” “Anglicans: change of guard at the top

The appointment of the new archbishop of Canterbury was officially announced from no.10 Downing Street, residence of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, on 23 July. He is to be the Rev. Rowan Williams, hitherto archbishop of Wales and bishop of Monmouth. He will take the place of George Carey who announced his retirement in January. The various messages of good wishes also include one from the Pope who, addressing the new archbishop, said he was “convinced that with God’s help, we can make progress in the journey towards unity”. The Pope also expresses the hope of “experiencing how wonderful it is when brothers live in unity”. Meanwhile Anglicans are discussing whether to maintain their existing relations with the State – which make provision for the intervention of the prime minister and the queen also in the nomination of the Primate – or to aim at greater independence. The matter was also discussed at the last General Synod in York (cf. SirEurope no. 27/2002). Those in favour of greater autonomy of the Anglican Church from the State also include Clifford Longley , a Catholic, former religious correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” and now editorialist and assistant editor of the Catholic weekly “The Tablet”. We interviewed him. Why do you believe that the Church of England should separate itself from the State? “Because in this way its spiritual identity would be reinforced. I also believe that the institutionalization of a Christian church in our time no longer has much sense and remains incomprehensible to the other churches present in Great Britain. All the other European Christian churches have gradually been separated from the State. It happened in Italy and in Ireland, in Scotland and in Wales”. How might this process of separation take place? “There are two ways: step by step, or with a single decision. In my view, the best system is step by step, as happened in Ireland in 1870 and in Wales in 1920. The majority of Anglicans can’t imagine what it would be like to be made independent of the State. It’s a situation that from an emotional point of view is beyond their powers of imagination. They think that a change of this kind would represent a threat to their identity as Christians, and they fear disappearing altogether. Many are convinced that their identity would not only be weakened but destroyed by this change”. Is this fear justified, in your view? “I don’t think so. The fact that the archbishop of Canterbury cannot be appointed without the consent of the prime minister is a form of strict control over the Church by the State. I think that the separation from the State would liberate the religious identity of Anglicans, and permit them to become what they truly are. It would enable them to be more critical, and to acquire a prophetic voice in relation to reality. This new situation could lead to a renewal of the Church of England, bearing in mind that less than a million people, roughly 2% of the population, regularly attend church today. The gap between the Church of England and English society is growing ever wider”. Silvia Guzzetti – London Who is the new archbishop of Canterbury? The new primate of the Anglican Church was born in Swansea (Wales) in 1950. After completing his studies at Christ’s College in Oxford, he had pastoral experience in Cambridge, where he also taught. Married and the father of two young children, Williams has many publications to his name in the fields of theology, spirituality and even poetry. Consecrated bishop of Monmouth on 5 December 1991, he was appointed archbishop of Wales in December 1999. Rowan Williams will be the 104th archbishop of Canterbury and the first to be nominated from outside the ranks of the Church of England itself since the time of the Reformation. Among the first to hail the appointment of Williams was Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, archbishop of Westminster and president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales: “Theologian, man of great spirituality and an able communicator, he will represent – said the cardinal – a great symbol for this country and for the whole Christian world”.