Jonathan Wynne-Jones in a Telegraph article says that ++Rowan will step down at the end of next year. Read here and think about it.
The bits which make sense to me are these:
1. ++Rowan has academic life left in his brain so why would he see through 20 years as ABC?
2. ++Rowan cares enough for his successor to step down well before the next Lambeth (2018). That means, surely, no later than 2015. So end 2012, beginning 2013 is not very early by that benchmark. Planning needs to get underway with the new ABC at the helm.
3. ++Rowan by end 2012 will have overseen the legislation on women bishops in the C of E synod either well though its legislative track, or (unlikely) so batted back for reconsideration that there would be no point hanging around for the revised proposal to be seen through to a conclusion.
4. The quagmire the Communion has become re same-sex partnerships, the Covenant and what have you, will not be resolved quickly, and certainly not by 2015. So why not go when it suits ++Rowan rather than wait for some kind of way out of the quagmire to be achieved.
5. ++Rowan is the pre-eminent theological master of the English academic theological scene. Given that he has already had a career at Oxford University, the logical next step is a career at Cambridge University, and the most eminent college there (and the wealthiest re creating professorships) is Trinity.
I am putting some (hypothetical) money on Wynne-Jones to be right.
I am not putting any money on who would be the next ABC but I would be looking for the candidate no one else has thought of!
8 comments:
Perhaps this is the time for the Church of England to look outside of its traditional search area for the next Archbishop of Canterbury. My vote would be for The TEC Primate, the Rt. Revd. Katherine Schori. She certainly does have the intestinal fortitude required for the task.
Peter, when I read your post here I really wondered whether I had made a blunder - on the matter of naming the reporter responsible for this scoop about the ABC's retirement.
Perhaps you were thinking of 2 people at once - ABC Rowan Williams and Reporter Jonathan Wynne-Jones. Anyway, I've checked, and my version on my web-site 'kiwianglo' is correct. The Subject is Williams and the reporter Wynne-Jones.
However, in Wales both Williams and Jones have equal representation. You could be forgive for mistaking one for the other.
No doubt +KJS would find it easier to finish her destruction of the Anglican Communion as +Cantuar. Not likely to happen, though.
The next choice may be interesting, in the Chinese curse sense, since it is the Evangelical's turn. Most likely too little, too late, but you never know.
Whoops! Thanks, Ron. I will change that.
Fr Ron Smith
My vote would be for The TEC Primate, the Rt. Revd. Katherine Schori. She certainly does have the intestinal fortitude required for the task.
I absolutely agree that KJS would be an inspired choice for ABC. The implications of KJS assuming such a position are blindingly clear. She would bring much need clarification to a difficult situation. It would be the end of ambiguity as we know it. She could bring her unique brand of 'management through scorched-earth lawsuits' to the Communion as a whole. I am sure that the AC would derive just as much benefit from her tenure as TEC has derived. Heck, I would vote for here in a heartbeat - if I had a vote.
You do realize, don't you, that in 20 years time, TEC is going to consist of about 200,000 people on the American coasts, plus a few scattered outposts in college towns. It won't even be a ghost on the American religious scene. This is the legacy of KJS.
carl
Fr. Ron, if you're hoping for a female ABC, what about +Victoria Matthews? At least she's from a Commonwealth realm (and as I understand it, she came close to being elected Primate in Canada).
In loyalty to my Diocesan here in Christchurch, Paul, I am not going to offer any speculation about her possibly becoming the next ABC. Certainly she has a catholic heart, and the Chair-personship of the St. Michael's (Canadian) Report on the adiaphoric nature of same-sex relationships to her credit. But, further than that; I am not equipped to speculate.
+ Victoria Matthews will, however, be present at my parish church - St.Michael and All Angels, here in Christchurch, presiding at our (concelebrated) Patronal Festival Mass on September 29th but I do not feel it my prerogative to question her on the possible elevation you mention. (Mind you she could do it)
Happy Holy Cross Day. Fr.Ron
I suspect that the chances of +JKS or +VM being the next ABC are about as good as those of +Jack Iker being the next Bishop of Newark.
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