Whittaker: Next Archbishop of Canterbury took unusual path

From Massachusetts-

Although I am not inclined to betting, I admit that I have been checking the odds recently. But the particular horse race I have been following involves not colts but bishops. Until last week, Ladbroke’s and other British bookmakers were accepting bids on who would be appointed the next Archbishop of Canterbury. The bidding ended with the announcement a week ago that Justin Welby, who is currently Bishop of Durham, had been chosen to be the new archbishop and, as such, the first among equals in the worldwide Anglican communion – which includes The Episcopal Church in this country – a confederation of more than 80 million Christians.

If it seems strange that betting shops more used to taking bets on the Derby allowed people to place wagers on the identity of a new archbishop, that is only one unusual aspect of the selection of a spiritual leader for a group of Christians that in sheer numbers is second only to the Roman Catholic Church. The 44 member churches of the Anglican Communion are found in 165 countries around the world where Britain once held colonial sway or other political influence. As the countries became independent, so did the churches (for example, The Episcopal Church in the United States was established in 1789 in the wake of the American Revolution). But the churches maintained their ties to one another and to the Church of England that had spawned them.

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 http://www.wickedlocal.com/holliston/news/x1233647998/Whittaker-Next-Archbishop-of-Canterbury-took-unusual-path#ixzz2CU7fcNII