Tutu passed over for top job because of C of E’s establishment
-23/09/06
Tutu passed over for top job because of C of E’s establishment
-23/09/06
One of the most revered figures of Christianity, the Nobel peace prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu, was passed over for the job of Archbishop of Canterbury because he was not in a position to swear allegiance to the Queen.
The revelation, reported by Stephen Bates in the Guardian newspaper, comes in a new book, Rabble-Rouser for Peace, written by the archbishop’s former press officer, John Allen.
Tutu was reportedly sounded out about becoming Archbishop of Canterbury in succession to Robert Runcie in 1990, the new authorised biography reveals.
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A member of the Crown Appointments Commission asked for his place and date of birth in order to establish whether he was eligible to be appointed. It was decided that Tutu was not eligible because he was not in a position to swear allegiance to the Queen, as is required in the established Church of England.
George Carey was eventually appointed instead.
The book says that had Tutu been offered the appointment “there is no doubt he would have been strongly tempted to accept, for he loved the Anglican communion”.
Had he been appointed, the book makes clear, the Anglican communion – currently threatened by splits over homosexuality – would have been very different. In contrast to Anglican archbishops from equatorial Africa, Tutu has always been much more liberal and accepting of gay people in the church.
The book tells the story of how as a boy from South Africa’s poverty-stricken black townships, Tutu became one of the world’s best-known religious figures.
The work includes details of secret files of the apartheid government, how the Nobel Peace Prize was actually won by Tutu, and gives an insight into his relationship with F W de Klerk.
Tutu passed over for top job because of C of E’s establishment
-23/09/06
One of the most revered figures of Christianity, the Nobel peace prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu, was passed over for the job of Archbishop of Canterbury because he was not in a position to swear allegiance to the Queen.
The revelation, reported by Stephen Bates in the Guardian newspaper, comes in a new book, Rabble-Rouser for Peace, written by the archbishop’s former press officer, John Allen.
Tutu was reportedly sounded out about becoming Archbishop of Canterbury in succession to Robert Runcie in 1990, the new authorised biography reveals.
Related Articles
A member of the Crown Appointments Commission asked for his place and date of birth in order to establish whether he was eligible to be appointed. It was decided that Tutu was not eligible because he was not in a position to swear allegiance to the Queen, as is required in the established Church of England.
George Carey was eventually appointed instead.
The book says that had Tutu been offered the appointment “there is no doubt he would have been strongly tempted to accept, for he loved the Anglican communion”.
Had he been appointed, the book makes clear, the Anglican communion – currently threatened by splits over homosexuality – would have been very different. In contrast to Anglican archbishops from equatorial Africa, Tutu has always been much more liberal and accepting of gay people in the church.
The book tells the story of how as a boy from South Africa’s poverty-stricken black townships, Tutu became one of the world’s best-known religious figures.
The work includes details of secret files of the apartheid government, how the Nobel Peace Prize was actually won by Tutu, and gives an insight into his relationship with F W de Klerk.