Archbishop of Canterbury to Step Down

Yes, I'm late to the ABofC Resigns Party. But it's been a busy day off of laundry and errands and the vet and ... well, just call it life in the lesbian fast lane.

Arguably a favorite press comment so far about today's breaking news came from the Guardian:

"Throughout his time in office he has been attacked by conservatives for his liberal views on homosexuality and by liberals for failing to live up to those principles."

And there you have it.

Integrity's President Caro Hall's statement included:

"Integrity wishes him well in his new position and prays that when God calls the next Archbishop he will be a forward-looking person of great courage who understands that to be the Instrument of Unity may not mean keeping everyone together in a unholy alliance. We hope that the members of the Crown Appointments Commission and the British Prime Minster will not bow to the forces who seek to keep the Church of England, and by example, the rest of the Anglican Communion, in the dark ages where women, gays, lesbians and trans-people are not welcome in the House of Bishops and thus are not welcome at all."

And the always brilliant Giles Fraser wrote:

Most people read him wrong – radical yes, liberal no. He was the spiritual equivalent, perhaps even the inspiration behind, to what Philip Blond later came to popularise as Red Toryism. He distrusted unfettered market forces, but also, and against the spirit of the age, the emphasis on individual freedom that went with it. His was a nostalgia for an old-fashioned ideal of community - perhaps even the sort of community of the South Wales village - where collective solidarity is always more important than individual choice and social diversity.

In effect, he became a split personality – with Williams the man at odds with Williams the archbishop. After the bitter Lambeth Conference of 1998, Williams, and several other bishops, made gay Christians a promise: "We pledge we will continue to reflect, pray and work for your full inclusion in the life of the church." Unfortunately, it was a promise he would fail to keep.

Indeed.

I'll have my own reflections tomorrow, but in the meantime, Episcopal Cafe has a comprehensive round up and Thinking Anglicans is another source for commentary. And no matter how you slice it, it's an end of an era.