Rowan Williams’ Advent Letter is Finally Out

Rowan Williams’ much awaited Advent letter is finally out. And once again Canterbury fails to address adequately the apostasy of the Episcopal Church and the need to defend the faithful from TEC wolves.

In places, he seems to understand the seriousness of TEC’s departure from the faith and practice of the Anglican Communion. But then he makes statements like this:

Successive Lambeth Conferences and Primates' Meetings have, however, cautioned very strongly against such provision [of overseas interventions]. It creates a seriously anomalous position. It does not appeal to a clear or universal principle by which it may be decided that a local church's ministry is completely defective.

Excuse me. Which “universal principles” of the church through the ages has the Episcopal Church not violated? By any number of canons of any number of historic church councils, the Episcopal Church is apostate.

And this:

A great deal of the language that is around in the Communion at present seems to presuppose that any change from our current deadlock is impossible, that division is unavoidable and that any such division represents so radical a difference in fundamental faith that no recognition and future co-operation can be imagined. I cannot accept these assumptions. . . .

Then I guess Rowan doesn’t accept the Windsor Report, which in grave language talked of the possibility of “walking apart” should the Episcopal Church continue on its course. In any case, if Rowan doesn’t see that the faith of TEC is radically and irreconcilably different from that of orthodox Anglicans, then he just doesn’t get it, to put it mildly.

Having gravely understated the divisions, he underestimates what is called for. In this letter, there are no calls for Primates Meetings, interventions, or discipline. Instead, he calls for more . . . “conversation.”

That prescription would be comical if Rowan Williams’ utter failure to lead wasn’t so sad and his betrayal of faithful North American Anglicans so great.