The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, is to step down from his position to become master of Magdalene College, Cambridge.
Williams, who was appointed the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury in 2001, will leave his office at the end of December 2012, in order to take up his new position in January 2013.
In a statement, he said:
It has been an immense privilege to serve as Archbishop of Canterbury over the past decade, and moving on has not been an easy decision. During the time remaining there is much to do, and I ask your prayers and support in this period and beyond. I am abidingly grateful to all those friends and colleagues who have so generously supported Jane and myself in these years, and all the many diverse parishes and communities in the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion that have brought vision, hope and excitement to my own ministry. I look forward, with that same support and inspiration, to continuing to serve the Church’s mission and witness as best I can in the years ahead.
Williams’ time as Archbishop of Canterbury has been defined by consistent adherence to his principles, even where this led him into controversy. As we wrote in a New Statesman editorial in October:
There is an admirable fearlessness about Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Whether it is guest-editing the New Statesman, as he did in June, and using his platform to offer a cogent and dispassionate analysis of the failings of our political leaders – left and right – or challenging Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, he understands that, as the leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, he has a duty to be heard and to offer ethical guidance.
In particular, he was outspoken on behalf of those in our society most in need, even where this took him directly into the political arena, from which many men of the church have shied away. He caused an enormous stir after he used his editorial for the New Statesman in June to say that Britain was being committed to “radical, long-term policies for which no one voted”.
All may not have agreed with him, but it is undeniable that his will be big shoes to fill.
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