THERE‘S BEEN SO much publicity about it that it can‘t be news to anyone any more that the Church of England, indeed, the whole worldwide Anglican Communion, has a new face at the top.
Although he will not take up his public duties for a couple of months yet, the Most Revd Dr Rowan Williams has in fact been Archbishop of Canterbury since the beginning of December.
Dr Williams is a person of high integrity and deep spirituality. He is an outstanding scholar, widely read and with a strong sense of humour.
A poet, and someone who has never shown himself unafraid to speak his mind, Dr Williams will bring a certain freshness and a rounded warmth to the heart of the Church of England.
He has, of course, many local connections. He was a student at Christ‘s College in the late ‘60s, has taught at Westcott House in Jesus Lane and in the University and been assistant curate of St George‘s, Chesterton.
I hope that his primacy will bring a fresh engagement of the Church with the life of the nation - whether or not this continues to be symbolised in formal establishment - a new sense that it‘s OK to care about spiritual matters and a renewed understanding that there can be real depth in Christian thought and practice - that faith can dig beneath the superficial and provide deeply satisfying, if often uncomfortable, foundation for life.
John-David Yule