There’s a great deal of chatter in the past few days about the possibility of the John Sentamu, the present Archbishop of York, succeeding Rowan Williams as the Archbishop of Canterbury. There are opinion pieces in the English press claiming that if he doesn’t, it’s because of racism. And there are articles talking about leaked concerns regarding his management style.
Paul Vallely for instance writes:
“…The big question is whether his style is suited to coping with the polarised camps in the Church. ‘He’s established a court at Bishopthorpe,’ said one senior insider. ‘He’s trebled the staff, which has caused unease among senior churchmen at the amount of money he’s spending. But he lacks the diplomatic skills to be Archbishop of Canterbury. He’s autocratic and doesn’t like to be contradicted. He has a temper. His senior staff of bishops and archdeacons in the Diocese of York haven’t found him an easy man to work with, or for. He’d be a disaster managing Anglicanism’s factions.’
All that has not been lost on the powers at Lambeth Palace, which is run more like a chief exec’s office in a major corporation. There the Archbishop of Canterbury has so much in his diary set by the formularies of diocese, nation and international Anglican Communion that the incumbent has nowhere near the scope to follow his own agenda as York does. Lambeth officials have been leaking their fear of a Dr Sentamu succession.”
Thinking Anglicans has collected a number of the best articles on Sentamu’s possible preferment.
And of course you can always follow what the bookies are saying…