The process to identify the next Archbishop of Canterbury is underway and the Diocese of Canterbury’s Vacancy in see Committee – the group that manages and oversees the Diocese’s role in the process – has published its Statement of Needs.
The document incorporates views which were gathered as part of a public consultation as well as explaining what life in our diocese is like for those who live, work and worship here.
The online consultation had responses from people across Kent, including the views of children and young people in the Diocese who took part in consultation activities in schools and youth groups.
The Statement of Needs will be read by candidates as well as the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC), the body that is meeting to pray, reflect and ultimately nominate someone to be the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury. The CNC will make its nomination to the Prime Minister who, if he accepts will advise His Majesty the King, who will formally appoint the next Archbishop of Canterbury.
The document states: ‘The Archbishop is ‘our’ Archbishop alongside their responsibilities in the Church of England, the nation, the Anglican Communion and on the world stage. We offer in the Diocese of Canterbury and in the Cathedral Precincts a home, where the Archbishop will feel they belong.’
The Chair of the Vacancy in See Committee, the Venerable Dr Will Adam, said: “I would like to thank everyone who took part in our diocesan consultation to help the process of discernment of the next Archbishop of Canterbury. The responses gathered have helped us put together a Statement of Needs that captures the opportunities and challenges in our diverse corner of the country, reflecting the coastal, urban and rural communities and the church in all its variety in this diocese. The document will be enormously helpful to the Crown Nominations Commission and to candidates as we continue to discern who God is calling to be our next Archbishop.”
The process of identifying the next Archbishop of Canterbury began after Archbishop Justin Welby announced his intention to resign in November 2024.
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the Bishop in the Diocese of Canterbury alongside their national and global roles. The candidates and CNC will be informed by the themes from a wider consultation that took in the views of 11,000 people. It will sit alongside the Statement of Needs as well as other information provided by the National Church and Anglican Communion.
First published on: 5th June 2025
Page last updated: Friday 6th June 2025 10:31 AM
This a document of real quality. It is commendably firm both on the ordination of women and on Living in love and Faith. It recognises the importance of laity. For those of us who worship in the Cathedral it comes as no surprise that Archdeacon Will Adam has been closely associated with the production of an excellent document. Although a Vacancy in See Committee was only recently finalised, he was appointed chair of the earlier and suppressed committee.. I have a minor gripe about underplaying the importance of ecumenical relations and yy6twork to turn an imperfect communion with Rome into… Read more »
Thank you, although in my experience of the diocese substantive ecumenical engagement outside the confines of Canterbury itself is comparatively limited, beyond the usual politeness: the use of St Andrew’s Shepherdswell (Sibbertswold) in Bewsborough benefice by the local Methodist circuit (Deal & Dover) is a fairly rare instance of this, at least in central/east Kent. I grant that the cathedral itself was in the vanguard of ecumenical engagement between the 1960s and 1980s. For this the tact of Ian White-Thomson and, more especially, the energies of Herbert Waddhams (and, later, Bernard Pawley) were largely responsible. Waddhams did the spadework with… Read more »
Thank you for happy reminders of great days. Donald Allchin remained an inspiring teacher, exploring the ecumenical dimensions of the writings of Anne Griffiths and NFS Grundtvig.
Many thanks, Dr Doll! There was a time during the 1970s when the dean & chapter at Canterbury comprised not only some exceptionally nice people (such as White-Thomson and Tom Prichard) but also some very gifted ones (such as Allchin, Pawley and Joseph Robinson). As you may know, Allchin was from a very talented family – for example, his older brother Frank was one of the leading Indologists (specifically an archaeologist of India) of his generation – and he himself was endlessly inquisitive, open, kind and helpful. It is perhaps not entirely coincidental that he left Canterbury for Oxford in… Read more »
Thank you for the reminder of Peter Brett’s interest. It was through connection with him that a party of two dozen from Durham Diocese – with Stephen Pedley at the helm – made a pilgrimage to Bec via Canterbury in 1993. I was one of them, before college and ordination, and as I am now parish priest of the Huntingdonshire town where Anselm once came to adopt the local monastery for the Bec community, I have continuing reason to value that initial contact (and a return visit on holiday half way between then and now).
