Thoughts from Archbishop Rowan Williams:
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has reopened the debate on women priests by suggesting that the Anglican Church may one day "think again" about the issue.
Speaking a week before his first official audience with Pope Benedict XVI in Rome, Dr Williams made clear that he remained a firm supporter of women’s ordination and that "practically" he did not see how the Church’s position could be reversed.
But in an interview with The Catholic Herald published today, he said he could "just about envisage a situation in which, over a very long period, the Anglican Church thought about it again, but I would need to see what the theological reason for that would be".
Dr Williams said the heated debate on the issue had "tested" his theological convictions.
He did not think the reform had "transformed or renewed the Church in spectacular ways", though neither had it "corrupted or ruined" it.
While Lambeth Palace played down the significance of the Archbishop’s comments, saying he had made quite clear his belief that there could be "no going back" on women’s ordination, they will nevertheless dismay campaigners for female equality.The fact that he appeared to open the door to even the possibility of a reconsideration of female ordination will anger women clergy who believe that their place in the Church should by now be firmly assured.
One senior insider said: "The trouble with Rowan is that he doesn’t understand that, as a leader, his comments are going to be seen as lukewarm and hurtful." Traditionalists said that Dr Williams’s measured assessment of the reform was in contrast to the enthusiastic claims of its advocates, who had predicted that it would trigger a major revival in the Church.
"I made it clear in the interview with the Catholic Herald and will continue to do so that I see no theological justification for any revisiting of this question and indicated in the interview three times that I had no wish to reopen it, whatever technical possibilities might theoretically exist."
Sorta kinda related – Don Jim reports that Queen Elizabeth will be visiting Virginia next year, in honor of the 400th anniversary of the colony.
Very related: Christopher Johnson reports on the most recent departures:
Truro Episcopal Church, which once included George Washington among its vestrymen, and The Falls Church, two of the oldest Episcopal churches in Virginia and the country, have both decided that they’ve had enough:
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