The See of Canterbury and Rowan Williams, the man

www.american-anglican.fsnet.co.uk

a discussion starter for American Anglicans

Anglicans have often said in recent years that “The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primary ‘instrument of unity’ of the Anglican Communion of Churches.” (The others are the Anglican Consultative Council, the Primates’ Meeting & the Lambeth Conference of Bishops.) I suggest that it is better – though perhaps more cumbersome – to speak of “the See of Canterbury” in order to avoid equating this Instrument with any particular person who sits on the cathedra of Canterbury.

The ancient archbishopric of Canterbury is the first bishopric of the Church of England and thus of the Anglican Communion of Churches [which was born from the C of E and which is made up of self-governing churches] and therefore it has the duty and privilege of being the historical focus and center of the same Communion. Thus from this See originally went the call for the Lambeth Conference of Bishops which is a meeting of equals is in no way whatsoever a synod or church council. [The authority is moral & spiritual and sometime prophetic but not legal.]

Obviously the incumbent of the See is the one who at any specific time calls the bishops together and thus his personal identity is that which is readily focused upon by people around the world. Yet it is most important that – at least conceptually – we keep separate the actual See and the person occupying it. If we do not do so, then we can never understand the Anglican Communion and how it functions.

Dr Rowan Williams will from time to time speak and act from the cathedra, the See, of Canterbury in terms of the Communion and as such he acts as the See and specifically as the first Instrument of Unity (e.g., when he calls a Meeting of bishops, chairs a Meeting; writes on behalf of the assembled bishops and so on); but, at other times, he will express views and opinions that he freely accepts are his own and are not in any way offered as from the See itself.

This line is a fine one. However, it is important to try to hold it clear in the mind when evaluating what is said and done by any Archbishop and particularly by this present one who happens to be occupying the See in a major crisis. For example, when the See speaks as the Instrument of Unity on sexual relations it speaks in accord with the mind of the Communion as expressed in major statements by the Lambeth Conference; but, when Dr Williams as an individual theologian speaks he may say that his own personal view is slightly different to the view of the See as such.

Further, one has to hold in mind that the See speaks and acts from time to time also as the Primate of all England. In this capacity the See is not an Instrument of Unity but is the head of the hierarchy of the Church of England. To act in this capacity, the See must of course act with the agreement of the other English primate, the Archbishop of York, and with the House of Bishops (and in come cases with the General Synod of the C of E).

Now if the Church of England were to declare that it was out of communion with the Episcopal Church of the USA and with the Anglican Church of Canada (or dioceses therein) it would be stated by the See of Canterbury in his capacity as the Primate of all England, speaking for the C of E. (Note that as the Instrument of Unity he is not empowered to declare himself or the C of E out of communion with any group. And the Bishops whom he invites to the Lambeth Conference are those whose names are agreed with the other Instruments of Unity.)

Thus we must see the Archbishop of Canterbury functioning in at least three ways – as the First among equals of the English hierarchy; as the First among equals of the Anglican Communion’ Bishops; and as a bishop with a real diocese and with his own opinions. Conceptually we must keep these apart if we are to make sense of the relation of the Archbishop to the Anglican Communion and if we are to evaluate what he can & cannot do in the present crisis of impaired & broken communion in the Family of 38 Churches.

The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon M.A., D.Phil. (Oxon.)