It’s being reported in the British press that the Archbishop of Canterbury is going along with the conservative primates in ostracizing the U.S. and Canadian churches, even though he personally believes the North Americans are right:
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is understood to have backed
the uncompromising stance after week-long talks in Northern Ireland failed to
achieve reconciliation.Though privately sympathetic with the liberals, he has fought to preserve
unity because he does not want to be the archbishop who presides over the
break-up of the international Communion.
One never knows how much credence to give reports like this (although it’s consistent with other things I’ve read in the past few years). If it is true, it’s a tragedy. This report would indicate that ++Williams deems it more important to keep the primates’ country club together — I’m sorry, that’s uncharitable, I mean "more important to try to stay in the good graces of his Global South colleagues" — than it is to do what he himself believes to be the right thing for a marginalized and often-oppressed minority.
I don’t think anyone would question that the ABC’s heart is in the
right place. But we would have every reason to be terribly disappointed
in his judgment.
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