God bless Bishop Mouneer.  Some clever minds in the English, and Welsh bureaucracies have gone to considerable lengths to try to fix the appointment of the next Archbishop of Canterbury. 

What the English and Welsh establishment have not taken on board is that a large chunk of the liberal overseas church does not care who the Archbishop is because they don’t believe in us as anything other than a disconnected set of churches, where they can do whatever they want.  At the other end a large chunk, perhaps the bulk have had it up to the neck with the scheming, dishonesty and manipulation which has marked the current incumbent and don’t think Canterbury can be trusted with any role in the future.

It is those of us in the dwindling group who believe Canterbury at its best does have a role of service to others who are watching in dismay as these shennanigans go on with the likely result that even we will not care.

I am grateful that the Global South Primates have spoken up and called the bluff of the English and Welsh establishment.  God bless them for it.

The Global South clearly do care about the identity and character of the next ABC.  So they still see him as potentially a focus of unity in the Anglican Communion.

This is consistent with the Primates’ endorsement of both ACNA and the Communion Partners, in North America.

The majority of provinces are putting their stake in the ground.  No surprise there - their yes is yes and no is no.  Whether the commission will pay them any heed is another question, and I must say I am not encouraged.  I’m not sure those making the decisions have not fooled themselves into discounting how seriously the current ABC has mismanaged the situation and destroyed trust.  I think there is a very good chance that the enthronment of the next ABC may be avoided by other than a tiny minority of worldwide Anglican bishops, while the majority of primates will set up their own institutions, treat the ABC at best as a figurehead, and the ACC, ACO and the like as illegitimate.  If Sentamu were chosen, that might head that off for a time, but frankly, I can’t see him being acceptable to those making the decisions.

There is something that we seem to be forgetting, and here it is:  According to British law and custom, the occupant of the Throne of St Augustine, otherwise called the Archbishop of Canterbury, has historically been required to be a subject of the Crown, since the Church of England…..the Established Church, answers to Parliament, and the Archbishop of Canterbury is chosen by the Prime Minister from a list furnished by the Crown Appointments Commission, and I’m not certain whether or not that has changed.  If I’m wrong, please correct me.  The chances of a foreigner being appointed are nil.

3.  Pendennis, I think that ++Sentamu isn’t conservative enough for many of the primates, and thus if he is appointed, he won’t swing far enough in the opposite direction from that followed by ++Williams.  That could be a factor which might work against him.  In addition, I don’t see the race card as much of a factor either way, but I may be wrong there.  Just how that might play out is anyone’s guess.

Cennydd, I’m not sure what you mean - I didn’t think anyone was suggesting that the next ABC will be a foreigner but I might have missed something.

I guess it all depends on what definition of foreign we use.  John Sentamu was born in Uganda, but he can be Archbishop of Canterbury just as easily as he is already Archbishop of York.

There might be some modern law of England which restricts who can be Archbishop of Canterbury, but tradition does not:  The post has been occupied by many Italians and French, as well as the odd Greek and Dane!