Former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has said he is uncertain whether the Anglican Communion will survive.
In an interview with Clerical Whispers, Williams confirmed he will “not be attending” the installation of Most Rev Sarah Mullally at Canterbury Cathedral, saying: “You don’t want to be Marley’s ghost.”
Williams likened the pressure which Archbishop Sarah will be under to that of Keir Starmer, saying: “Every archbishop starts, like every president or prime minister, with expectations being thrown at them.
“Realising you’re not going to be able to meet them is part of the job. It is no walk in the park.”
Already, Archbishop Sarah has faced several questions: Firstly, over safeguarding, following a Premier Christian News exclusive into the case of Survivor N, who alleged that they had been abused in the Diocese of London whilst Mullally was Bishop. Secondly, over a potential fracturing of the Anglican Communion, which was avoided after a “late night move of the Holy Spirit” – and this week alone, she has faced questions over the timing of a pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral coinciding with the House of Lords’ vote on abortion reforms.
“The job of the archbishop is to bring people together,” Williams told Clerical Whispers.
Reflecting on the divisions between the Global Anglican Futures conference, which initially refused to accept a female leader, and the wider Church, he said: “I honestly don’t know whether the Communion will survive.”
However, he added: “There is a way of approaching a conflict, or even rivalry, with at least the possibility left open that we might find something that is the common good… [that] you are only secure when your neighbour is secure.”
Williams is no stranger to controversy in the Church of England’s top spot. In 2002, he came to Lambeth Palace with a fairly liberal approach to same-sex relationships.
In 2003, he was preparing to confirm Jeffrey John’s nomination to be Bishop of Reading. John was openly in a same-sex relationship at the time. After pressure from conservative members of the Church, Williams peddled back. He admitted he still “loses sleep” over his handling of the issue now.
The former archbishop also agreed that Britain has lost its “moral centre”.
“Increasingly, we permit and collude with dishonourable forms of behaviour, and we don’t seem very concerned about that,” he said. When pushed as to what he meant, he said: “Satan.”
However, for the man who now attends his local parish church in Cardiff, there is hope for Christianity in Britain – and indeed for the future of Anglicanism.
Williams said he feels “anchored” by trust, adding: “If God wants the Church to exist, the Church will exist.”