The Queen has approved the nomination of Diocese of Durham Bishop Justin Welby as the 105th archbishop of Canterbury. Church of England bishops are appointed rather than elected, with a 16-member Crown Nominations Commission putting forward two names — a preferred candidate and a second candidate — to Downing Street. The U.K. prime minister then seeks approval from the British monarch, who is the supreme governor of the Church of England. Welby’s initial reaction to a call from the Prime Minister’s appointments secretary last week had, he said, been “Oh no!”. “I don’t think anyone could be more surprised than me at the outcome of this process,” said Welby, according to a Lambeth Palace press release. “It has been an experience, reading more about me than I knew myself. To be nominated to Canterbury is at the same time overwhelming and astonishing. It is overwhelming because of those I follow, and the responsibility it has. It is astonishing because it is something I never expected to happen”.
Before his ordination to the priesthood in 1992, Welby studied law and history at Cambridge University and then spent 11 years as an executive in the oil industry. After a decade in parish ministry, he was appointed a canon residentiary, and later sub-dean, of Coventry Cathedral. He served as dean of Liverpool Cathedral from 2007-2011. As bishop of Durham, the fourth-most-senior position in the Church of England to which he was consecrated in October 2011, Welby is automatically granted a seat in the House of Lords. And now as the 105th archbishop in a succession spanning more than 1400 years, Welby will assume the multi-faceted role as spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, Primate of All England, and bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. Welby is married to Caroline Eaton and they have had six children. In 1983, their seven-month-old daughter, Johanna, died in a car crash in France. Welby later explained that “It was a very dark time for my wife Caroline and myself, but in a strange way it actually brought us closer to God.”
Welby’s theology is reported as representing the evangelical tradition within Anglicanism. However, a Benedictine Oblate for the past 15 years, he referred to the “treasures of contemplative prayer and adoration” and the “rich and challenging social teaching” of the Roman Catholic Church. Asked about Cardinal Newman, he suggested that “you would have to be complete idiot not to be influenced” by the theologian.
He has written widely on ethics and on finance, featuring in books such as ‘Managing the Church?’, ‘Order and Organisation in a Secular Age and Explorations in Financial Ethics’. Welby’s dissertation, an exploration into whether companies can sin, marks his point that the structure of a system can “make it easier to make the right choice or the wrong choice.” His dissertation led to the publication of a booklet entitled ‘Can Companies Sin?: “Whether”, “How” and “Who” in Company Accountability’ which was published by Grove Books in 1992.
Bishop Justin Welby will succeed the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, who will step down at the end of the year after serving as the 104th archbishop of Canterbury since February 2003. Williams has accepted a new post as master of Magdalene College, Cambridge. During his first public appearance since accepting the Crown’s nomination his successor called him “one of the world’s principal theologians and philosophers”, who “will be recognized as one of the greatest Archbishops of Canterbury. . . In the same address, he said he was “utterly optimistic” about the future of the Church of England. He also said he would support the elevation of women as priests to the senior clergy and warned against homophobia. Bishop Welby affirmed civil partnerships, stating that it was “absolutely right for the state to define the rights and status of people co-habiting in different forms of relationship”. The Church of England must have “no truck with homophobia”. His defense of the House of Bishops’ submission to the Government’s consultation on same-sex marriage was rooted in a reference to the position of the Church of England within the Anglican Communion rather than a personal conviction about the proposed legislation or the arguments about the institution of marriage set out by the House: “What the Church does here deeply affects the already greatly suffering churches in places like northern Nigeria.” He spoke of an awareness that he must “listen very attentively to the LGBT communities, and examine my own thinking prayerfully and carefully. I am always averse to the language of exclusion, when what we are called to is to love in the same way as Jesus Christ loves us. Above all, in the Church, we need to create safe spaces for these issues to be discussed honestly and in love.”
Archbishop Rowan Williams said he is “delighted at the appointment … I have had the privilege of working closely with [Welby] on various occasions and have always been enriched and encouraged by the experience. He has an extraordinary range of skills and is a person of grace, patience, wisdom and humor. He will bring to this office both a rich pastoral experience and a keen sense of international priorities, for Church and world. I wish him – with Caroline and the family – every blessing, and hope that the Church of England and the Anglican Communion will share my pleasure at this appointment and support him with prayer and love.”
Canterbury Cathedral
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said: “I am delighted to hear of Bishop Welby’s appointment as archbishop of Canterbury. He brings knowledge of the immense challenges of the world in which the Anglican Communion seeks to partner in the service of God’s mission to heal and reconcile.” Jefferts Schori noted that Welby has experience of churches in several parts of the Anglican Communion, “which should serve him well. The bishops of The Episcopal Church have met him and shared fruitful conversation, worship, and learning with him during a House of Bishops meeting earlier this year. We also welcomed him to our General Convention in 2009. I give thanks for his appointment and his willingness to accept this work, in which I know his gifts of reconciliation and discernment will be abundantly tested. May God bless his ministry, shelter his family, and bring comfort in the midst of difficult and lonely discernment and decisions.”
We especially liked the following reaction to the appointment of Bishop Welby, which we found in ‘Christian Today’:
Welby’s appointment will not please everyone in the Church. He represents a move to an open evangelical position that some at the liberal end of the Church will not be delighted about. Neither will he please the most conservative of evangelicals. But he stands in a strong place to represent mainline evangelical opinion in the Church and may just be the man to hold the Church of England and the whole Anglican Communion together. Christians of all denominations and none should now get on their knees and pray for Justin Welby – pray that the job won’t squeeze him into its own mould, and that he will have the strength to be the Lord’s man for this calling and for such a time as this.
Welby’s enthronement as 105th archbishop of Canterbury will be held March 21, 2013, in Canterbury Cathedral.
Sources: Episcopal Digital Network , Wikipedia , Church Times , New York Times , Christian Today .
