In an interview with the London Telegraph, former Archbishop of Canterbury, now Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, reflects on his archepiscopate and the freedom in his new role:
That’s an interesting reaction. Did he not want it? “The job? Hmm. Not particularly. Why would you? Yes. There was obviously a foolish, vain and immature part of me which said, ‘Ooh, an important job, how very nice’. And the rest of me said, ‘Come on!’ ”
So why take it? “Because, I suppose, people I trusted said, ‘Give it a go’. Because if other people have done a fair bit of thinking and praying about it, I suppose you at least have to consider that it’s a calling. I went straight to my confessor when the letter came and said, ‘What about it?’ The reply was, ‘Go for it.’”
That suggests he did not feel a direct calling of his own. “Like quite a lot of clergy of my generation, there is an assumption that you are quite likely to hear God’s call from where the Church wants to send you. So I don’t think I’d have lost any sleep if it hadn’t happened. Certainly a lot less sleep than I lost in the job.”
Read the rest of the article from the Telegraph here.