Williams needs a miracle to keep church intact

Church of England: Beset by liberals, hounded by conservatives, Williams needs a miracle to keep church intact
Stephen Bates
The Guardian
Tuesday July 15, 2008

The archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams. Photograph: Lewis Whyld/PA
When Rowan Williams was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury almost exactly six years ago, one Church of England bishop is said to have rolled his eyes heavenwards and murmured: "God save us from a holy bishop."

That was not the general view at the time. Williams's appointment as the 104th archbishop since St Augustine was broadly welcomed, both within the church and even from the massed choir of leader-writers and commentators, as an inspirational one.

At last, after decades of decline, dismay and disillusionment under dull, wily or managerial primates, there was to be a leader who was not only an intellectually brilliant theologian, but someone who was a wonderful speaker, almost ostentatiously spiritual, a deep thinker and self-evidently holy. the rest