The editorial in today’s Church Times, the leading newspaper in the Anglican Communion, comments on recent press speculation regarding the retirement of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Editorial under the title of “No Lame Duck” states –
The story in the press last weekend that he is to announce his resignation some time next year will have brought back memories for Dr Williams, and not only of the other times when this has been suggested. In 2001, even before his predecessor, Dr Carey, had announced his own resignation, Dr Williams, then Archbishop of Wales, was being written about as a likely successor. For the next seven months, until the official announcement in July 2002, he was regularly informed of his success, on the front page of The Times and elsewhere. Eventually the letter from Downing Street arrived.
The story in The Sunday Telegraph appears plausible, if only because, having been appointed at the age of 52, Dr Williams is unlikely to want to stay in post until 70. For one thing, that would involve presiding at another Lambeth Conference. One day, we presume that a source closer than “sources close to the Archbishop”, i.e. the Archbishop himself, will declare the date on which he intends to relinquish the responsibilities of his present office. In the mean time, there is no one else in the frame whose opinions matter more. Dr Williams could be described as a lame-duck archbishop only if his successor were appointed and started to make pronouncements while he was still in office, as happened to Archbishop Runcie in the latter half of 1990. Even then, it would be a foolish Church that stopped listening to Dr Williams.