SPENDING TIME WITH JUSTIN WELBY
12/11/2024
I am sad to see the resignation of Justin Welby as Archbishop of Canterbury. Janice and I have followed the John Smyth from Iwerne Trust scandal with horror. Janice's own minister, when she lived in Wimbledon in the 90s, was a member of the Trust and has also been accused of indecent assault and one of grievous bodily harm. John Smyth's actions are more terrible abuses acted out under the cover of Jesus' Church. It is truly awful.
I do not know where or how Justin Welby errored in this but if he feels that he did in ways that hurt others I sense that he will take that much harder within his soul than having to give up his post.
I had a few very wonderful times with Justin. In those he was warm and spiritual and always interested in what I was doing. When he spoke at the 10th Anniversary of the 4 Corners Festival in St. Peter's Cathedral in 2012 he was astounding.
I even got to speak with Pope Francis about him in our private audience in the Vatican, just two months later. The mention of Archbishop Welby lit up Pope Francis's face. It was obvious the high regard by which Pope Francis held him and his wife Caroline. The work that all three were doing for peace in South Sudan was important to all three.
For me, I was blessed by spending an afternoon with him. He had arrived in for the 4 Corners Festival at lunchtime on Saturday and I had to look after him until dinner time.
We started at the Dock Cafe, that honesty cafe run by Christians, in the Titanic Quarter. As we were going in and shown to our reserved seats, we could hear a man saying, "That's the Archbishop of Canterbury". Off we went for our sandwiches and chat.
As we were leaving I lost the Archbishop. He appeared a good few minutes later and told me that he had went back to greet the man behind us at the door and they had a really good conversation. The man felt that he had lost his faith. "I said a few words of prayer and suggested that he read Luke 15. There are a lot of things lost there." Justin Welby - the persona evangelist.
Off we went to Fitzroy, where the 4 Corners Festival knitting event was taking place. I was rather staggered at the reaction of one of my own congregation. She was up and getting right into his space. It was like I had brought in a Beatle at the height of Beatlemania. Easy, I thought!
As we left he told me how lovely that woman was from my church. He reminded me that we had handed everyone his Advent book, during Covid, the Christmas before. She had told him that book had gotten her through grieving for her husband in those isolating Covid times. Justin Welby - the pastoral carer.
On to the 4 Corners Festival Wander, a now very well attended annual walk through some part of Belfast. That particular we finished with refreshments at the Farset Hotel on the Springfield Road. As people mingled a politician approached me to say that he wanted to say thank you to the Archbishop "because he has been the best opposition to this Tory government". - Justin Welby the prophetic voice.
This was all within a few hours. I was impressed and inspired.
I hope that as he resigns that he is not cast off into some social abyss. I pray that his love for Jesus and the sharing of that love will continue to find ways to flourish in the private and public steering that they did that February afternoon in 2022.