ABY: Anyone But York for Archbishop of Canterbury

From The Telegraph-

No sooner did the Archbishop of Canterbury announce that he was retiring than speculation started on who would replace him. Everyone's talking about John Sentamu being the obvious successor – but he is the wrong person for Lambeth Palace. Let me explain why.

The bookies favour the Archbishop of York because he is the only other cleric in the Church of England known to the public and the media. He is famous for his stance on Robert Mugabe (he cut up his collar in protest at the despot’s regime and has sworn not to wear it again until Mugabe quits), throwing himself out of aircraft for British service personnel and, most recently, writing for The Sun on Sunday.

But the Church of England – and the Anglican Communion – needs someone with a pastoral touch. It needs a man – and it will be a man, because the Church of England is years away from appointing a female bishop let alone a lady archbishop – who can be fair to all points of view rather than imposing absolutes on difficult issues, and someone who can put their personal beliefs aside for the greater good.

Sentamu has come out fighting on the issue of gay marriage and has become the darling of conservatives inside and outside the Church of England. But his views alienate and polarise: there are clergy and parishioners who would love to see same-sex relationships registered in places of worship. An archbishop is not a spokesman or a pundit to be wheeled out to comment on the hot topics of the day. His job, in fact, is an impossible one: to accept that some Anglicans will never agree on the issues of gender or homosexuality while at the same time holding everyone together on common issues such as the Millennium Development Goals and the persecution of minority Christian communities around the world.

More here-

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/riazatbutt/100143662/aby-anyone-but-york-for-archbishop-of-canterbury/