The Archbishop of Canterbury has announced his resignation. Dr Rowan Williams says he will quit at the end of the year to return to academic life. He has accepted a position as Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge University.
Hinting at the pressures of the job, he said he hoped his successor would have ‘the constitution of an ox and the skin of a rhinoceros’.
Before he steps down the Archbishop of Canterbury will visit Christchurch in November to offer his support to the quake-ravaged city. This visit will be his final international duty.
Archbishop David Moxon, Archbishop and Primate at Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, speaking on behalf of Archbishops Brown Turei and Winston Halapua has paid tribute to the Archbishop of Canterbury.
“He was greatly respected by us,” he said, “as a deeply prayerful, thoughtful person, as someone of huge intelligence.
“But he was above all wise, in the Biblical sense, with a great heart for the diversity of the Anglican Communion, across all its cultures, and with all its theological tensions.
“We will miss Archbishop Rowan’s grace and mind very much, and we wish him well.”
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