News 9
New archbishop of Canterbury inherits a divided communion
But he offered an olive branch
to the gay community despite reaf- firming his opposition to same-sex marriage. Welby pledged to re- examine his thinking on homosex- uality while speaking out against exclusion and homophobia. In the U.S., where the Episco- pal Church is the official American branch of Anglicanism, Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori signaled that she’s ready to work with Welby, acknowledging that “his gifts of reconciliation and discernment will be abundantly tested.” Episcopalians’ progressive poli-
RNS PHOTO COURTESY DURHAM CATHEDRAL
Justin Welby, bishop of Durham, was named the 105th archbishop of Canterbury.
B
ishop Justin Welby, a former oil executive who’s emerged as a critic of corporate excess, was named in November as the 105th archbishop of Canterbury, primate of the Church of England and leader of the world- wide 77 million-member Anglican Communion. A statement from British Prime Minister David Cameron confirmed the appointment after two days of speculation. Welby, 56, succeeds Archbishop Rowan Williams, who will return to academia at Cambridge University.
Speaking at a news conference days following his appointment, Welby said he is “utterly optimis- tic” about the future of the Church of England. He said the question of gay mar-
riage in his global church was a com- plicated issue “and not one to be han- dled today, off the cuff.”
10 The Lutheran •
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cies on homosexuality have strained ties with Canterbury in the last 10 years, particularly after the approval of gay bishops and same-sex mar- riages led to a small schism in the U.S. church. Welby’s appointment follows
weeks of wrangling by members of the Crown Nominations Commis- sion—a panel of four women and 15 men—and a split over whether to choose a “liberal” reformer or a “safe pair of hands” to maintain the status quo in a church that’s divided at home and abroad on matters of gender and sexuality. Welby’s background in busi-
ness and finance and his opposi- tion to same-sex marriage makes him popular not only with conser- vatives within the Church of Eng- land but also with the evangelical Anglican provinces of Africa and Asia. His work as a peace negotia- tor on Williams’ behalf has won him the respect of Muslim and Jewish leaders.
2012 Religion News Service
500th anniversary of the Reforma- tion in 2017. Margot Kässmann, EKD special envoy for the 2017 Ref- ormation Jubilee, said leaders must explain to a wider public that this is not only a celebration for the church. “The Reformation message of free- dom is also relevant for secular peo- ple,” she said.
Gmail now in Cherokee Vance Blackfox and Craig Cor- nelius carpooled to San Francisco from an event they’d both attended. Blackfox, director of youth in mis- sion at the Lutheran School of Theol- ogy at Chicago, is a member of the Cherokee Nation. Cornelius, a mem- ber of Grace Lutheran Church in Palo Alto, Calif., is a senior software engineer at Google. That rideshare resulted in a collaboration of Gmail in the Cherokee language, Google’s 57th language. Blackfox connected Cornelius with the language tech- nology department at the Cherokee Nation, and the Gmail team worked closely with volunteers ranging from university students to Durbin Feel- ing, author of the Cherokee-English Dictionary.
Stump to lead deaconesses The ELCA Deaconess Community elected Sister Janet Stump to serve a four-year term as its directing dea- coness. Stump sees the call “as an opportunity to serve the church as a whole, to help the Deaconess Com- munity deepen its communal spiritu- ality, grow in its effectiveness to do justice and make peace in the world, and joyfully continue to engage its mission of proclaiming the gospel and serving all people in love, fol- lowing the example of Jesus.”
Poll: Cover contraception Most Americans say employers— even religious ones—should provide birth control coverage to employ-
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