Vicars Letter
New
Year - New Archbishop
The new Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams has
started his work although his public ministry in England
will not start until his enthronement on Thursday 27th
February. He is holding an Inaugural Eucharist in the
Cathedral at 3.00pm on Sunday 2nd March and everyone is
welcome at that service. The biggest challenge to any
Archbishop is how he divides his time between its various
aspects: Head of the Anglican Communion, the Church of
England, the Diocese of Canterbury; between attending to
the challenges facing the Church and those facing the
wider world. While he is unlikely to be as available in
the diocese as most diocesan bishops, I hope his
influence will be felt in the parishes of our diocese and
he will feel at home here as we pray for him and he for
us. the second biggest challenge is in finding good,
godly and astute persons to help him in the work to be
done.
Looking back over the last centuries there is, I believe,
a sharper difference between the new Archbishop and his
predecessor than between any two successive archbishops
since William Laud succeeded George Abbot in 1633. George
Cary came from an evangelical background, with limited
experience of the wider church and world, and saw his
task as essentially improving the management structures
of the Church and finding new ways, and perhaps more
importantly, new styles of seeking to commend the old
story to a changing world. Rowan Williams has a much
sharper mind and a vastly greater knowledge of the church
both throughout the Christian centuries and on its varied
manifestations both in these islands and throughout the
wider world. He is much more attentive to persons and
less interested in management and structures. In his time
as Bishop of Monmouth and Archbishop of Wales it is said
he never proposed any change in the church structures and
rules; his influence, which was considerable, was
personal.
He has, I believe, little concern for the flourishing of
the church as an organisation except in so far as it is
influencing the life of the wider world. He is aware that
one of the tasks facing the church today is relating and
developing the faith we have inherited to the rapidly
changing world and this task will come from both a
deepening of the spirituality and holiness of the church
and its greater and more effective place in life beyond
the church. He is very aware of the cost of discipleship
and will I am sure challenge us all as we wrestle with
this important agenda.
And so as we go into 2003 I suggest we all ponder our
lives and commitments and seek how we, in the very
particular circumstances of our own lives, can both
deepen our own relationships with God and extend our
involvement in the life of the wider community around us.
May God guide and bless us all.
Christopher Morgan-Jones
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