Surrounded by Catholic monks in the church of San Gregorio Magno al Celio in Rome last Sunday, Dr Rowan Williams confided that he had given serious consideration to joining a monastery. Asked if he had a “monastic heart”, he disclosed that his “guiding lights” at times of crisis were Benedictine monks and Carmelite sisters.
Following his unexpected announcement that he is to leave Lambeth Palace, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s candour about his desire to retreat from the outside world will be interpreted as an acute insight into his tortured state of mind.
Almost from the day he became leader of the 77 million-strong worldwide Anglican Communion, Dr Williams has been an isolated figure, distrusted by both wings of the Church in equal measure.
Traditionalists regarded the open-minded academic as too liberal; while liberals felt betrayed by his climb-down over the issue of homosexual bishops.
Where his predecessor, Dr George Carey, would take difficult decisions and wait for the storm to pass, Dr Williams has agonised endlessly over how to placate all sides of the Church, never grasping the simple truth that you cannot please all of the people all of the time.
The final straw appears to have been the knowledge that he is likely to suffer a humiliating defeat this month in his protracted battle to unite the warring Anglican factions. An attempt to introduce an Anglican Covenant, or “rule book”, that would impose punishments on provinces that ordained homosexual bishops could be killed off as early as today, when five English dioceses vote on the proposal.
With 17 of the 43 English dioceses already rejecting the covenant [as opposed to 10 in favour], five more “no” votes would mean the cause was lost.
The timing of the archbishop’s announcement suggests he took time to reflect on the implications of the inevitable defeat as he spent a day on retreat in Rome earlier this week.
“The worst aspects of the job have been the sense that there are some conflicts that won’t go away, however long you struggle with them, and that not everybody in the Anglican Communion or even in the Church of England is eager to avoid schism or separation,” he said.
“A number of what I call watersheds seemed to make this a reasonable moment, at least, to think about moving on.”
He has been dogged by controversy at every turn during his 10 years at Lambeth Palace. The year after his appointment in 2002, Dr Williams opened a running sore with liberals by forcing Dr Jeffrey John, who was homosexual, to refuse his appointment as Bishop of Reading.
He had seemed certain to follow his progressive conscience by approving the country’s first openly homosexual bishop, only to crumble after an outcry by conservatives. In 2010, the row played out again when Dr Williams blocked Dr John’s attempt to become Bishop of Southwark.
His inner turmoil boiled over during a meeting to settle the bishopric, when he allegedly lost his temper in a shouting match that reduced some observers to tears. He was accused of a “lack of courage” by some within the Church, while one Anglican pointed out that “even Judas only betrayed his friend once”.
Having gone out of his way to mollify the traditionalists, Dr Williams lost any trust he had gained by failing to discipline an American branch of the Anglican Church when it elected a homosexual bishop and then a lesbian bishop.
To make matters worse, a series of letters, written shortly before his appointment, were leaked in which he expressed his belief that homosexual relationships could “reflect the love of God in a way comparable to marriage”.
The issue led to 20 Anglican provinces, primarily in the developing world, forming a breakaway group. Other clergymen resigned or joined the Roman Catholic Church in protest.
The issue of homosexuality in the Church “isn’t going to go away in a hurry”, Dr Williams admitted yesterday, adding: “Crisis management is never a favourite activity … It has certainly been a major nuisance.”
Another long-running source of tension, the consecration of women bishops, is likely to be approved by the General Synod in July, which will almost certainly prompt more walkouts.
Aside from the in-fighting, Dr Williams showed a talent for stirring up wider controversies. In 2008 he suggested it was “unavoidable” that certain aspects of Sharia (Islamic law) would be adopted by the British legal system.
He made an enemy of Gordon Brown by criticising his fiscal stimulus package and appeared to show he was equally suspicious of all politicians by attacking the Coalition when he guest-edited the New Statesman magazine last year.
The archbishop will, of course, leave his post with many happy memories, notably of marrying the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge last year, and the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible.
But he will be remembered for his failure to solve rifts within the Church.
On Thursday, during a meeting in Lambeth Palace, he admitted that he would lose his fight to bring in a “rule book” for Anglicanism on which he had been working since 2008.
“He spoke of a sense of foreboding,” said a source.
As the Church begins its deliberations on who should become the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Williams summed up the qualities his successor would need: “The constitution of an ox and the skin of a rhinoceros.”
With 17 of the 43 English dioceses already rejecting the covenant [as opposed to 10 in favour], five more “no” votes would mean the cause was lost.
The timing of the archbishop’s announcement suggests he took time to reflect on the implications of the inevitable defeat as he spent a day on retreat in Rome earlier this week.
“The worst aspects of the job have been the sense that there are some conflicts that won’t go away, however long you struggle with them, and that not everybody in the Anglican Communion or even in the Church of England is eager to avoid schism or separation,” he said.
“A number of what I call watersheds seemed to make this a reasonable moment, at least, to think about moving on.”
He has been dogged by controversy at every turn during his 10 years at Lambeth Palace. The year after his appointment in 2002, Dr Williams opened a running sore with liberals by forcing Dr Jeffrey John, who was homosexual, to refuse his appointment as Bishop of Reading.
He had seemed certain to follow his progressive conscience by approving the country’s first openly homosexual bishop, only to crumble after an outcry by conservatives. In 2010, the row played out again when Dr Williams blocked Dr John’s attempt to become Bishop of Southwark.
His inner turmoil boiled over during a meeting to settle the bishopric, when he allegedly lost his temper in a shouting match that reduced some observers to tears. He was accused of a “lack of courage” by some within the Church, while one Anglican pointed out that “even Judas only betrayed his friend once”.
Having gone out of his way to mollify the traditionalists, Dr Williams lost any trust he had gained by failing to discipline an American branch of the Anglican Church when it elected a homosexual bishop and then a lesbian bishop.
To make matters worse, a series of letters, written shortly before his appointment, were leaked in which he expressed his belief that homosexual relationships could “reflect the love of God in a way comparable to marriage”.
The issue led to 20 Anglican provinces, primarily in the developing world, forming a breakaway group. Other clergymen resigned or joined the Roman Catholic Church in protest.
The issue of homosexuality in the Church “isn’t going to go away in a hurry”, Dr Williams admitted yesterday, adding: “Crisis management is never a favourite activity … It has certainly been a major nuisance.”
Another long-running source of tension, the consecration of women bishops, is likely to be approved by the General Synod in July, which will almost certainly prompt more walkouts.
Aside from the in-fighting, Dr Williams showed a talent for stirring up wider controversies. In 2008 he suggested it was “unavoidable” that certain aspects of Sharia (Islamic law) would be adopted by the British legal system.
He made an enemy of Gordon Brown by criticising his fiscal stimulus package and appeared to show he was equally suspicious of all politicians by attacking the Coalition when he guest-edited the New Statesman magazine last year.
The archbishop will, of course, leave his post with many happy memories, notably of marrying the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge last year, and the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible.
But he will be remembered for his failure to solve rifts within the Church.
On Thursday, during a meeting in Lambeth Palace, he admitted that he would lose his fight to bring in a “rule book” for Anglicanism on which he had been working since 2008.
“He spoke of a sense of foreboding,” said a source.
As the Church begins its deliberations on who should become the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Williams summed up the qualities his successor would need: “The constitution of an ox and the skin of a rhinoceros.”