2007 news archive

December 2007

10 December 2007
Archbishop Names New Representative to the Holy See
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and the governors of the Anglican Centre in Rome are delighted to announce the appointment of the Very Revd David Richardson as the Archbishop's Representative to the Holy See and Director of the Centre.

06 December 2007
Why Social Cohesion Needs Religion
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams has given a wide-ranging lecture today in Singapore, at the Building Bridges Conference.

14 December 2007
The Archbishop's Advent Letter to Primates

November 2007

30 November 2007
Archbishop Confirmed as a Co-President of Religions for Peace
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, has been confirmed as a Co-President of Religions for Peace - known as the world's largest and most representative multi-religious organization dedicated to peace.

30 November 2007
Church Leaders - A Climate Treaty for Climate Justice
European church leaders including the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, have warned governments that "Substantially reducing global emissions of greenhouse gasses will not avoid the serious impacts of climate change already experienced by many of the world's most vulnerable communities"

09 November 2007
Archbishop's tribute to Chad Varah
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, paid tribute to the founder of the Samaritans, Chad Varah, whose death was announced 8 November

09 November 2007
Best Wishes for Korea Peace Conference
The Archbishop of Canterbury has held discussions with the Rt Revd Dr Robin Eames, former Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, about the forthcoming Worldwide Anglican Peace Conference in Korea, known as TOPIK.

09 November 2007
Greetings for Diwali
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has sent a message of greeting to the Hindu community for their celebration of the festival of Diwali.

October 2007

31 October 2007
Archbishop meets Chief Rabbis in Jerusalem
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, today held talks in Jerusalem with Israel's Chief Rabbis.

19 October 2007
Disappointment Over Cancellation of One Voice "People's Summit" in Jericho
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has written to some of the coordinators of the OneVoice Movement, a grass roots movement empowering those who support a peacefully negotiated two state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, offering his prayers and support after security concerns led to the cancellation of a mass gathering in Jericho.

12 October 2007
New National Armed Forces Memorial 'To Make the Invisible Visible'
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, gave a sermon at the Service of Dedication of the Armed Forces Memorial, in which he said that the memorial reminds us of the often invisible service and skill that keeps our national community secure.

12 October 2007
Archbishops' Slavery Film Shares Top Media Prize
A film showing the shaken reactions of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York on seeing the site of a former slave market has shared a top prize for internet video at the 2007 Jerusalem Trust Awards.

11 October 2007
Archbishop's response to A Common Word
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, today received a copy of a key letter from Muslim scholars and religious leaders addressed to Christian religious leaders.

11 October 2007
Greetings and Prayers for Eid
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has sent a greeting to Islamic communities for the coming festival of Eid, marking the end of Ramadhan.

05 October 2007
Iraqi Refugees' Suffering Shows Iraq Conflict 'Has Done Much More Damage'
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams has described as 'heartbreaking and harrowing' a meeting he held in Syria with refugees from Iraq.

September 2007

27 September 2007
Atrocities 'Disgrace of Twentieth Century'
In Armenia, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has said that genocide and violence targeted against whole communities is 'one of the greatest disgraces of the twentieth century'.

20 September 2007
Bishop of Uyo, Nigeria - Briefing note from Lambeth Palace
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has spoken of his relief at receiving assurances over news agency reports attributing offensive remarks to the Bishop of Uyo, Nigeria, the Rt Revd Isaac Orama.

19 September 2007
Archbishop's New Climate Change Adviser
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has appointed Paula Clifford on a six month secondment from Christian Aid to help further the Church of England's quest for sustainable solutions to climate change, following on from the launch of the Church of England's "Shrinking the Footprint" initiative.

18 September 2007
Archbishop to Visit Armenia, Syria and Lebanon
Following on from his visit to the United States the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams will visit Armenia, Syria and Lebanon, from 22nd - 29th September.

11 September 2007
Archbishop Launches New Research Degrees
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has announced a new higher degree programme as an expansion of the Archbishop's Examination in Theology.