Ecumenism is, of course multi-directional…
Thank you very much! I found Peter Brett to be a very kind and engaging person. He has acted as a spiritual counsellor for various people in east Kent and, of course, he had been in Durham diocese (Houghton-le-Spring) before coming to live in the Green Court in Canterbury. He was officiating regularly in Smallhythe until a few years’ back – where he is held in great esteem – and I believe is still attending (though now a widower) at St Mildred’s in Tenterden, though the church building itself is presently closed for repairs. I have had the pleasure of… Read more »
A perfect communion with Rome is not possible while they regard our priests’ orders as void.
Overtures to work together are always a good idea. The priest charged with Unity of Christian Churches in France (Catholic Bishops Office) has his emphasis summarized: “To be Catholic is to be Ecumenical.”
There isn’t a “perfect communion” inside Anglicanism itself. The opposite of perfect communion is efforts at communion in any form they arise.
Yes, I agree abut working together: with Methodists (with whom we are in communion), Roman Catholics, Baptists, Salvationists, Quakers, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Orthodox, Free Church, or anyone else who is willing to work with us. But I’m bemused by those who think the Holy Grail is perfect communion with Rome, when Rome doesn’t recognise our orders.
One thing I always find difficult here is recourse to language like ‘Holy Grail.’ I certainly would not use language like this. What is a Holy Grail on a day like Pentecost? The Holy Spirit who comes to bring unity in his person and work.
I’m bemused by those who long for perfect communion with Rome, when Rome doesn’t recognise our orders.
Wouldn’t it be better to work on our relationships with those denominations who do recognise our orders, and with whom we have much in common?
Just a question. Do we recognise all their orders?
All except the papacy, as far as I know. The 39 Articles declare the Pope to be an antichrist, and transubstantiation a ‘vain and blasphemous fable’. I should think that is also a serious bar to communion.
Are you being serious?
Have you read the 39 Articles?
Yes
RC priests are not reordained if they join the C of E.Ministers from Nonconformity are re- ordained. The 39 arts say the Bp of Rome has no jurisdiction in the realm of England. It is the Westminster Confession that says the Pope is Antichrist.
Just as aside , the late Richard Bird, sometime Archdeacon of Lambeth, used to complain that he hath no jurisdiction in this realm of Lambeth Palace
You’re right, thank you for the correction.
It was Article 31 I was thinking of: ‘the sacrifices of the Masses, in the which it was commonly said, that the priest did offer Christ for the quick and the dead, to have remission of pain or guilt, were blasphemous fables, and dangerous deceits.’
Which is a little different.
You keep referring to the 39 articles and very often misquote them. Have you really read them?
Yes, a number of times.
And I don’t think I ‘very often’ refer to them or quote them. But they were fundamental to my understanding of Anglicanism when I first joined, and I wouldn’t join until I had read them and the Preface. It’s a long time ago now and my. views have changed.
Having said that, clergy are required to ‘affirm’ them, and it’s surprising how many haven’t actually read them.
Subscription to everything in the 39 Articles was abolished by law in the Church of England (of which our Church of Australia was then part) as long ago as 1865, after a long campaign assisted by Dean Arthur Stanley and others. It was replaced by a general assent, never legally defined, still the form used here in Australia, but further modified since in the Church of England. (I have the idea that clergy in England were required to read them when instituted or inducted. That is not the case here.) There are important truths in the Articles, I think, but… Read more »
People are free to prioritize their ecumenical efforts. You sound concerned that the Catholic Church not receive such. That does not make sense to me. The Catholic Church was once the home of Christianity in the British Isles. It is the dominant Church in the Christian West by a very wide factor. But feel free to focus on other ecumenical efforts where you live. That makes a big difference when it comes to ecumenism.
(In France, one does not have the same protestant entities in anything like the (even small) number one finds elsewhere. That makes the ecumenical landscape different.)
In this part of the UK, it was the Irish rather than the Roman version of Christianity which predominated for several centuries.
