Stephen Bates guardian.co.uk, Thursday 8 July 2010 21.51 BST
The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams speaks on the final day of the Lambeth conference. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PARowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, is embroiled in a new crisis within the Church of England over the decision to block the appointment of a gay cleric as bishop of Southwark.
Liberals and mainstream Anglicans are furious that the archbishop has once more failed to exert any leadership over mutinous forces threatening to split the church over the sensitive issue of homosexuality.
Dr Jeffrey John, the dean of St Albans, was in the running for the senior position at Southwark until his name was leaked, enabling conservative clerics to stop the appointment. An embattled Williams has now launched an inquiry at Lambeth Palace to find out who divulged the name .
The archbishop was appalled that John's name was disclosed in a successful attempt to derail his candidacy, exactly seven years after he was forced to stand down as the prospective bishop of Reading following a previous outcry by conservative evangelicals against John's sexuality. Fingers are being pointed at the same evangelical hardliners who orchestrated the 2003 campaign.
The theologian, who is now dean of St Albans and has entered a civil partnership with another clergyman, his partner of many years, has long maintained that the relationship is chaste and thus complies with Church of England rules for its gay clergy.
But conservative evangelical pressure groups claimed John's appointment would split the church, threatened to seek oversight from foreign bishops and promised to stop supporting the church financially.
The revival of the row over the place of gays in the clergy comes as Williams confronts the Church of England's next great divisive row at the start of this weekend's general synod in York: over whether female clergy can become bishops – a dispute that threatens to split the church in another direction and which he is desperately trying to head off with delaying tactics.
John's supporters called for David Cameron to demonstrate his gay-friendly credentials by overruling the Crown Nominations Commission and insisting that John's name be considered further. They accused the archbishop of betraying his old friend a second time.
One senior cleric said: "The time of reckoning has come for Rowan. The events of seven years ago have bitten him hard in the very week women bishops comes to the crunch. He should realise there are greater considerations, like truth, justice, openness, fidelity to the rules and all those things the church proclaims. Many are dismayed by his constant capitulation to the fringe noisemakers.
"He could recover some credibility if he went mitre in hand to the PM and asked him to intervene and use his constitutional prerogative to consider the second name, whoever that is, and then to reject both if he so chooses."
Another senior cleric said: "The system of appointments is busted. What is needed is more transparency over how appointments are made. Obsessive secrecy is damaging the church."
Giles Goddard, chair of the liberal Inclusive Church movement, who is himself a gay vicar in south London, said: "This is a disaster for the church – another example of shooting itself in the foot. It would be much better to have a more open system."
Chris Bryant, the Labour MP and former Anglican cleric, who is also gay, said: "I have long supported the election of bishops. If the clergy and people of a diocese want a gay bishop they should be able to vote for one, in which case Jeffrey John would have been archbishop of Canterbury by now. There are not many men who combine his spiritual depth and insight. The way things are conducted now does not do the church any favours." Downing Street sources suggested, however, that the prime minister was unlikely to intervene.
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jul/08/rowan-williams-gay-bishop
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