NJONGO NDUNGANE: I think Rowan Williams has done all he can in terms of seeking to keep all the people together. He has bent backwards and forwards to try to accommodate everyone.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN: Archbishop Rowan Williams fills a position that has symbolic influence, but no hard power. It’s a difficult balancing act, complicated by his own public statements.
He has in the past broadcast liberal attitudes about homosexuality, but he has also forced a suffragan bishop to resign because he was gay.
But archbishop Ndungane says the coalition of conservative rebel bishops, does not respect the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
NJONGO NDUNGANE: They are instruments of unity. Instruments of communion and one such instrument of communion is the Archbishop of Canterbury. Then if you don’t respect the office or the integrity of the office, then there are problems in terms of understanding what being an Anglican is.
[blockquote]But archbishop Ndungane says the coalition of conservative rebel bishops, does not respect the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury.[/blockquote]
One needs to distinguish between the office and its current occupant. The former is worthy, the latter considerably less so.
The word ‘respect’ is almost useless here. We need to respect each other even when we disagree but the ‘office of the Archbishop’ is completely dysfunctional. That does not mean we should be disrespectful but we must ask if the current structures are effective and to what end?
The papacy in the RC church is an effective stabilizer because of the way in which the pope is selected. Since the cardinals presumably agree with the core doctrines of the church and they make their selection on that basis there is a tendency for the institution to perpetuate its own principals. This is obviously not the case with the Archbishop and there are other obvious structural problems.
The only thing that has allowed the AC to be ‘viable’ this long is that the AC has no clear purpose and no definition of success therefore it is impossible to ever say that it has failed.