WHAT WILL WE DO WITHOUT JOHN PAUL II?

Williams reignites row over gay bishop (Jamie Doward, October 12, 2003, The Observer)

Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is set to reignite the ferocious row surrounding the appointment of an openly gay man as an Anglican bishop in the United States - by arguing that it defies the Church's established position.

Williams is expected to tell Church leaders meeting in London on the divisive issue that the impending consecration of Canon Gene Robinson - an openly gay man with a long-term partner - as Bishop of New Hampshire is in breach of the Church's position on homosexuality as set out in 1998.

Williams, spiritual head of the 70 million-strong global Anglican community, will dismay modernisers who had hoped he would encourage a more liberal agenda than his predecessor, George Carey. [...]

Earlier this month Williams hinted at the way he was thinking when he told the Vatican radio station that he would be 'very surprised indeed' if his Church's position on the ordination of homosexuals had changed by the end of the conference.

Boy, that "Come to Jesus" meeting with the Pope worked wonders, no?

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 11, 2003 11:26 PM