Does Dr Rowan Williams actually know that he is the Archbishop of Canterbury? If so, does this self-described “hairy leftie” have the least inkling of what the role entails?
Judging by his latest New Year message, the answer on both counts would appear to be “No”.
I’m an Anglo-Catholic – i.e. a Christian who doesn’t believe the Pope is infallible but loves all the bells, smells and birettas. My faith, such as it is, waxes and wanes, but is undoubtedly helped by a number of factors: the sense of community derived from worshipping with others during semi-regular church attendance; the energy, common sense, spiritual wisdom and good humour of our splendid local priest; the evident decency, sincerity and sheer niceness of fellow communicants; the adherence to ritual; the glorious language of the King James version of the Bible (when allowed – I’m not quite sure who decides when we flip over to the Rocky Horror Hymn Book, but I wish they’d stop); the consoling beauty of traditional church music; and the wise, sometimes stirring utterances of a few senior Anglican clerics, notably the Archbishop of York and the former Bishop of Rochester, who seem to understand what worries their fellow Anglicans, and to have a genuine concern for their spiritual well-being.
From the senior figure in my church – the Archbishop of Canterbury – I get absolutely nothing. Except the occasional bout of high blood pressure. For instance, Dr Williams’s pronouncement on the “”unavoidable” introduction of aspects of Sharia Law into Britain was the single most pointless, damaging, idiotic utterance by an Anglican cleric during the past decade – and, my goodness, there was a lot of competition for that particular accolade. What was going through the old booby’s head?
As for his latest message, from which, one presumes, Anglicans are meant to derive spiritual sustenance for the year ahead, it was an absolute classic.
To summarize: it’s been a crappy decade for everyone – “a terrible and grueling 10 years in all kinds of ways”. Crises don’t stop at national borders: “There are fewer and fewer problems in our world which are purely local”. What we should be really worrying about are the eight Millennium Development Goals aimed at tackling poverty and disease. Oh, and we should all be doing everything we can to pressurize governments into protecting the environment.
In other words, nothing you wouldn’t hear from a senior Labour politician trying to divert attention from the genuine problems of our Nation. Nothing whatsoever – absolutely nothing – about the spiritual life of his flock, or the damage done to the whole concept of religion by Islamic extremism, or the loss of any sense of community, or the lack of moral leadership in Britain, or the fact that the Anglican Church is managing to haemmhorage members at an astonishing rate at a time when many people are desperate for some sort of spiritual leadership.
This would have been an ideal opportunity to give us a message that would actually mean something to us as spiritual beings, a call to arms to enrich our inner lives and the lives of those closest to us.
But, no. What we’re expected to do is to fritter our energies away on the standard obsessions of ageing left-wing academics: climate change, “the poverty gap”, helping poor children abroad, disease etc.
Who does he think he is? The Director of Oxfam? The editor of The Guardian? The EU Commissioner for Global Stuff?
This is pathetic, ninnyish posturing.
Feeding poor people abroad or militating about the environment or trying to prevent the spread of epidemic diseases are activities in which many Anglicans are directly involved – BUT THEY ARE NOT THE PRIMARY PURPOSE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH! It is not an organization whose aim is to deal with the physical problems of human beings around the world. If its main aim is not to lead people to a richer spiritual existence through a greater knowledge of God, it is not a church: it is a messy, sprawling, badly-run charity with ill-defined aims masquerading as a religious institution.
There are millions of people in this country living in abject spiritual poverty, whose lives have been systematically emptied of any meaning by an ungodly alliance of the Political Class, the Media and the less savoury elements of Big Business. Your job, Dr Williams, is to do your very best to bring hope, comfort, meaning and spiritual leadership to as many of those people in as effective a way as you possibly can.
In this, you are failing abysmally, as you have always done.
Get a grip, man, or stand aside and let someone more suited to the role of leading our national church take charge. For pity’s sake.
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