Thinking Anglicans

Rowan Williams on Radio 4

Updated Monday afternoon

This morning BBC Radio 4 broadcast a special edition of Start the Week recorded at Lambeth Palace. This was trailed as follows.

In a special edition of Start the Week recorded at Lambeth Palace, Andrew Marr talks to the Archbishop of Canterbury about his role combining the history and structure of the church with personal belief. They are joined by Philip Pullman who was inspired by Dr Rowan Williams to write his new book The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ about religion, truth and interpretation; by Professor Mona Siddiqui who’ll be discussing her new role trying to marry religious values with economic growth and by author and comedian David Baddiel who’ll be talking about religious identity and his new film The Infidel, a comedy about a Muslim who realises he’s Jewish.

The programme is now available to listen to online; the main interview with the archbishop is between 1min 30sec and 8min 45sec from the beginning.

Update As well as the streaming audio linked above, there is a podcast available for download.

The Guardian has a leading article: Rowan Williams: Little cause for regrets. Archbishop has said out loud something that is completely straightforward and thereby provoked an enormous row.

There have been a number of news items in the last few days anticipating what the archbishop was going to say.

The BBC itself carried this report on Saturday Williams criticises Irish Catholic Church ‘credibility’ followed by Rowan Williams expresses ‘regret’ over church remarks and then on Sunday by Archbishop of Canterbury sorry over abuse comments.

David Batty in The Guardian Archbishop of Canterbury: Irish Catholic church has lost all credibility

Ruth Gledhill in the Times Rowan Williams, The Archbishop of Canterbury, regrets Catholic attack
Ireland Archbishop stunned by Dr Rowan Williams’ criticism of Catholic Church
Archbishop on papal offer: ‘God bless them, I don’t’

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toby forward
13 years ago

Roman Catholic Church in Ireland has lost credibility?

RW regrets the ordination of women, condemns TEC for electing its own bishops according to its constitution, allies himself with homophobic african/american bigots, proposes two-tier communion.

Lost credibility? Mote and Beam, Your Grace.

Bill Dilworth
Bill Dilworth
13 years ago

Give +++Rowan credit — he, of all people, recognizes a loss of credibility when he sees it! 😉

Wilf
Wilf
13 years ago

Blimey, what a lot of fuss about nothing. It was all entirely unremarkable when heard in the context of his whole interview.

rjb
rjb
13 years ago

I was amused to read Ruth Gledhill’s recollection of Robert Runcie’s meeting with John Paul II at Canterbury. “What a contrast with the joyful ecumenical greetings between the Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie and Pope John Paul II during the last papal visit in 1982, when they entered Canterbury Cathedral together, greeted each other with the sign of peace, knelt in prayer before the nave altar and then moved to the high altar where they kissed the Canterbury Gospels, a gift from Pope St Gregory the Great to St Augustine.” Cambridge legend tells a slightly different story. The Augustine Gospels… Read more »

Martin Reynolds
13 years ago

Surely Rowan Williams is withholding his allegiance to the Bishop of Rome “pro tempore” – not withholding his blessing from those who leave because they cleave to the Ordinariate. I admit the quotation could be taken the other way – but surely only by those who tell the world that Dr Williams has joined a Druid Order rather than having been elected to high office in a national cultural society. Perhaps the mention of druids at the start of this story should have warned all to be careful. The sad thing is that (and the web reader wont know this)… Read more »

john
john
13 years ago

Martin,

There has been discussion on Ed Tomlinson’s blog of how RW’s key remark should be taken.

Davis d'Ambly
Davis d'Ambly
13 years ago

I read it the same way as Martin Reynolds.

peterpi
peterpi
13 years ago

“Listen to your Church as we pray that the people you first made your own may arrive at the fullness of redemption.” from Ruth Gledhill’s column, quoting the post-Vatican II Roman Catholic rite for Good Friday. If I’m being charitable and following the maxim of “assume positive intent”, I would say this prayer wishes the Jewish people well as they seek God’s path for them. On the other hand, this petition could also be seen as “old wine in new skins”. It certainly is a far cry from “perfidious Jews” and their blindness, but, from a certain Roman Catholic perspective… Read more »

Martin Reynolds
13 years ago

So I see John.

Hmmm, you may be right about Andrew Marr and crowd – one would have to ask him, and I am sure that Rowan does not bless this papal enterprise.
But withdraw his “God speed!”? …… Never!

As I say, he is as likely to do that as he is to join a Druidic cult.

I think Ed should ask him, as others should have.

Spirit of Vatican II
13 years ago

About Ireland, Rowan Williams is only saying what everyone is saying:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2010/0405/1224267705469.html

Archbishop Martin should have thanked him for his sympathetic and concerned remark.

Bill Dilworth
Bill Dilworth
13 years ago

Martin, Davis – I read it in the opposite sense that you did. And didn’t see anything particularly wrong or shocking about it. But, then, I’m probably a bad person. 🙂

Father Ron Smith
Father Ron Smith
13 years ago

“What a contrast with the joyful ecumenical greetings between the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, and Pope John Paul II, during the last papal visit in 1982 (sic). – Ruth Gledhill, Times article – I thought that visit was later than 1982. However, at that time the climate between our 2 Churches was somewhat more fraternal. The reigning Pontiff at the time had not invited dissident Anglicans into a specially created system of Ordinariates, in order to ‘rescue’ them from the prospect of the ‘scandal’ of women Bishops. Poor Ruth must find it very hard these days to be totally… Read more »

Father Ron Smith
Father Ron Smith
13 years ago

“No one can blame (Archbishop) Williams for pointing this out, nor indeed for getting his own back for years of patronising comments and aggressive behaviour from the Roman Church. The official Vatican Observer at the last Lambeth Conference appeared to say that the Anglican Communion was sufferings from Parkinson’s Disease.” – Guardian Editorial, on Monday – In fact, all considered, Rowan has much more reason to speak his mind on the ‘disease’ that has afflicted the Roman Catholic Church, of which the suppression of details about paedophilea is only a comparitively small part. The recent Roman press conference in London… Read more »

Martin Reynolds
13 years ago

Quite so Bill, quite so ….

Martin Reynolds
13 years ago

I have asked Lambeth Palace to clarify the matter.

If they reply I will advise on this thread.

Susannah Clark
Susannah Clark
13 years ago

The Catholic Church in Ireland (and other places) has lost *some* credibility over the terrible abuse that *some* priests perpetrated, and the way this abuse was historically covered up. I guess I feel that ABC’s use of the word *all* was non-intentionally casual, and spoken in a conversational context, when he probably dropped his guard over the importance of precision. I pray that all expressions of the Church may gain credibility, and reclaim grace, and regain reputation for the honour of the name of Jesus Christ. I pray for bonds of charity and mercy between the churches. Personally, I feel… Read more »

Cheryl Va.
13 years ago

When the Irish court made its determination about the abuse of over 2000 individuals in over 200 institutions over 30 years, they described the abuse as “systemic and endemic”. The abuse occurred because misogynistic and sociopathic paradigms are so internalised that many are unaware that they have such filters, let alone how horrible they really are. One recent contemplaton is that I’ve heard many Christians comment it is easier to become part of a church community if one is raised in one, than if one tries to come in as an adult. Perhaps that is because when a frog jumps… Read more »

Rev Laurence Roberts
Rev Laurence Roberts
13 years ago

The Roman Catholic denomination is not the Catholic Church –whether in Ireland or anywhere else.

Don’t people know their Creed any longer ?

Davis d'Ambly
Davis d'Ambly
13 years ago

I read it the same way as Martin Reynolds.

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