++Rowan WilliamsArchbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams will make his first visit to Canada to attend the April meeting of the House of Bishops.  Leaders of the Anglican Church of Canada had been feeling neglected, but now all is forgiven.

“We have had the invitation in the works for over a year; we struggled with his calendar and we received the answer today (Jan. 26). We’re delighted,” said Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada.

The move is significant since Archbishop Williams has come under criticism for avoiding the U.S. and Canadian churches since his election in 2002 and since the Episcopal Church and Anglican Church of Canada have been seen as moving toward more-liberal views on homosexuality at about the same time.

He declined an invitation to attend a joint meeting of U.S. and Canadian bishops in Windsor, Ont. in 2005, drawing criticism from Archbishop Hutchison at the time: “It does send a very, very negative symbol to the Canadian church, no question. The message it sends to us is that at the moment he does not want to be associated with the Canadians,” he said before the Windsor meeting.

So, ++Rowan is now apparently willing to associate with the Canadians.  Still no sign of an audience with the Americans, however.  Hmmmm.

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