Friday, November 09, 2012

Establishment Man

After months of deliberation (meaning, we expect, behind-the-scenes intrigue), the Prime Minister's office has announced the name of the next Archbishop of Canterbury.

Justin Welby is 56 years old, educated at Eton and Cambridge, a former oil executive, married with five surviving children.  His infant daughter was killed in a 1983 car accident, an experience which he claims brought him closer to God. He left the business world in 1987 and was ordained in 1992.  He has been Bishop of Durham for less than a year.

Welby is part of the CofE's evangelical wing; during his business career, he was a member of Holy Trinity, Brompton, the birthplace of the Alpha Course.  As a theologian, he has written on the subject of  business ethics (His Can Companies Sin is out of print at Amazon, but we expect that will change).

So far as genital matters go, he is on record as supporting the ordination of women to the episcopate, and opposing same-sex marriage.

We congratulate our Anglican cousins, and extend our condolences to Bishop Welby and his family.

2 comments:

Pastor Joelle said...

Someone on CNN said he was "an Evangelical" because one time he actually brought in musicians to a worship service" Can you imagine?

PS - is there something wrong with me that it takes at least 3 tries before I can read those letters right to prove I'm not a bot?

Father Anonymous said...

Music? In worship? What is the world coming to?

And no, those letters are getting harder and harder to read. Sadly, we both know what the alternative is.