11 September 2007
Hopes and Prayers at the Start of the Jewish New Year
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, sent a greeting to Jewish Communities at the start of the festival of Rosh Hashanah, marking the start of the Jewish New Year.

10 September 2007
Sept 11th - Lessons From History for Faith and Civil Society
In a lecture to the Christian Muslim Forum Conference in Cambridge, Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, will consider the events and consequences of two events in history sharing the date of September 11th.

August 2007

13 August 2007
Tribute to Former Archbishop of Wales
The Archbishop of Canterbury paid tribute to the former Archbishop of Wales, the Right Rev Alwyn Rice Jones, following his death, which was announced earlier today.

03 August 2007
Sorrow at Death of Patriarch Teoctist
The Archbishop of Canterbury has written to the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Romania expressing his deep sorrow at the death of the Patriarch, His Beatitude Teoctist.

July 2007

13 July 2007
Archbishop Receives Award for Environmental Role
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has received an award from parliamentarians for his work in helping to promote environmentally friendly causes.

June 2007

29 June 2007
A Clarification in Relation to the Times Report
In the Times report of 29 June stating that 'Gene Robinson is to be invited to the Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Church next summer', it should be noted that there is no change to the Archbishop of Canterbury's decision not to invite the Bishop of New Hampshire to the Conference as a participating bishop.

06 June 2007
The Times Report on the Bishop of Southwark - a Correction

May 2007

22 May 2007
First Invitations Sent for 'Reflective and Learning-Based Lambeth Conference
The first invitations for the 2008 Lambeth Conference, to be held in Canterbury next summer, were sent by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.

16 May 2007
Multiculturalism Debate is also about Global Markets
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, will give an address at London's Toynbee Hall, in which he will call for a widening of the debate on multiculturalism beyond narrow considerations of ethnicity or nationality, and to take in arguments about globalisation and commerce.

10 May 2007
Tribute to Prime Minister Tony Blair
Responding to the Prime Minister's announcement that he will stand down on 27 June, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, made the following statement from Sri Lanka.

08 May 2007
Christians Should Stand for Hope in Conflict
Christian communities in the middle of conflict need to stand for hope, forgiveness, and reconciliation, the Archbishop of Canterbury said during a visit to Sri Lanka.

06 May 2007
Project is True Ray of Hope in Malaysia
A church project in Malaysia has been described as 'the work of the Gospel' by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams. Dr Williams was visiting the 'Ray of Hope' centre run by two Anglican churches in Malaysia around a hundred miles south of Kuala Lumpur on Sunday 6th May, 2007.

05 May 2007
Bishops Need Stillness
The Archbishop of Canterbury has said that Bishops need to make time for stillness and silence if they are to find the strength to show leadership to the Church.

03 May 2007
Archbishop to Visit Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams is to spend four days in Sri Lanka next week as part of a visit to South East Asia. Dr Williams' visit comes at a time when tensions have increased in the country following the apparent breakdown in peace negotiations between the Government and the Tamil Tigers.

April 2007

27 April 2007
Deep Sorrow over Child Abuse Suffering
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has spoken of his deep sorrow over the suffering experienced in child abuse cases involving the church. Dr Williams said that the church had developed greater awareness and expertise, and had stringent procedures in place, but that vigilance was crucial.

26 April 2007
Archbishop to give Inaugural Zaki Badawi Memorial Lecture
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, will give the inaugural Zaki Badawi Memorial Lecture at Lambeth Palace this evening. The lecture is entitled 'Islam, Christianity and Pluralism', and will focus on the different attitudes between the two faiths regarding both pluralism as a religious thesis, and pluralism as a social and political reality.

25 April 2007
Moral Vision Should be at the Heart of Politics
In his lecture this evening [Tuesday 25th April 2007] in Hull, birthplace of William Wilberforce, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, will urge politicians to rediscover the moral energy and vision which inspired Wilberforce; defend the right of the citizen to call the state to account for its actions; and ask whether we still believe in the notion of "a moral state".

