Content about Canterbury

"The history of relations between the Church of England and the Catholic Church is long and complex, and not without pain. Recent decades, however, have been marked by a journey of rapprochement and fraternity, and for this we give heartfelt thanks to God."

Bravo!  The Anglican Communion needs a strong voice and a strong leader to turn us back to Jesus Christ and the faith once delivered to the saints.  It is precisely this faith that has been undermined and challenged by the unilateral actions of North American leaders from The Episcopal Church (TEC) and the Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC) by, among other things, consecrating actively practicing homosexual and lesbian bishops and authorizing same-sex blessings - contrary to the Bible, apostolic and catholic teaching, and the teaching of the Anglican Communion on human sexuality, marriage and holy orders (Lambeth Resolution 1.10 1998).  

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Archbishop Justin Welby, is to be represented by the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, at the inauguration of the ministry of Pope Francis as Bishop of Rome.

Reweaving the torn fabric of the Anglican Communion has become the new Archbishop of Canterbury’s first order of business as he has appointed an Irish priest as Director for Reconciliation at Lambeth Palace.  The appointment of Canon David Porter is Justin Welby’s first significant staff appointment, and the appointment of a professional conflict resolution specialist to his inner circle of advisers may foreshadow the priorities of the new archbishop.

It was with a heavy heart but complete understanding that we learned this morning of Pope Benedict’s declaration of his decision to lay down the burden of ministry as Bishop of Rome ...

The Prime Minister's Office has announced today the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, has been given a life peerage by the Queen. Upon his retirement from office, Dr. Williams will become Baron Williams of Oystermouth.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has rejected the argument that “guns do not kill people, people kill people” stating the Connecticut school shooting was facilitated by the easy access to firearms permitted by U.S. laws.

In his final “Thought for the Day” broadcast as Archbishop of Canterbury on BBC Radio 4, Dr. Williams acknowledged that by itself gun control will not end violence, but their strict regulation would curtail it.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has backed freedom of speech, up to a point. In a sermon delivered last week marking the 80th anniversary of the BBC World Service at St Martin-in-the-Fields Church in Trafalgar Square, London, Dr. Rowan Williams said free speech was one of the pillars of a free and democratic society, but this freedom could be curtailed when it was offensive and abusive.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has conceded defeat in the battle over the Anglican Covenant. In a 2 Dec 2012 Advent letter to the primates, Dr. Rowan Williams said the Anglican Communion had become “corrupted” and could no longer be considered a communion of churches but a “community of communities.”

The key political and constitutional problem is that, although the Church of England now behaves largely as if it is a voluntary society, it remains nonetheless part of the state. The Queen as head of state is ‘Supreme Governor’ of the Church, must be in communion with it, holds the title Fidei Defensor and – nominally – appoints its senior clergy. The Archbishop crowns and anoints the new sovereign, and the Church conducts important public ceremonies and rituals effectively in relation to the UK as a whole. ... These are high matters and could be addressed again by Parliament. However, whatever the degree of change made, none could procure the appointment of female bishops unless Parliament legislated directly to that end. 

Resolution of the South Carolina standoff would best be served by an international intervention of the type proposed by the Anglican Communion's Windsor Continuation Group, the Anglican Communion Institute (ACI) said last night in a paper released on its website.

The American-based church think tank has proposed the national Episcopal Church and the Diocese of South Carolina take up the recommendations of the Windsor Continuation Group formed by Dr. Rowan Williams.

Meaningful Orthodox-Anglican ecumenical dialogue has all but died, the Moscow Patriarchate has told the next Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby – and it is the Anglicans who have killed it.

On 13 Nov 2012,Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk – the chairman of the Department of External Church Relations for the Russian church – wrote to Bishop Welby extending Moscow’s greetings upon his appointment as 105th Archbishop of Canterbury.