Anglican Primate Breaks Out the Verbal Blowtorch

Henry Orombi, "Archbishop" of Uganda, absolutely tears Rowan a new one in the Times. After blasting Rowan up and down for his utter lack of spine amongst all the recent shenanigans, accusing him of multiple betrayals in blessing the sins of the American hierarchy. He says this:

The peculiar thing is that this one man, who is at the centre of the communion's structures, is not even elected by his peers. Even the Pope is elected by his peers, but what Anglicans have is a man appointed by a secular government. Over the past five years, we have come to see this as a remnant of British colonialism, and it is not serving us well. The spiritual leadership of a global communion of independent and autonomous provinces should not be reduced to one man appointed by a secular government.

It is important that our decision not to attend this Lambeth Conference is not misunderstood as withdrawing from the Anglican Communion. On the contrary, our decision reflects the depth of our concern and the sober realisation that the present structures are not capable of addressing the crisis.

In other words, this whole ship is sinking, one guy is to blame, and we got stuck with him through no fault of our own. Damien Thompson, whose reporting in all this has been outstanding, breaks it down as follows:

In effect, Orombi is saying: we are still part of the Anglican Communion, but Canterbury lacks the personal authority to hold together its "instruments of communion". Or, to put it another way, you are a weak man, Dr Williams.

Its timing is precisely calculated: its appearance right at the end of the Lambeth Conference will reinforce the impression that the entire exercise has been a smug, expensive, unrepresentative publicity stunt. And a failure.

And the world gapes in awe as the Barque of Henry VIII staggers blindly from wreck to wreck.