That Explains It!

From The Lead at the Episcopal Café:

Leadership is - is, to me, a very, very murky and complicated concept. Often, as I - I think I've said before, what people mean when they say leadership is making - making the right noises, affirming a particular set of views, convictions or even prejudices. It doesn't always have very much to do with how you make a difference. And I think the question I always find myself asking of myself is: will a pronouncement here or a statement there actually move things on, or is it something that makes me feel better and other people feel better, but doesn't necessary contribute very much?

The quote is from an interview with Archbishop Rowan Williams by Alan Rusbridger, published in The Guardian in 2006. We should have paid more attention.

Preceding the above statement is this exchange with Rusbridger:

AR: What do you think the public role of Archbishop should consist of?

AC: Should or does?

AR: Should.

AC: Should. Setting some kind of tonal vision for the church, the Church of England; pastoral involvement and collaboration with the other bishops. And the Church of England being the way it is, trying to - to find, crystallise some sort of - some sort of moral vision that's communicable to the nation at large. I think those - those are the ascensions of it. And I think that - that brings with it the elements of the times being what I once called comic vicar to the nation.

AR: The what vicar?

AC: The comic vicar.

AR: The comic vicar.

AC: You are bound to be where a lot of the brickbats end up as well, you may have noticed.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I find the Archbishop's words astonishing - astonishingly prophetic, for one thing. I don't think that I have ever read that interview before. Such a timid, tentative approach to the position of an archbishop in the Church of England must be somewhat similar to his concept of his role as the first among equals in the Anglican Communion.

Was this interview widely noted at the time? He seems quite the reluctant leader. I should have paid more attention, because this interview explains a lot.

"Leadership is a...murky and complicated concept" and "a comic vicar"? If those are his ideas of leadership by an archbishop, then it seems very likely that he will be that sort of leader.

I don't enjoy being critical of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and I wish I could speak more positively about him. Perhaps he has some grand plan in mind that will serve to bring the Anglican Communion together, and perhaps the unknown plan will have some success. I pray that's the case.

The piece in The Lead and the 2006 interview in the Guardian are both worth reading, or, perhaps, in the case of the interview, re-reading.

UPDATE: Ann at What The Tide Brings In has the video of Archbishop Williams' statement on World AIDS Day, which I think is quite good and gives me an opportunity to speak positive words about him, which I gladly do.