20 April 2007
Archbishop's Positive Meeting with Vice President of Burundi
The Archbishop met with the Vice-President of Burundi, Dr Martin Nduwimana. The meeting took place at Lambeth Palace, London, yesterday evening [19th April 2007] and the two discussed the continuing difficulties faced by Burundi after a 12-year civil war.

16 April 2007
Archbishop to Visit U.S. Church
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has announced that he intends to visit the United States this autumn in response to the invitation from the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church.

16 April 2007
Archbishop in Canada- Church Needs to Listen Properly to the Bible
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has told an audience of theological students that both intensely liberal and ultra conservative readings of the Bible are 'rootless' and are limited in what they can contribute to the life of the Church. In the Larkin Stuart lecture, delivered today [Monday 16th April 2007] at an event hosted jointly by Wycliffe and Trinity theological colleges in Toronto, Dr Williams said that Christians need to reconnect with scripture as something to be listened to and heard in the context of Jesus's invitation to the Eucharist and to work for the Kingdom.

12 April 2007
Archbishop's Visit to Canada
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams will be paying a short visit to Canada next week at the invitation of the Primate of Canada, Archbishop Andrew Hutchison.

08 April 2007
Easter Sermon - Human Failure is Overcome by God's Love
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams is to say that the whole weight of human failure cannot extinguish the creative love of God. In his Easter sermon, to be preached at Canterbury Cathedral this morning [April 8th 2007], Dr Williams will say that conflict and failure are part of the human condition, but that Jesus' death and Resurrection turns that on its head:

March 2007

28 March 2007
Church Must Be Safe Place for Gay and Lesbian People
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has said that the churches of the Anglican Communion must be safe places for gay and lesbian people. His comments come in a welcome to an interim report on the Anglican Communion's Listening Process, a commitment to listen to the experience of homosexual people. Dr Williams warns that the challenge to create the safe space for their voices to be heard and for their dignity to be respected is based on a fundamental commitment of the Communion.

27 March 2007
Slavery is 'God's Grief' - Sermon at Westminster Abbey
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has said the enslavement of human beings is the greatest cause of grief to God's Spirit. During a service [Tuesday 27th March 2007] to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade at Westminster Abbey, Dr Williams told the congregation that slavery was an offence to human dignity and freedom.

26 March 2007
Reparations for Slavery - Press Briefing from Lambeth Palace
Some news reports today [Monday 26th March 2007] have suggested that Dr Rowan Williams is calling for the Church to make financial reparations in relation to the history of the Church of England and the slave trade. The comments that prompted this coverage came in the BBC radio programme, Trade Roots. The Archbishop's position, carefully articulated in the programme, actually pointed towards the need for a wider institutional sense of responsibility in acknowledging the heritage of slavery itself.

15 March 2007
Archbishop's Shock at News of the Death of Fr. Paul Bennett
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams has spoken of his shock at the news of the death of Fr Paul Bennett in Trecynon, nr Aberdare in Wales yesterday [14th March 2007] and has said that the family will be in his prayers.

14 March 2007
'Slavery Still With Us' - Archbishops Publish YouTube Reflection
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have today [14th March 2007] published an innovative online reflection on the nature of the Slave Trade in readiness for the Church of England's Walk of Witness, taking place in London on Saturday March 24. The joint reflection has been posted on YouTube and is also accessible through the Archbishop of Canterbury's web site. It was filmed at the site of the Slave Market in Zanzibar, now the island's Anglican Cathedral, during the recent Anglican Primates Meeting.

13 March 2007
No One Can Be Forgotten in God's Kingdom - Press Release from TEAM Conference
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has said that the Church stands for the principle that no-one can be forgotten or left outside in God's Kingdom.

12 March 2007
Archbishop - International Community too Fixed on 'Success First, Help Second'
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has told a Christian congregation in Angola that the international community can be too cautious in wanting change in struggling countries before stepping in to help. In a sermon preached to over 2000 Anglicans in a basketball stadium in Angola's capital Luanda, he promised to speak out for them on his return.

