry, you have continually called society back to community values and the respect of the individual and the whole of creation. Please be assured of the prayers of the other Churches as you seek to fulfil your responsibilities."

The Rev. John Waller, Moderator of the General Assembly of the United Reformed Church, said, "In an increasingly global society the church needs leadership which is rooted in the Christian gospel yet which recognises that all the non-essentials of the church must be open to challenge and change. We also welcome the way in which Archbishop Rowan has shown himself willing to speak a prophetic word in the political discussion of the day. I want to add my voice to his recent questioning of the ethics of a military attack on Iraq."

The Rev. Peter Noble, the United Reformed Church's Moderator of the National Synod of Wales, said, "Here in Wales, our delight is naturally tempered with a tinge of sadness. The church will gain a deeply spiritual person whose leadership, pastoral care and exceptional ability to speak Christian faith to our contemporary world is well recognised. His ecumenical zeal and the inclusiveness in his theological thinking is an example to us all. The whole church needs leadership and spirituality of the calibre Rowan will offer."

In addition to his spiritual and intellectual gifts, Archbishop Williams is noted for being able to lecture in five languages, communicate clearly to "more ordinary folk", being the youngest archbishop for 200 years, the first from outside the Church of England since 1558 and the first since the 1880s to bring school-aged children to Lambeth Palace with him.

In his new job he will preside over what has been described as a "demoralised and declining Church of England" and a "fissiparous" worldwide Anglican communion whose 70 million members range from fundamentalists to radicals with very few beliefs in common.

Although theologically orthodox, some people fear his alleged "radicalism". He supports women priests and bishops and homosexuals, is willing to criticise government policy, labelled plans to attack Iraq as "immoral and illegal", has deplored all military action that takes innocent lives, and described the assault on Afghanistan as morally tainted.

In a book serialised in the Times on the day of his appointment, he attacks what he calls the corruption and premature sexualisation of children by a consumer society and singles out the Disney Corporation as one of the worst offenders.

After the September 11 terrorist attacks he said that "the closer you were to facing and accepting death, the harder it was to wish the fear on anyone else. The prospect of death elbows aside thoughts of power and revenge. The unspeakable tragedy of thousands of innocent dead cannot be made 'better' by more deaths."

He said, "When we speak to God in the language of hatred and rejection, nails and spears, nail-bombs and air strikes, terror attacks and the bleeding bodies of children, in Ireland, Baghdad, Jerusalem or New York, God refuses to answer in that language. He can only speak his own Word which, in the incarnation, is a Word shared with us."

The archbishop said he wanted to start his ministry at Canterbury by listening to a range of views and that courage and conversation would be needed to reconcile conflict.

He said, "I hope with all my heart that I can serve to nurture confidence and conviction in our church, and to help Christian faith to capture the imagination of our people and our culture ... I have much to learn, and hope that I shall discover how God is leading the Anglican church, and how I can best cooperate with that leading."

He said, "The primary job for me remains what it has long been: I have to go on being a priest and bishop, that is, to celebrate God and what God has done in Jesus, and to offer in God's name whatever I can discern of God's perspective on the world around -- something which involves both challenge and comfort."

Presiding Bishop in the United States Frank T. Griswold said, "The combination of a keen mind and a contemplative heart, together with an ability to relate classical Christian tradition to the needs and struggles of our world, make him eminently qualified to take up this important and challenging ministry of service."

"He's the best theologian in Britain and thoroughly orthodox," said Dr. Nicholas Lash, a retired professor of theology at Cambridge in comments reported in the Independent. "But society has been dechristianised so rapidly very few people recognise what an orthodox Christian is and believe what a few noisy evangelicals tell them."

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

The Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Peter Jensen, said, "Dr Williams is a distinguished theologian with great intellectual and academic gifts. He understands the need to explain and commend the Christian faith to this present generation, and upholds the biblical view of such significant Christian doctrines as the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ and the virgin birth.

"The Anglican Communion presently faces certain difficulties of relationship, of authority, and of questioning of long-held Scriptural teaching. Anglicans will pray that, during his episcopate in the See of Canterbury, Archbishop Williams will lead the Communion in faithful adherence to the teaching of the Scripture, especially in regard to the Biblical teaching on marriage and family."

Other leading evangelicals and conservatives have warned of a split in the church. The strongest objections stem from support by Archbishop Williams for the ordination of homosexuals. "Such actions and views fly in the face of the clear teaching of Holy Scripture," conservatives said in a letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair. They also charged that "Williams would not have the confidence of the vast majority of Anglicans in the world who, as loyal Anglicans, take the Holy Scriptures as their supreme authority. His appointment would lead to a major split in the Anglican Communion."

Frank Naggs, a member of the Conservative evangelical group on the Church of England Synod, said there were "fundamental concerns" about Dr Williams's support of homosexuality and women priests.

"We do have problems with his radical agenda, but in the Christian way we would like to have him clarify some of these issues, so we are arranging an early meeting hopefully to clarify some of these fundamental concerns."

John Smith, UK Director of the Evangelical Alliance welcomed "what is a significant and imaginative appointment. We also applaud the decision to appoint the new Archbishop from outside the narrow 'English' confines of the Church of England.

"Rowan Williams combines outstanding scholarship with an attitude of personal warmth and an appreciation of the validity of views beyond his own theological perspective. We hope we would be able to engage in constructive dialogue with him for many years to come and work together in order to promote both unity within the Church and vibrant Christian witness to our culture.

"Dr George Carey served the Church of England during his term well. In particular he kept intact the Church's historic teachings, both on key doctrines such as the Resurrection and the uniqueness of Christ, as well as the moral imperatives of the Christian faith, for example on human sexuality and family life.

"We hope and pray the new Archbishop will work hard to sustain these important traditions."

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."

Mr Kirk said the appointment of Archbishop 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".

Despite the fears, Archbishop Williams' opinions on sexuality have been seen to carry both deep theological conviction and considerable nuance. During a series of lectures in Australia in May he discussed his position on homosexuality. He did not support the resolution at the 1998 Lambeth Conference that condemned homosexual activity and the ordination of gays and lesbians. When asked about a news story where he acknowledged that he ordained a man who "had a homosexual partner in the background," Archbishop Williams said that it was part of his job to make sure that "someone who is going to be a priest in the church is taking full responsibility for all that means."

His "pastoral principle," Dr Williams said, is to "ask someone at ordination if they will conform their lives, and that of their household, to Christ. I have to assure myself, as far as possible, that someone knows what they are undertaking, knows what the responsibility is, and is accountable to somebody in the church for what they do."

Based on that principle, Dr Williams said, "I am not convinced that a homosexual has to be celibate in every imaginable circumstance. But if that were the case, I would also want to be sure that their attitude to their sexual habits is a responsible, prayerful and theologically informed one."