An announcement from Downing Street on Friday confirmed Justin Welby, an oil executive turned bishop, to be the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Bishop of Durham was nominated by the Crown Nominations Commission, a 16-member body made up of bishops, priests and lay members. The nominations were then put forward to the Prime Minister who advised Queen Elizabeth II, the head of the Church of England, about the appointment.
The Right Reverend Welby, an Old Etonian, has spent 11 years working in the oil industry: at first in the treasury departments of Elf Aquitaine, a French oil company, and then Enterprise Oil, a British exploration and production company. Educated at Cambridge University, in law and history, he represents a pivotal change in point of views and attitudes towards many of the major controversial issues surrounding the Church today.
Welby, regarded as an Evangelical conservative, is opposed to gay marriage. He has already amplified his opposition to the Coalition’s proposals to introduce same-sex marriage. His stance on homosexuality in general, does not help the tensions which exist within the Communion regarding the subject, particularly with the Episcopal Church in the United States. The Episcopal Church is the American wing of Anglicanism and there is a decade old feud between the Church and the Church of England over the former’s unconventional and forward-thinking policies on homosexuality, like their support of gay bishops and same-sex marriages.
Anglican bishops are regularly appointed to the House of Lords, and Bishop Welby has used his seat there to join a parliamentary panel to closely examine the practices and economic policies of British banks in the wake of the Libor rigging scandal. Criticising the activities of loan sharks and the general ”profit-garnering” attitude of the industry, he is to continue to serve on the committee, and be officially enthroned in Canterbury Cathedral on 21 March 2013 as Dr. Rowan Williams’ successor. Williams, meanwhile, is to return to the scholarly world in January, and perhaps to his roots of theology and poetry as well, at Cambridge University, to become the master of Magdalene College.
Campaigning modernity for the Church, Welby has a more liberal approach to the coronation of women bishops, than most at the Church. The Church of England has ordained women priests since 1944 but issues still exist over their promotion to the senior clergy. The depth of his conservationism was well exhibited however, with his proposal of permitting churchpersons opposed to the shift to stay within the Communion.
Speaking at a media conference after the end of the 15th Anglican Consultative Council earlier this month, Dr. Rowan Williams has stated that his successor’s message needs to be contemporary and to the purpose. Highlighting the importance of the Archbishop of Canterbury to be abreast with current affairs, he addressed the difficult circumstances the Community had to sometimes face in getting their teachings across, especially in countries like Sri Lanka, where they often faced violent opposition.
Welby’s conservative point of views towards controversial issues surrounding the Anglican community of gender and sexuality makes him rather well-liked amongst the Church of England, as well as the evangelical Anglican provinces of Africa and Asia. It is necessary for the Archbishop to have an Anglican perspective on point of views about issues ranging from poverty to domestic violence, but at the same time being more accessible to as many people as possible.
In his role, the Archbishop of Canterbury needs to address a whole host of community members of different religions, from Muslims to the Jewish people, and within that community there is a further cartel of atheists, people who have sporadically lost faith in God, non-conformist peoples of other religions, sometimes violent in their attitudes towards Christianity, and people who have a riotous tendency towards religion of any kind in particular.
There is a growing concern about the inability of the separate divisions of Churches, like Anglican, Anglo-Saxon and Victorian, to get along and work together, especially in the countryside. Administrative issues of the sort of running near-empty parishes together, in order to have a proper congregation, have often been overlooked. These issues arise sometimes because of residents’ fear that their beloved old churches will close, and sometimes the intricate differences which defines every religion gives rise to the trouble of catering to every individual’s desire of how they would like their church to be. These market town squabbles is thus escalating the costs required to maintain the buildings, some Grade I or Grade II listed.
Many Christians also feel materialistic ambitions have made religion, and sometimes church congregations and practices, inessential to abounding community members nowadays. In those market towns again, there is also the concern that much of the congregations are elderly. The population shrinks by the day, with many vicars left with more than their fair share of number of churches to look after, making the job quite hectic and difficult. This is also giving rise to the fact that churches are able to do less discussing about issues like the quality of theological education and other paramount matters. Important issues of the day like unemployment, homelessness for local people, and the incorrect self-belief of ordinary people lacking the capability to make a difference in society, more often than not distances people from the Church, rather than drawing them closer towards it.