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British paper says Prime Minister will appoint Welsh leader to Canterbury
By James Solheim
2002-175
7/10/2002
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[Episcopal News Service]
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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