12 March 2007
Archbishop's Concern Following Meeting With Detained Human Rights Worker
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has had a private meeting with Dr Sarah Wykes, a human rights worker with Global Witness, who was detained in Cabinda, Angola, last month on suspicion of espionage. After a short period of detention, Dr Wykes was released on bail but is not allowed to leave the country.

09 March 2007
Archbishop and President Mbeki - Church and Nation 'Share Common Work'
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has heard from South African President Thabo Mbeki that Church and nation 'share common work' in relation to the Millennium Development Goals. The two met this morning [Friday 9th March 2007] during the Archbishop's visit to South Africa. They discussed a range of subjects related to the region including the Goals, which have been a key theme of the TEAM conference (Towards Effective Anglican Mission), attended by Dr Williams, in Boxburg this week.

07 March 2007
Archbishop Encourages Zimbabwean Anglican Church to Develop 'Independent Voice' on Human Rights
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams and Archbishop Bernard Malango, Archbishop of Central Africa, have held a meeting with Bishop Nolbert Kunonga, Anglican Bishop of Harare. The meeting took place today [March 7th, 2007] in South Africa.

06 March 2007
Millennium Development Goals are Key Communion Objectives
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has said that the Millennium Development Goals provide a key focus for the churches of the Anglican Communion. Speaking at the start of the TEAM Conference, (Towards Effective Anglican Mission) an international Anglican conference in Boksburg near Johannesburg in South Africa, he said that working towards these objectives raised fundamental and positive challenges for the church:

05 March 2007
Anglican Communion Challenges Require 'Generosity and Patience' - Archbishop's Letter to Primates
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has said that generosity and patience will be required for the Anglican Communion in the days ahead. In a Pastoral Letter sent to the Primates of the Anglican Communion, Dr Williams says that the recent meeting in Tanzania had been difficult, but that the issues had been properly aired.

01 March 2007
Visit to South Africa and Angola
The Archbishop of Canterbury is to visit South Africa and Angola as part of a visit to the Anglican Province of Southern Africa next week (5th - 13th March 2007). The visit, announced in the Archbishop's Presidential Address to the Church of England's General Synod on Monday, will take in a special Anglican Communion Conference on the church's contribution to achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals in South Africa, as well as a visit to Angola.

February 2007

21 February 2007
Archbishop Speaks Out in Support of Imprisoned African Cleric
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is lending his support to an Amnesty International appeal for Reverend Bienvenido Samba Momessori, a clergyman imprsioned in Equatorial Guinea for his peaceful political views.

19 February 2007
Scars of Slavery Still With Us
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has said the scars of slavery are still with modern society and that Zanzibar's slave trade history is crucial to the understanding not just of the history of East Africa, but of humanity.

16 February 2007
Archbishop Hails Tanzania's 'Impressive Progress'
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams has paid tribute to the progress made in Tanzania since independence.

01 February 2007
Commission of Inquiry Needed into Failing Penal System
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is calling for a Commission of Inquiry into the Penal Justice system, which he says is failing both offenders and victims because it can't cope with the primary need to change the behaviour of those convicted.

January 2007

26 January 2007
Archbishop pays tribute to Abbé Pierre
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, paid tribute to the French priest and social campaigner Abbé Pierre, who died earlier this week at the age of 94.

25 January 2007
Holocaust needs to be remembered as real event
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams has said that the Holocaust needs to be remembered as a real, historical and well-documented event. In a statement to mark the UK's Holocaust Memorial day, he said that the day should be marked for future generations.

19 January 2007
Archbishops welcome BA uniform policy review
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have welcomed the decision by BA to change its uniform policy to allow the wearing of crosses and other religious symbols.

16 January 2007
Archbishop appoints Bishop for the Falkland Islands
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has appointed the Rt Revd Stephen Venner, Bishop of Dover, as his Episcopal Commissary for the Falkland Islands.

07 January 2007
Archbishop announces Covenant Design Group members
The Archbishop of Canterbury today announced the members of the Covenant Design Group that he has appointed in response to a request of the Joint Standing Committee of the Primates' Meeting and of the Anglican Consultative Council.