Rowan Williams approaches that surgery moment

Whenever I recall Archbishop Runcie, I find it hard not to see a picture of him in my mind. He's painfully sitting on a fence and getting to the stage where he needs preventative surgery because he has been sitting on the fence so long and with such determination.

That was over women priests.

Such is the role of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Sit on the fence. Pour oil on troubled water. Occasionally issue statements so impenetrable that no one except for theology dons have a clue what you are on about.

I have to say that Archbishop Rowan Williams genuinely gets my full admiration for continuing in this fine tradition and for hosting a very successful Lambeth conference. He is learning and will need the preventative surgery in a few months. Good on him.

But here we have a little fly in the ointment from the Guardian: Gay couples reflect the will of God.

I have to say that I agree 100% with the gist of the things which Williams wrote a few years ago when he was the Archbishop of Wales. But they seem rather different from his bullish declaration at the end of Lambeth, (via a paper called How do we get from here to there? ) that:

Until a consensus is reached, the American and Canadian churches must refrain from consecrating more homosexual bishops and carrying out blessing services for same-sex couples....

Ah well. Trying to lead, or at least gently encourage, the worldwide Anglican church seems to be an altogether different kettle of fish than leading the dear old church in Wales.