The role of the Queen in the Church of England

On occasion of the 60th Jubilee of the Accession of Queen Elizabeth II, Archbishop Rowan Williams has issued a very good description of the role of the Queen in the Church of England.

(...) Since the 16th century, every English monarch has been Supreme Governor of the Church of England, which doesn't mean that the Queen or the King is the head of the Church of England. It simply means they're the final court of appeal. They're the person who makes the final decision about what the Church can do and can't do in law. One of The Queen's other titles is Defender of the Faith. We still see it on our coins in Latin: Fidei Defensor. It's tied up with The Queen's role as the senior layperson of the Church of England. But I think that The Queen has made something quite fresh of it. She has, in effect, said that by being the guardian of the Christian faith as held by the Church of England, she establishes a real place for faith in public life...

It is important to note that whatever the role the Queen fills in the Church of England, her role is for and in the Church of England, and not relates to Anglican Communion, other than in its historic character of founding church.

You may continue reading the whole transcript or watching the video here

On the scandal of litigation, threats, and other uncharitable acts and attitudes

The Bishop of Exeter, the Rt. Rev. Michael Langrish has written a about the Ordination of Women to the Episcopate in the Church of England. His wise words about the attitude of those finding themselves at opposite sides of the debate should be -- rather, must be -- considered in the wider context of the scandal of litigation, threats, and other uncharitable attitudes not only in The Episcopal Church, but in the Anglican Communion.

"One of the things that has most exercised me through this whole process, as I have wrestled with this subject, not least in my own prayers, is how deeply committed and devout Christian people on their knees before their Lord can appear to be being led to very different places, with very different views.  Unless I am willing to un-church one person against another, unless I am to dismiss certain groups as being less faithful, less hopeful, less loving than others, I am compelled to believe that the word of God is being presented to me through the convictions of us all, no matter how confusing that may be, and how hard the true word and wisdom of the Lord may be to discern.  However, if God is speaking to us, and through us, in such a differentiated way, it must in some way have something to say to us about the nature of the church we are called to be and how that nature is to be expressed in the legislation we pass to shape our common life in Christ."

Rather to throw each other out of our Churches we should do well to think through this... If indeed God is speaking to us, and through us, in such a differentiated way, it must in some way have something to say to us about the nature of the church we are called to be and how that nature is to be expressed in our common life.