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Tutu calls for choice of non-English archbishop of Canterbury
2002-058-1
3/6/2002
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[Episcopal News Service]
According to the London Times, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, retired primate of the church in southern Africa, says that the Church of England should consider appointing a non-English bishop to replace Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey when he retires this fall.
A former member of the Crown Appointments Commission, which will send to Prime Minister Tony Blair two nominations, said recently that Tutu’s name was among the dozen or so candidates discussed when a successor was sought to former archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie, Carey’s predecessor. While Tutu did not end up on the “short list,” he was considered a strong contender, according to the Times.
“When people made the point that Cantuar (archbishop of Canterbury) was now heading an international communion of autonomous provinces and that there was a great deal to be said for the net to be thrown much, much wider, and that therefore non-English candidates should be eligible, we were told that would be impossible since the archbishop also had a specific role in England as the head of the established church,” Tutu said.
“There were those who suggested that there might have to be a separation of the Establishment role, which could be fulfilled by an English appointment, as perhaps by the archbishop of York, and that non-English persons could thus be eligible for the primary task of being first among equals as president of the Lambeth Conference and the Primates Meeting and thus head of the Anglican Communion,” Tutu said, adding that he personally subscribed to that possibility.
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