LONDON (RNS) — Two weeks before Christmas is normally one of the busiest times of the year for the Archbishop of Canterbury, spent preparing his sermon for Canterbury Cathedral’s Christmas morning service that makes the news on British television on Dec. 25.
But this is not a normal Christmas season for outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who has entered an unaccustomed period of silence after first stepping down because of the Church of England’s handling of one of its worst abuse scandals, followed by his disastrous valedictory address in the House of Lords last week.
It seems we will hear no more from Welby before he officially leaves his post on Jan. 6 — besides giving up his Christmas sermon, he will not deliver his usual televised New Year’s Day message, the BBC has confirmed. Instead, officials at Lambeth Palace said, this year he will spend the holidays privately with his family.
Welby’s reputation was badly tarnished by the Makin Review, an independent investigation of the church’s response to allegations of abuse against John Smyth, a prominent layman who ran summer camps in England and Zimbabwe. After the report appeared in early November, confirming that Welby had been slow to isolate a suspected abuser, Welby …