For several years, Archbishop Williams has attempted to unify an already divided global community of Anglicans. Internecine battles over same-sex marriage, the consecration of women bishops and the authority of Scripture threaten to splinter the world’s third-largest Christian group.
But unlike Pope Benedict — who has singular authority over 1.1 billion Roman Catholics — Archbishop Williams lacks many tools to force cooperation among his church’s factions. He can cajole and persuade, but in the end the many churches within the Anglican Communion have a great deal of autonomy, including the Church of England.
“What is he going to do? That’s the $64,000 question,” said Stephen Parkinson, director of Forward in Faith, an Anglo-Catholic advocacy group within the Church of England that has reacted warmly to the Vatican’s move. “Does he try to hold it all together, or does he simply say bon voyage to those who want to take the Vatican’s offer?”
What will Archbishop Williams do? Why, he’ll do what he always does. He’ll take an inordinate amount of time to write a long and wordy response that does nothing more than sum up the current situation. Period. Standing by and watching events unfold is his preferred style. We can wish we had a leader, but, well, we don’t.
I, too, was shocked by the assertion that the ABC had been trying to hold things together, since that implied positive action – which is demonstrably historically absent. What a strange alegation for the WSJ to make? Have they let go the fact-checker in the current economic climate?