I am very happy that we are working ecumenically with the RC Church, as with other churches. I have worked with local Roman Catholics in most of the posts I have held and was glad to do so. I’m just a bit puzzled by those whose ideal is reunion with Rome, given the obstacles there are on both sides.
“A united approach is particularly important since Kent fell into the hands of Reform” Might I ask what that is supposed to mean, exactly? It seems to me blindingly obvious that one of the C of E’s many macro-problems is that it comes across as being dominated by upper middle-class left-wingers – Guardian readers at prayer. Commentators here on TA generally appear to come predominantly, if not exclusively, from that demographic too, so I am aware I will quickly be shouted down for daring to state the obvious this bluntly… On every recent major issue, it seems, the CofE leadership… Read more »
I would be way of saying that the church of the nation should reflect the views of the nation. Any church should reflect the views of God. Those views may be received favourably or unfavourably by the nation.
One of my very devout neighbours when I lived in East London had lived through the battle of Cable Street . I can only imagine her views- though she didn’t read the Guardian
I’m a Times reader from a working class background. My vicar is the daughter of a fisherman. One or two previous archbishops were working or lower middle class, as is the Archbishop of York. Very few of the clergy I know are from upper-middle-class backgrounds. For all I know they may read the Telegraph or the Daily Mail.
The C of E may be dominated by posh left-leaning Guardian readers where you are – but maybe that’s about where you live?
Are you suggesting we should preach a working-class Jesus with right-wing views? Perhaps the church should embrace Trumpism, a hatred of immigrants and a liking for Putin. Mr Farage would approve.
If measured by church attendance and reception of the sacraments, Vladimir Putin is probably the most Christian leader of any nation in Europe.
If measured by the number of people he has slaughtered and murdered , Putin’s use of the Church to whitewash his atrocities suggests he’s the most evil leader in Europe.
I imagine there is a sign outside your church saying ‘Carpenters who refer to people from other backgrounds as dogs are not welcome here’.
Demonising and shouting slogans is indeed a problem.I am a firm fence sitter, but that also means that listening to both sides is crucial. Dialogue. It’s like some people call Trump a Nazi. How does that help anybody? He was democratically voted. Are 50% of Americans Nazi’s? So maybe it would be more useful to analyse why people voted for him, and seek to address those issues. BTW, shouting right wing media is not a solution either. Staying on the fence…Trump demonising democrats is part of politics – but some democrats don’t help themselves, and go all ‘pass me the… Read more »
Hitler was elected by a popular vote and he was a Nazi. There is no inherent contradiction between democracy and fascism.
That Hitler was elected Chancellor in 1933 is popular misconception. Indeed the Nazis had peaked with their share of the vote & number of seats declining at the last free election of Nov 1932. Although heading the largest party, his was a minority government. However, once appointed Chancellor (with conservative support) he was able to subvert the constitution.
Listen to “In Our Time” a couple of weeks ago about Paul von Hindenburg for this story! “Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the rise of a retired German officer recalled to duty who became an idealised, heroic figure and, as president, appointed Hitler as chancellor.” https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002cfjz
This the latest most substantial, and excellent, work on this theme: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/hindenburg-9780199695867?cc=gb&lang=en& (von der Goltz being an especially resonant name in the history of Prussia and Latvia/Courland). It replaces John Wheeler-Bennett’s ‘Hindenburg: the Wooden Titan’ (1967).
Thanks. And indeed the author of that tome (Anna von der Goltz) was one of the speakers on In Our Time. I hadn’t realized that she came from such a family, though I see that over a dozen family members are listed on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_der_Goltz
Many thanks! There are 107 entries on the extended family listed in Deutsche Biographie (though some are repetitive). A dazzling array of field marshals, generals, jurists, theologians, diplomats, composers, writers, etc. Not just in Germany, but also in Portugal and Russia. The reason why I mentioned Latvia was because of Gen. Count Rudiger von der Goltz, who tried to stage a rearguard action on behalf of the Baltic barons after WW1 (which was partly put to bed by a certain Lt.-Col. Harold Alexander, the future FML Earl Alexander of Tunis), as well as intervening in Finland – that von der… Read more »
My East London ( not any sort of middle class not Guardian reading) neighbour remained very scared of Facism into the late 90’s and early 2000’s when she died. Despite having lost many people she knew during WW2 she regarded it as having been a deliverance from evil.
