Riazat Butt of the Telegraph writes at:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/riazatbutt/100143662/aby-anyone-but-york-for-archbishop-of-canterbury/
By Riazat Butt
No sooner did the Archbishop of Canterbury announce that he was retiring than speculation started on who would replace him. Everyone's talking about John Sentamu being the obvious successor – but he is the wrong person for Lambeth Palace. Let me explain why.
The bookies favour the Archbishop of York because he is the only other cleric in the Church of England known to the public and the media. He is famous for his stance on Robert Mugabe (he cut up his collar in protest at the despot’s regime and has sworn not to wear it again until Mugabe quits), throwing himself out of aircraft for British service personnel and, most recently, writing for The Sun on Sunday.
But the Church of England – and the Anglican Communion – needs someone with a pastoral touch. It needs a man – and it will be a man, because the Church of England is years away from appointing a female bishop let alone a lady archbishop – who can be fair to all points of view rather than imposing absolutes on difficult issues, and someone who can put their personal beliefs aside for the greater good.
Sentamu has come out fighting on the issue of gay marriage and has become the darling of conservatives inside and outside the Church of England. But his views alienate and polarise: there are clergy and parishioners who would love to see same-sex relationships registered in places of worship. An archbishop is not a spokesman or a pundit to be wheeled out to comment on the hot topics of the day. His job, in fact, is an impossible one: to accept that some Anglicans will never agree on the issues of gender or homosexuality while at the same time holding everyone together on common issues such as the Millennium Development Goals and the persecution of minority Christian communities around the world.
Rowan Williams’s strength and weakness was his attempt to be fair to everyone, regardless of his own personal feelings. It was why the traditionalists liked him and the liberals hated him. Rather tellingly, the conservative evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics issued statements praising Williams and his legacy within hours of his retirement hitting the headlines. I’ve yet to receive anything from the liberals.
Williams was nuanced and even-handed, so he was doomed from the start. His proclamations on public life were balanced and elliptical, frustrating reporters and subs alike, although he did occasionally issue strongly worded statements that took everyone by surprise.
Sentamu, as Archbishop of Canterbury, would indeed provide the decisiveness and leadership that some crave – but his force of personality would also alienate many others.
The beauty of the Church of England is that it is a broad one. Under John Sentamu, it would become considerably narrower.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/riazatbutt/100143662/aby-anyone-but-york-for-archbishop-of-canterbury/
By Riazat Butt
Could Sentamu replace Williams? (Photo: Eddie Mulholland)
No sooner did the Archbishop of Canterbury announce that he was retiring than speculation started on who would replace him. Everyone's talking about John Sentamu being the obvious successor – but he is the wrong person for Lambeth Palace. Let me explain why.
The bookies favour the Archbishop of York because he is the only other cleric in the Church of England known to the public and the media. He is famous for his stance on Robert Mugabe (he cut up his collar in protest at the despot’s regime and has sworn not to wear it again until Mugabe quits), throwing himself out of aircraft for British service personnel and, most recently, writing for The Sun on Sunday.
But the Church of England – and the Anglican Communion – needs someone with a pastoral touch. It needs a man – and it will be a man, because the Church of England is years away from appointing a female bishop let alone a lady archbishop – who can be fair to all points of view rather than imposing absolutes on difficult issues, and someone who can put their personal beliefs aside for the greater good.
Sentamu has come out fighting on the issue of gay marriage and has become the darling of conservatives inside and outside the Church of England. But his views alienate and polarise: there are clergy and parishioners who would love to see same-sex relationships registered in places of worship. An archbishop is not a spokesman or a pundit to be wheeled out to comment on the hot topics of the day. His job, in fact, is an impossible one: to accept that some Anglicans will never agree on the issues of gender or homosexuality while at the same time holding everyone together on common issues such as the Millennium Development Goals and the persecution of minority Christian communities around the world.
Rowan Williams’s strength and weakness was his attempt to be fair to everyone, regardless of his own personal feelings. It was why the traditionalists liked him and the liberals hated him. Rather tellingly, the conservative evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics issued statements praising Williams and his legacy within hours of his retirement hitting the headlines. I’ve yet to receive anything from the liberals.
Williams was nuanced and even-handed, so he was doomed from the start. His proclamations on public life were balanced and elliptical, frustrating reporters and subs alike, although he did occasionally issue strongly worded statements that took everyone by surprise.
Sentamu, as Archbishop of Canterbury, would indeed provide the decisiveness and leadership that some crave – but his force of personality would also alienate many others.
The beauty of the Church of England is that it is a broad one. Under John Sentamu, it would become considerably narrower.
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