by Emma Thompson, Spectator
The Church of England website features a public consultation closing on 28th March on what qualities should be looked for in the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury. But aren’t the Church’s staff meant to be the experts on God?
The Church, with all its committees, seems adept at diffusing and side-stepping responsibility. Could this be a fake consultation to make people think they have a voice? Then, whatever controversy nominees cause, the selectors can say, ‘Oh well, it’s what the public told us to do’ – with nobody able to prove otherwise. Moreover, respondents might not take seriously the task of choosing someone to follow in St Augustine’s footsteps. After all, in 2016, a public vote to name a new royal polar research ship was embarrassingly won by ‘Boaty McBoatface’.
Nevertheless, answering the survey is an opportunity worth taking. The CofE is widely acknowledged to be in crisis. It needs a leader with credibility who can inspire trust. The ‘upstairs church’ of bishops and bureaucrats seems divided from the grassroots ‘downstairs church’. This consultation, then, at least implies some willingness to listen.
The highly-federated CofE is an unusual organisation in that it is unable to rely on any command and control, especially with volunteers. Parish priests and volunteers need delegation, liberation and encouragement from above. But first, they need an Archbishop of Canterbury who is able to lead by inspiration. Secondly, they need him or her to lead it in the right direction, not further down the wrong path.
Under Justin Welby, we saw a managerial CofE which (as the 2023 accounts show) had been de-funding its front-line priests and adding administrative costs. The Church has put its trust in bureaucracy, duplicated in 42 diocesan regions. Now it needs to cut that bureaucracy by at least 50 per cent.