STACKING THE DECK?
Question one. Is the selection process for a new Archbishop of Canterbury as rigged as any given professional wrestling show?
The panel chosen to appoint the next Archbishop of Canterbury is facing claims that it is dominated by clerics who reject orthodox teaching.
The committee is unfairly balanced in favour of liberals who support “revisionist” moves such as the appointment of homosexual bishops, traditionalists have warned.
Their intervention came as the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) met behind closed doors last week for the first in a series of meetings to decide the successor to Dr Rowan Williams.
Dr Richard Chartres, the traditionalist Bishop of London, is also back in the running, as he pulled out of elections to the CNC which would have excluded him from being considered.
The most senior member of the commission is Dr Barry Morgan, the Archbishop of Wales, who has said he would be prepared to appoint Britain’s first homosexual bishop.
Other liberals on the panel include Mary Johnston, a campaigner for women bishops, and the Rt Rev Michael Perham, the Bishop of Gloucester, who has forged links with the liberal-leaning Episcopal Church in the US.
Their presence on the CNC would appear to strengthen the chances of the Rt Rev Graham James, the Bishop of Norwich, a liberal Anglo-Catholic candidate.
The Rev David Houlding, a prebendary at St Paul’s Cathedral and a member of the orthodox group Forward in Faith, said: “I wonder how representative a group it is – the vast majority are from the liberal side of the Church of England.
“My fear is that someone like the Bishop of London will be overlooked when I believe that he is by far the best person to take over – and that people like Barry Morgan and Michael Perham will make it an issue and say, ‘We cannot have the Bishop of London because he won’t ordain women’.”
Question two. Does it make the slightest bit of difference who gets the Big Miter? No. The fact of the matter is that putting someone like James or some other liberal into Lambeth Palace might just be the best possible outcome.
Why? Because it would hasten the day that we all know is coming. And it will hopefully strip away the last remaining illusions of Anglican traditionalists that “the Anglican tradition” still has anything slightly resembling a coherent, Christian meaning.
The panel chosen to appoint the next Archbishop of Canterbury is facing claims that it is dominated by clerics who reject orthodox teaching.
The committee is unfairly balanced in favour of liberals who support “revisionist” moves such as the appointment of homosexual bishops, traditionalists have warned.
Their intervention came as the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) met behind closed doors last week for the first in a series of meetings to decide the successor to Dr Rowan Williams.
Orthodox clergy fear that influential liberals on the panel will swing votes away from the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Coventry, prominent conservatives who have been widely tipped for the post.
Dr Richard Chartres, the traditionalist Bishop of London, is also back in the running, as he pulled out of elections to the CNC which would have excluded him from being considered.
The most senior member of the commission is Dr Barry Morgan, the Archbishop of Wales, who has said he would be prepared to appoint Britain’s first homosexual bishop.
Other liberals on the panel include Mary Johnston, a campaigner for women bishops, and the Rt Rev Michael Perham, the Bishop of Gloucester, who has forged links with the liberal-leaning Episcopal Church in the US.
Their presence on the CNC would appear to strengthen the chances of the Rt Rev Graham James, the Bishop of Norwich, a liberal Anglo-Catholic candidate.
The Rev David Houlding, a prebendary at St Paul’s Cathedral and a member of the orthodox group Forward in Faith, said: “I wonder how representative a group it is – the vast majority are from the liberal side of the Church of England.
“My fear is that someone like the Bishop of London will be overlooked when I believe that he is by far the best person to take over – and that people like Barry Morgan and Michael Perham will make it an issue and say, ‘We cannot have the Bishop of London because he won’t ordain women’.”
Question two. Does it make the slightest bit of difference who gets the Big Miter? No. The fact of the matter is that putting someone like James or some other liberal into Lambeth Palace might just be the best possible outcome.
Why? Because it would hasten the day that we all know is coming. And it will hopefully strip away the last remaining illusions of Anglican traditionalists that “the Anglican tradition” still has anything slightly resembling a coherent, Christian meaning.
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