In pursuing these goals, the Archbishop cuts a different figure from Rowan Williams, his predecessor. While Lord Williams was a cerebral theologian prone sometimes to obscurity and circumlocution, the current Primate is more of a practical doer, reflecting both his past in industry and his membership of the evangelising wing of the church. He has been a serious voice in the debate on banking ethics. He has also been pragmatic. He did not argue, for example, that the government should step in to quash payday lending. Instead he supported community-based credit unions, which can do a similar job to organisations such as Wonga, but not by charging eye-watering interest rates.
The challenges facing the Archbishop in the year ahead will only grow. Holding together the worldwide Anglican communion, which threatens to split over same sex relationships, will be perhaps his biggest test. At one end of the spectrum, the episcopal church in America has consecrated an openly lesbian bishop. At the other, African bishops have supported harsh anti”“gay laws. As the Archbishop recently conceded: “Without prayer and repentance, it is hard to see how we can avoid some serious fractures.”
“Justin Welby, the spiritual leader of the Church of England, is becoming an increasingly respected moral voice.”
Uh-huh. Thinks who? I read through the article and couldn’t find a single objective reason cited. The fact that the few comments to the article seem mainly to be pointing out that the achievements which the article claims for ++Welby are actually those of others did not help.
The article takes some free kicks at Rowan Williams, which in some sense is probably deserved, but it doesn’t give any reason why Welby has been more successful in office than Williams, and off-hand I can’t think of any. For those to whom it is important, the passing of the women bishops measure is important, but as one of the commenters pointed out, this wasn’t Welby’s doing.
Is someone at the publicity department of Lambeth Palace a good friend of someone in the editorial section of the Financial Times perhaps?
Heh — I thought the same thing as MichaelA.
Better headline: “Church Apparatchiks Wish that Archbishop Justin Welby were an increasingly respected moral voice”