Meanwhile, Pope Benedict’s “Anglican Provision” seems to be making admirable progress as clergy and congregation, in the words of the Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman, “come home”. The Church of England looks more and more like a train wreck.
Only 61 years old, you say? Plenty of time left to reflect upon the results and rot of your splendid stewardship, Archbishop. I’m sure its stench will follow you wherever you go.
I wonder about that -- the Anglican communion has been irrevocably destroyed under Rowan's watch, but it can be argued that the dice were already loaded in that direction from before his tenure.
The English church was created to basically get the money that went to the Vatican for themselves and to mainly have a church that catered to their whims (marital and otherwise_) and let Britain dictate how things would be religiously and what was and wasn’t ‘real’ Christianity. In the past, to end their marriages, the monarchs applied to the Vatican for dispensations and also discussed with priests about politics that would be likely to have an effect on relations with the Vatican. Second, the clergy were a check on the more worldly actions of the monarch and provided (theoretical) guidance on whether or not certain laws would be just and good for the betterment of the realm. In the event that a monarch thought that God wanted them to do something, the monarch would talk it over with a priest and then if it got serious, there would consultations with the Vatican where in Rome there would be a deliberation.
With the Church of England, the monarch is the fount of all spiritual knowledge and as a result, go figure, the monarch can now dictate to the Church how things can and cannot be and what is and isn’t Christian. Breaking away from the Vatican resulted in the Tudor monarchs running amok and a lot of problems were created because of the break with Rome, most notably that the royal succession has been chronically disrupted because the overthrow of the Stuarts and instatement of William of Hanover. It never would have happened if in fact there had been no break with the Holy See. The Anglican Chruhc is a Church of convenience, not of being closer to God so it’s no wonder it has ended up the way it has, is it?