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104th
Archbishop of Canterbury named
Rowan Williams cites 'enormous trust placed in my hands'
Cheers,
prayers of thanksgiving and some voices of alarm greeted the announcement by
the office of Great Britain's prime minister on Tuesday, July 23, that the
Most Rev. Rowan Williams, 52, Archbishop of Wales and Bishop of Monmouth,
will succeed Dr. George Carey as 104th Archbishop of Canter-bury, ending
speculation that began in January when Dr. Carey announced that he would
retire on October 31 of this year.
“I am delighted by the
appointment of Dr. Williams as Archbishop of Canter-bury,” said Los Angeles
Bishop J. Jon Bruno. “He gives us the example of dealing with controversial
issues in positive and pastoral ways.”
Prime Minister Tony Blair,
with the consent of Queen Elizabeth, selected Dr. Williams from two names
submitted to him by the Crown Appointments Commission in a traditional
process that is usually held in strict secrecy. However, British news
sources announced in late June that Williams was likely to be the successful
nominee.
“Recent months and recent
weeks have been a strange time,” Dr. Williams said at a news conference
following the announcement. “It is a curious experience to have your future
discussed, your personality, childhood influences and facial hair solemnly
examined in the media, and opinions you didn’t know you held expounded on
your behalf.
“But in spite of the haze
of speculation it is still something of a shock to find myself here, coming
to terms with an enormous trust placed in my hands and with the inevitable
sense of inadequacy that goes with that.
The Arch-bishop of
Canter-bury is titular head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, of which
the Episcopal Church in the United States is a member. Although the
Archbishop has no actual authority over other churches in the Communion, he
is considered the “first among equals” of the primates (presiding bishops
and archbishops of the member churches), and is an influential voice.
A respected theologian, Dr.
Williams will be the first Archbishop of Canterbury to be appointed from
outside the Church of England since the 16th-century Protestant Reformation.
Dr. Williams has written a number of books on spirituality and theology,
including the recently published Love’s Redeeming Work (Oxford), and has
served on many commissions on theological education.
In a statement issued after
the announcement, the Rev. Canon John L. Peterson, secretary-general of the
worldwide Anglican Communion, said, “Arch-bishop Rowan will be warmly
received as a man of deep spiritual resources who cares intensely for the
poor, oppressed and the marginalized in society.”
The Presiding Bishop and
Primate of the ECUSA, the Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold, said in a statement,
“I am very pleased with the appointment of Rowan Williams to be the next
Archbishop of Canterbury. 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.”
The Archbishop-designate
has been both praised and criticized for his support for women priests and
the rights of homosexuals and for being willing to consider proposals to
disestablish the Church of England as the state church of Great Britain.
Some conservative Anglican groups have denounced his appointment and
predicted a split in the Anglican Communion, but other leaders praise Dr.
Williams as a listener and a reconciler.
Dr. Williams has also drawn
fire for his opposition to the United States’ war in Afghanistan, although
he was at Trinity Church, Wall Street, a few hundred yards from the World
Trade Center, on Sept. 11, 2001. “We’ve been ‘spoken to’ in the language of
terror and hate,” he wrote a few weeks later for Anglican World magazine.
“If we reply in the same terms, we say, ‘All right, that’s how we are going
to go on, that’s what we treat as normal.’” He has also refused to condone
any invasion of Iraq not supported by the United Nations.
Outspoken on many issues,
Dr. Williams is especially concerned with the over-commercialization of
childhood, singling out the Walt Disney Company as one of the worst
offenders because of its integrated marketing of movies, toys, books, candy
and clothing directly to children.
The Archbishop-designate
was born June 14, 1950 in Swansea, Wales, only child of Nancy and Aneurin
Williams, Welsh-speaking Presbyterians who joined the Anglican church when
their son was in his early teens. Dr. Williams earned bachelor’s and
master’s degrees in theology from Cambridge University and doctorates in
philosophy and divinity from Oxford. He was ordained a deacon in 1977 and a
priest in 1978. After nine years as tutor, dean and chaplain at Cambridge,
he returned to Oxford to become its youngest professor of theology—and is
the only person to have been Professor of Divinity at both universities He
was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1990 and is Chairman of the
Trialogue Conference, which brings together professionals from the worlds of
spirituality, psychotherapy and literature. In 1991, Dr. Williams was
elected Bishop of Monmouth, and in 2000 became Archbishop of Wales.
Dr. Williams’s wife, Jane,
who was born in India where her father was a missionary bishop, teaches
theology at a college in Bristol. The couple has a daughter, Rhiannon, 14,
and a son, Pip, 6.
This report was compiled
from Anglican Communion News Service and Episcopal News Service reports. |
Photo: Anglican World/J Rosenthal
Archbishop Rowan
Williams, announced as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury on 23rd July 2002.
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