Saturday, April 03, 2010

Disunity amongst the Churches at Easter.

First time for days that I've had time to read my Telegraph, or attend to my blog. While I've been away, its become clear to me that I'm not a suitable person to be appointed the Archbishop of Canterbury. Its a job which requires a politician as well as a theologian, and one who is ultra careful with words - examining every single word with meticulous care before its utterance. My tendency to commit random thoughts to print would probably lead to a return to great wars about religion.

I'm a bit of a fan of Archbishop Rowan Williams. I know he's a 'leftie' but he is Welsh, and he's an intellectual, and he has such a rich, dark brown voice. But he's really put his foot in his mouth this time. And at the Easter weekend. He's told the BBC that an Irish friend had told him that "its quite difficult in some parts of Ireland to go down the street wearing a clerical collar". And he went on to refer to the Catholic Church in Ireland as "an institution so deeply bound into the life of a society, suddenly becoming - suddenly losing all credibility..." I understand that he might have been a bit narked when the Pope Benedict offered unsettled members of the Anglican Church an easy transfer to Catholicism last year. But this was surely going over the top. No apology is going to put the lid back on this one.

This issue has engaged my mind because yesterday, I attended a Good Friday event in Welshpool, where all the Churches marched together behind a wooden cross, in a show of unity. There were several mini sermons and hymns, including 'How great thou art'. There was also a smidgen of disunity about the absence of a Welsh hymn. Easy to find trouble when religion and culture clash. Personally, I do not think the words of Archbishop Rowan Williams were well chosen. Its true that the Catholic Church has handled the paedophile cover ups incredibly badly. But he was just about the last person in the world who should have been pointing it out. Its like Arsene Wenger commenting on Manchester United's performance this afternoon. This row is going to cause one hell of a kerfuffle. Good job that neither the Archbishop or the Pope write a blog.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Excellent post from Heledd today. Hope you are also pursuing Kirsty re Opik's salary whilst being paid for being on a luxury cruise.
And his latest concern? Whilst his constituents face all sorts of problems, the MP for Hello actually asked a question in the House about folk and blues bands! Boy, do we deserve better here.....

Anonymous said...

the luxury cruise trip is going to cost opik his seat, as it should. you must make sure every voter knows about it glyn.

"Stupid is as Stupid does" said...

Imho, he's "not fit to lead a flock of seagulls".

"Mission Impossible" said...

Clearly the Archbishop of Canterbury is on a mission.

Tittle-Tattle said...

No truth to the rumour that Heledd Fychan is so hard on Lembit Opik because of a bad dose of unrequited love?

tcoah said...

Well, Wales has a low GVA, is at the bottom of the economic barrel and has Rowan Williams outdoing Joe Biden. Reminds me of that stupid comment reportedly made by Lesley Griffiths, Welsh Assembly Minister for, inter alia, Innovation: "I don't see that invisible ink message."

Glyn Davies said...

Anon 1 - I have also posted on this.

Anon 2 - I believe this was so outrageous that every voter should know about it.

Stupod iasd - He has apologised as profusely as its possible to do, which will help the situation, but it will have damaged him.

Tittle-tattle - Now that would be a story. More chance of Ted Heath expressing fulsome love for Mrs T in the 1980s!

tcoah - who is Lesley Griffiths?

Martin said...

I don't know whether this is the correct heading under which to post this comment. I am however becoming increasingly concerned at reading stories about people being arrested for expressing their beliefs. Today's papers have the story of a street preacher arrested for saying that the bible considers homosexuality to be sinful. A couple had the same treatment for writing to the local council to protest about a gay pride march.
I am not an especially religious person but do have a certain respect for the church(I get annoyed when I hear stories such as the one about the air hostess sacked for wearing a crucifix)nor am I against homosexuality (as long as I'm not required to participate!). I am however a bit concerned about the erosion of the freedom of expression in this country under Labour. Incitement to violence is one thing but it is now illegal to "cause offence" to certain defined groups.
I was a bit annoyed at the sacking of a prospective Conservative candidate for expressing his views the other day.
Surely everyone should be treated equally under the law. No group should be protected against having their feelings hurt !