Archbishop of Canterbury to Retire This Year
Episcopal News Service. January 8, 2002 [2002-002]
Jan Nunley
(ENS) The Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, has officially announced his retirement.
A press release from Lambeth Palace states that "his intentions have been conveyed to the Queen, who is Supreme Governor of the Church of England and who formally appoints an Archbishop of Canterbury." The decision will take effect on October 31, 2002.
"By the end of October I shall have served eleven and half years in a demanding yet wonderfully absorbing and rewarding post," Carey commented in the statement. "I feel certain this will be the right and proper time to stand down. I look forward to exciting opportunities and challenges in the coming months, and then to fresh ones in the years that follow."
Appreciation
Carey's announcement prompted statements of appreciation from Anglican leaders around the world.
"His passion for the Gospel and dedication to the faithfulness and unity of the church, together with his insistence that the suffering world is the proper sphere of our common engagement, have made George Carey an inestimable gift to the Anglican Communion and beyond," said Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold of the Episcopal Church (USA). " I am deeply grateful for his ministry, together with that of his wife, Eileen, as are countless Episcopalians who have come to know and love them through their frequent visits to our shores."
"Archbishop George Carey will be greatly missed worldwide and especially in Africa where he has consistently supported our efforts to address the problem of unpayable debt which is such a burden to developing countries," remarked Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of Cape Town. "We are also mindful of his support in our drive to facilitate a generation without AIDS. More importantly we have, through his visits to this country, Namibia and Mozambique, come to appreciate his commitment to unifying the global communion of more than 70 million Anglicans and his efforts towards global peace."
Nominations this spring
Carey, who will be 67 in November 2002, was appointed the 103rd archbishop of Canterbury in 1991. He will continue to carry out all the duties and responsibilities of the office, both for the Church of England and the Anglican Communion, until autumn. A committee under Lord Hurd recently recommended some changes that would enhance the international responsibilities of the position.
The Crown Appointments Commission will meet this spring to consider nominations for Carey's successor. Two names will be forwarded to Britain's prime minister, Tony Blair, who will propose one for appointment by the Queen. Traditionally, adherents of the church's Anglo-Catholic wing alternate with evangelicals, such as Carey.
Among those frequently identified in the British press as "front runners" for the position are Rowan Williams, archbishop of the Church in Wales; Pakistani-born Michael Nazir-Ali, bishop of Rochester; Christopher Herbert, bishop of St. Albans; Richard Chartres, bishop of London; and David Hope, archbishop of York.
[Click here for Anglican News Service report]