It will not have escaped your notice that the Church is beginning its search for a new Archbishop of Canterbury; our own Bishop Michael's name has been mentioned along with a number of other "bookies' favourites". This would be a difficult decision if it were for just one job, but in practice the Archbishop does three or four. And the right man for one of them is not necessarily right for all the others. So before you all rush off to apply, let's think about what the Church will be looking for in its new leader.

First of all the Archbishop is (under the Queen) the head of the Church of England. There is now an Archbishop's Council to help him do this job, but when there are big issues to be resolved or presented to the world, everyone wants to know what the top man thinks. And as Head of the Church of England he must be constantly trying to work out what particular needs that Church must respond to, and what new issues in society it must address.

But he is also the senior Bishop in the Canterbury Diocese, and still carries responsibility for many of the duties that keep Bishop Michael busy from day to day. In practice the Bishop of Dover acts as "Bishop in Canterbury" to try to deal with as much of the local work as possible, but to people in the Diocese the Archbishop in "the guv'nor" and they like to see him at their big occasions.

Then he is the Head of the Anglican Communion around the world. That is the fellowship of Churches from Antigua to Zululand who have their roots in the Church of England and its missionaries, and still look to Canterbury as their spiritual home. They may have a very different agenda from the "mother" Church, and in recent years there has been considerable tension between Bishops from England and their brothers and sisters from other countries. The Archbishop has to try to resolve those tensions so that each Church can respond to its own domestic circumstances without moving so far away from the rest that the communion between them is broken.
I think George Carey and many of his predecessors would admit that this can often try the patience of a saint!
And finally, when he is not doing any of these things the Archbishop is wanted in Westminster to advise the Queen and her Government on the spiritual aspects of their own particular concerns. He is, in other words, the Chaplain to the Nation.

Perhaps you can see why it is so important that we do get the right man for the job. (Sadly, ladies need not apply - most of the Anglican Communion including us in England still refuses to accept that women may join the ranks of the Bishops. That thorny issue will be sitting on the new Archbishop's desk along with all the others.)

Many people have suggested that this job description is simply not realistic any more, and would like to separate the Archbishop's duties at home from those of the leader of the Anglican Communion abroad.
But that decision, too, will only be taken under the next Archbishop.
So, while we might be proud to see Bishop Michael elevated to the throne of St Augustine, we need to ask whether he could or would want to fulfil all these different roles.
I can only rejoice that no one is going to ask me to do it!

Please pray for all those who will have to make this impossible decision.
And may God bless them, and you,

Alan
1st February 2002