English Are Betting on Irish Primate to Succeed Runcie
Episcopal News Service. April 12, 1990 [90100C]
London bookmakers are offering 2-1 odds that Archbishop Robin Eames, the Anglican Primate of Ireland, will be the next Archbishop of Canterbury. London betting houses traditionally give odds in the "Canterbury stakes" when an Archbishop of Canterbury leaves office. The 52-year-old Primate would succeed Archbishop Robert Runcie, who has announced that he will retire in January 1991. If Eames replaces Runcie, he would be the first non-English bishop to head the worldwide Anglican Communion. One London newspaper said of Eames, "He has a reputation for doctrinal conservatism reinforced by judicious silences."