We need to think long and hard before viewing Facism as some benign and pleasingly lower class lifestyle choice
I don’t think anyone here is viewing fascism as benign – I suspect all of us share your neighbour’s horror of it. My point in reply to Nigel was simply that the fact Trump was democratically elected has no bearing on whether or not he is a fascist. People vote for all sorts of reasons, and all too often thinking only of their own pocket, and failing to thoroughly research the candidates.
The comparison with Nazism may not be appropriate but that to Fascism may be. The executive variously threatening, prosecuting, disparaging or ignoring those bodies which don’t straightforwardly agree with its policies – the judiciary, universities, the free press, for example; de-humanising rhetoric and actions against immigrants and the export of immigrants to a foreign prison with no due process; the imposition of the executive’s philosophy in places of education and the suppression of minority views; sabre-rattling expansionist rhetoric in foreign affairs – Canada, Greenland, Panama; and now the threatened use of the military on American soil against protestors: these things,… Read more »
Please note that Mr Egerton is a former Conservative parliamentary candidate and has written columns on Conservative Home, so I would suggest that he is therefore not necessarily a ‘left-winger’.
I do hope there is a queue of comments. Yes, listen to unhappiness and discontent. Think about what is really being said and how to address those problems. Engage with those who try to address them, of whatever party or none. But recall also that traditionally the CofE has been described as ‘the Tory Party at prayer’. And ponder the Lutheran church in Germany in 1933 and what followed. We are called to something more than public opinion. We are also called to be uncomfortable and challenging. Some of that challenge is to middle class comfort, but it is also… Read more »
“The UK has voted to leave the EU by 52% to 48%.”
Nowhere near 2/3 & 1/3….
I agree about respect but name calling has become a rampant infection.
I think the point was a survey of CofE worshippers and clergy, not the UK as a whole. I can’t find it but I have heard the 2/3:1/3 before.
It seems to me that those who share the opinions you suggest are dismissed as ‘populist’ – a difficult and somewhat dangerous label as it implies a two-tier (may I be forgiven for the term) public – those who are correctly informed and those who are reactionary which also plays into the very British characteristics of snobbery and snottiness.
The drift towards the right in the USA and some European countries is very worrying. Supporters of Putin like Trump, Orban and Farage have their followers, many of whom accept the lies and deceptions of these demagogues. It is neither snotty nor snobbish to point out the threats posed by the extreme right.
Brave man, Mark for sticking your head above this particular parapet. You were of course quite correct in anticipating the response to what you say. Scrolling through the comments of those who have responded to you, I had a bet with myself as to how soon Adolf Hitler’s name would come up and of course I didn’t have to wait long. To those who find reference to that wretched man, the Nazis or Fascists is any more relevant to the discussion of current issues than allusion to Napoleon Bonaparte would have been to our forebears in the late 1890s, I… Read more »
Ah yes. Reno. The man who was against the church supporting mask wearing during the pandemic .
In line with much well-informed opinion about the effectiveness of non-clinical mask wearing by members of the general public in otherwise uncontrolled environments.
Mask wearing. Highly credible and effective way to protect against a pandemic: I believe all hard science establishes it was practically useless, and with children, outright harmful to their development.
And what was the evidence at the worrying time? Perhaps the Covid Enquiry, taking place in the cold light of day, will enable lessons to be learned for the future. The aim of mask-wearing, as I understood it, was to protect our fellow human beings- surely a good Christian principle, as exemplified by the people of Eyam in the 1660s. I can see that a ‘blind faith’ in God is a credible view too.
“Perhaps the Covid Enquiry, taking place in the cold light of day, will enable lessons to be learned for the future.”
Indeed.
My wife died of covid.
Feeling for you AP.