Analysis: New archbishop--troubling genius

WASHINGTON, July 23 (UPI) -- Perhaps the most fitting characterization of the next archbishop of Canterbury comes from a close acquaintance, who prefers to remain anonymous. He called the Most Rev. Rowan Williams a "brilliant chameleon."

Who is this 52-year old archbishop of Wales, who could either break or strengthen the 70-million-member worldwide Anglican Communion during his anticipated tenure of 18 years?

He is an Anglo-Catholic, which is one reason why the Crown Appointments Commission recommended him to Prime Minister Tony Blair as a successor to George Carey, an evangelical. The two tendencies keep alternating at the See of Canterbury.

But politically he is also an "old Laborite," a left-wing socialist, who dislikes Blair's pro-capitalist New Labor, which makes one wonder why Blair opted for him. He has also been very vociferous in his opposition of America's and Britain's military actions in Afghanistan and the allies' possible plans to go to war against Iraq's Saddam Hussein.

His high church leanings notwithstanding, Williams affects "studied informality" and "ostentatious humility," if you believe facetious Church of England wags, who clearly take an ambiguous view of their future leader, who cutely takes his children Rhiannon and Pip to high-brow theological lectures.

"But then," said Williams' old friend, who is also a priest, "ostentation in one form or another goes hand-in-glove with his status as an outstanding theologian." Top-of-the-line theologians tend to be a vain species, perhaps because it takes so long to attain this position.

Williams attained his scholarly rank as a mere youngster. At age 36, he was the youngest-ever professor in his field at Oxford, and his scope is considered extraordinary for a contemporary divine. Said a friend, "He is equally at home in patristics as he is in Russian Orthodoxy and contemporary German theology."

And he is old-fashioned in the sense that he does not mess with doctrine, according to Anglican insiders.

But then, why did he ordain a homosexual priest, knowing that this cleric lived in a "committed partnership" with another man? Why does he favor the remarriage of divorced people -- to the point that he is fully expected to bless the union between Prince Charles, the future supreme governor of the Church of England, and his longtime mistress Camilla Parker-Bowles?

Why does Williams, an Anglo-Catholic, favor the consecration of women as bishops, knowing that this would kill any chance of reconciliation with the Church of Rome and Eastern Orthodoxy, to both of whom even women priests are ontological absurdities?

The point is that one has to ask the real Rowan Williams to please stand up. As a professor he was a liberal. As bishop of Monmouth in Wales he showed traditionalist leanings. As archbishop of Wales, he lined up with the "progressive" wing of Anglicanism.

Could it be that as archbishop of Canterbury he'd swing to the right again -- theologically that is, not politically? Could it be that the Rev. Richard Kirker, general secretary of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, rejoiced prematurely when he said, "For the first time, lesbian and gay Anglicans can feel they have a real friend at Lambeth (the London Palace, which will be Williams' future place of residence)"?

It's possible. "Williams is too much of a diplomat to preside over the breakup of the Anglican Communion during his reign," an old friend of his now living in the United States told United Press International on Tuesday.

However, this breakup is likely should Williams prove unable or unwilling to get the unruly North American churches under control. Anglicans in the southern cone -- most of them theologically orthodox -- are restless.

Some of their leaders are close to breaking communion with dioceses such as New Westminster in western Canada, which voted to ordain practicing homosexuals and bless same-sex unions. An emergency meeting of the world's Anglican primates this coming autumn on these issues seems likely, according to a ranking Third World cleric.

"The archbishop of Canterbury must effectively tell these North Americans that Anglicanism is an episcopal -- meaning hierarchical -- denomination, where you can't just act according to your whim," a source in England said. "If Williams does not do this, you will see the first signs of the communion's unraveling within the next two years."

In other words, churches in Africa, Asia and Latin America might begin to recognize and perhaps launch parallel Anglican provinces with orthodox theologies in North America and Europe. Some have already starting doing that when they ordained bishops for the American Mission in America, which the Episcopal Church USA does not recognize, although the AmiA insists it is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Only six years from now -- thus at the end of the first third of Williams' tenure -- the world's Anglican bishops will meet for the next Lambeth Conference. If by then the North American and European member churches have further descended into what is an unbiblical morass in African, Asian and Latin American eyes, then a schism seems unavoidable.

As a Church of England insider told UPI, "We might then wind up with two Anglican Communions -- a liberal one under the nominal leadership of Canterbury, and an orthodox one, whose leadership will alternate between various Third World primates."

Rowan Williams, his liberal inclinations notwithstanding, is thought to be too smart to allow this to happen. The Very Rev. Vinay Samuels, an ardently evangelical canon from India, who is now based in Oxford, England, told UPI, "I know Williams well and believe I can work with him."

It is significant that at the very moment his appointment was announced, Williams launched a blistering attack in the London Times newspaper on an issue close to the evangelicals' and Anglo-Catholics' hearts -- the corruption and premature sexualization of children in a consumer society.

He especially criticized the Walt Disney Co. for furthering this development with talent shows and computer games.

There is something else Williams will not wish to be remembered by -- the separation of the Church of England from the state and the Crown. Its General Synod, meeting in York, has just voted not to end the quaint tradition that the prime minister names the spiritual leader of the Church of England, whereupon the queen -- in a sense -- simply notarizes the appointment.

It is a strange arrangement. Queen Elizabeth II is known to be a traditionalist in church matters. She is said to be of a more Protestant persuasion and thus will not even tolerate a chasuble in her presence because this vestment worn by priests at Eucharist "is too Catholic for her taste," as one insider put it.

"Yet, in typical English upper-class manner, she will just allow the Church to muddle on, even though she has little time for its shenanigans and Prince Philip is positively caustic about the homosexuality that is prevalent in the C of E," he went on.

Some Church of England clerics do wonder, however, if at some point its supreme governor, the queen, will uncharacteristically send shock waves around the Anglican Communion by speaking out. Again, Rowan Williams is thought to be far too bright to allow the C of E to descend that far.

Meanwhile, Anglican evangelicals wonder if the Church of England "is going Episcopalian" in the American sense. According to the London Times, Williams will don a white cloak to be inducted as a druid in Wales next month, while other druids chant a prayer to the ancient god and goddess of the land.

This reminds more conservative Christians of a Eucharist celebration in New York's Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where a procession of female priests chanted hymns to ancient Egyptian and African gods, while the then-Episcopal bishop of New York stood at the altar.

"We are concerned that Christian leaders should concentrate on the celebration and promotion of the Christian faith ... rather than dabbling in other things," the Rev. David Banting, leader of the C of E evangelicals, commented on the upcoming Druid event.

But such is the state of Anglicanism at the threshold of the Williams reign that his chaplain, the Rev. Gregory Cameron, did not even cause sniggers when he averred about the planned spectacle that it wasn't "full-blooded paganism."