Virginia to Welcome Carey for Confirmations
Episcopal News Service. September 9, 2004 [090904-1-A]
Nancy Jenkins , Director of Communications for the Diocese of Virginia
The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey of Clifton, has accepted an invitation from Bishop Peter Lee of Virginia to preside at two supplemental confirmation services on Wednesday, September 15, 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., at Truro Church in Fairfax, Virginia. The services are especially provided for those congregations that are unhappy with Lee's consent of the consecration of the Bishop of New Hampshire and feel the need for alternate episcopal ministry.
"Lord Carey is coming at my invitation as an expression of pastoral outreach from the office of the Bishop," said Lee. "My hope is that this pastoral gesture will be seen as a way of accommodating people who have differing views within the Diocese of Virginia. I'm grateful to Lord Carey for his willingness to come."
The special services are in keeping with a pledge Lee made in his pastoral address to the Annual Council of the Diocese in January, in which he stated that he would make provisions for alternative episcopal care for any congregation that requested it.
Speaking of his upcoming visit, Lord Carey said, "I feel deeply touched by Bishop Peter Lee's invitation to conduct two confirmation services in his diocese. The present strains on the Anglican Communion demand firm leadership, generosity and kindness. I have accepted his invitation to be his representative out of my respect for him and for the Rev. Martyn Minns [rector of Truro Church], both of whom are good friends."
In an August 25 letter to the editor of The Daily Telegraph (London), Lord Carey wrote, "The Diocese of Virginia is pioneering a way of responding to the deep divisions in the Episcopal Church of the U.S. I salute Peter Lee's spirit of generosity and humility as a demonstration that in these critical days for the Anglican Communion it is possible to avoid schism, if American bishops pay attention to the many Episcopalians who are exceedingly distressed by the consecration of Gene Robinson."