So, who will it be?<\/p>\n
If the Commission wants to boost Anglican traditionalists, placate Africa, raise St George\u2019s Day to an English national holiday and take a swipe at institutional racism, they\u2019ll appoint John Sentamu, Archbishop of York. If they wish to hold a steady-as-she-goes via media, with interminably tedious increments in an inevitable direction, they\u2019ll appoint Richard Chartres, Bishop of London. If they choose to accelerate the liberal trajectory, with a nod toward North America and an \u201d\u02dcinclusive\u2019 mission which embraces all sexual proclivities and environmental causes, they could do a lot worse than James Jones, presently Bishop of Liverpool.
These aren\u2019t the only possibilities, of course: while Sentamu is utterly colourful and wonderfully unique, you could replace the authoritative Chartres of London with Graham James of Norwich; and Jones of Liverpool could easily be supplanted by Cocksworth of Coventry. We are talking about the Church of England here: it isn\u2019t going to be suddenly re-reformed or catholicised by anyone overnight.<\/p>\n
If, however, the Commission is concerned to appoint God\u2019s choice \u201d\u201c a thoughtful and gifted communicator, deeply committed to upholding the orthodoxy of the Christian faith \u201d\u201c \u201d\u02dcthe faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints\u2019 \u201d\u201c in the fraught context of cultural diversity, social upheaval, political cynicism and theological conflict, the lot must fall to Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham….<\/p>\n