Friday, June 08, 2007

Looking for the Light
Thursday, Jun. 07, 2007
By DAVID VAN BIEMA
CATHERINE MAYER / LONDON

For his last official act before a three-month sabbatical, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams ordained a new bishop in London's St. Paul's Cathedral. Williams, the tousle-haired leader of the Church of England and titular head of its global offshoot, the Anglican Communion, performed the liturgy of ordination: "Will you strive for the visible unity of Christ's Church?" he asked. Answered the new bishop: "By the help of God, I will."

By the help of God, indeed. Almost from the day he took over, in 2002, Williams, now 56, has been attempting to prevent a schism among the world's 79 million Anglicans. It has been a horrible task. Within months of his taking the job, a simmering debate on homosexuality exploded into a brutal battle, pitting some of the wealthiest and most liberal of the church's 38 provinces, notably those in North America, against a more socially conservative group mostly concentrated in Africa and Asia and known as the Global South. The latter's views were reflected in 1998 in language at the communion's once-a-decade Lambeth Conference, calling homosexual practice "incompatible with Scripture." But in 2003 the Episcopal Church, the Anglican body in the U.S., ordained Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, as bishop of New Hampshire. Unlike the Pope, the Archbishop makes no claims to infallibility and cannot dictate to his flock. The years since have featured angry meetings, threats of secession and unmet deadlines. The next full-scale opportunity to negotiate will be at the Lambeth meeting in July 2008--if Williams can keep all parties on board.
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