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Carey Celebrates Anniversary of ECUSA's Youngest Seminary

Episcopal News Service. May 10, 2002 [2002-117]

Ronda Carman, Director of Communications for the Diocese of Pittsburgh

(ENS) On a sunny, cool September morning in 1976, on the campus of Robert Morris College in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a small group of Episcopalians celebrated the birth of a seminary for leaders of the evangelical renewal movement within the Episcopal Church. No bishops appeared, as one participant noted wryly--except for the seminary's founder, retired Australian missionary bishop Alfred Stanway. But the speakers expressed great optimism for the future. The Rev. Peter Moore, then chairman of the board, assured the audience that if the new school spoke "God's truth with love," the church and the world would listen to Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry (TESM).

On May 3, 2002, at the request of Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, George Leonard Carey, archbishop of Canterbury, came to Ambridge, Pennsylvania, to celebrate the school's 25th anniversary. It was the first time in the history of the Diocese of Pittsburgh that an archbishop of Canterbury had come to Western Pennsylvania.

Trinity, a seminary that began with 17 students, has grown steadily to approximately 175 full and part-time students, a full-time faculty of 12, and over three dozen adjunct professors--including experienced missionaries, youth ministry leaders, a historian of Christian art and a noted renewal music leader. As of fall 2001, over 350 ordained graduates served parishes in 73 dioceses of the Episcopal Church and more than 20 overseas dioceses and missions.

Christian leadership

In a lecture to more than 300 seminarians, faculty, alumni, friends and clergy, Carey spoke on five characteristics of Christian leadership, drawn from his study of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. "It is clear from his [Paul's] correspondence with that ‘difficult and exasperating' church that it was in many ways a body of believers not unlike us today," Carey commented.

First, he said, Christian leaders are called to embrace a "magnificent cause." The Christian, as described by Carey, is one who is able to show the way because he or she has first met someone who is the way--the Lord himself. "I am delighted that just two weeks ago at Canterbury, the primates of the Anglican Communion said in a statement on the doctrine of God: ‘We believe that God the eternal Son became human for our sake, and that in the flesh and blood of Jesus of Nazareth God was uniquely present and active.' The statement is a full-blood recommitment to the historic faith of the Church. It is the start of all discipleship and the heartbeat of leadership," he said.

Second, he said, Christian leaders are driven men and women. "Now be warned!" Carey stated. "I am not using ‘driven' in the pejorative sense of one whose behavior is compulsive or manic. The word ‘passion' comes closest to what I mean," he added. Carey reminded the audience that no seminary can instill in people love, affection and a desire to promote the way of Christ. However, he pointed out, "a [seminary] can certainly influence and shape the successes or failures by making it a place of faith, hope and love."

The third characteristic of Christian leadership, and one that drew the most applause, was holiness. Christian leaders are to be "unashamedly holy men and women," Carey announced. Although holiness is not limited to sexual morality, that is where the church feels the conflict now, he said. The Bible teaches that "intimate sexual acts should be expressed in the committed relationship of husband and wife. All other forms of sexual behavior are deviations from that norm.

No slamming doors

"I have made clear firmly, but I hope charitably, that this is my approach to homosexual relationships. I also see it as the right moral setting for considering heterosexual relationships, where there can be a profound impact on the essential stability of family life and the environment for children," he said.

But being clear about what is right and wrong does not mean slamming the door on those who are not ready to accept church teachings, Carey added. "If I as an individual or the church as a body is compelled to say 'no' to some practices, we can still establish strong links of understanding, friendship and care for those whose lifestyles are different from ours," he said.

Next, Christian leaders are eager to include all people. Leaders must be a "disciple" of the one who suffered death on the cross for all humanity and will embrace others and include them in whatever way possible. "I find in St. Paul enormous insight to the human condition. Of course, the epistle to the Romans is, ‘par excellence,' the place where we must go to find the sublime depths of Pauline teaching," Carey stated.

The fifth and final characteristic Carey called "visionary leadership." Such leadership, he said, is not a grandiose and larger-than-life "caricature of leadership" but rather one which sees "new possibilities and dares to reach forward for new possibilities."

Ending division

Those attending the celebration included some who have left the Episcopal Church because of concerns about perceived theological liberalism, including former Trinity dean John Rodgers, now a bishop of the Province of Southeast Asia associated with the Anglican Mission in America (AMiA). In an interview, Carey said he has great respect for Rodgers and sympathized with his motives and those of others like him, but urged conservative Episcopalians not to consecrate any more irregular bishops.

"I value what they are doing. I know it comes out of a sincere desire for the love of God and sometimes out of deep depression because they think the mainstream church has left the truth of God behind," Carey said. "I value them as fellow Christians and I just want to find ways in which we can bring them back into the mainstream of the church again. It isn't going to be easy. Every time a small group splits off it weakens the church as a whole, but I believe that these groups can find ways to work within the regular structures of the Episcopal Church," he declared.

Looking ahead

Carey publicly stated that he feels certain this is the right and proper time to stand down as archbishop, and looks forward to exciting opportunities and challenges in the coming months and years. So why is now the right time? "There is good reason for my retirement," Carey affirmed. "The next Lambeth Conference is in 2008. By leaving now, I am giving my successor five years to prepare. If I retired in 2005, I would have only given my successor three years to prepare and it is not fair," Carey added.

And what is it that lies ahead for the archbishop and Mrs. Carey? "I can spend more time with Eileen, who has sacrificed so much for my ministry. Together we can spend time with our large, happy family, and sweep up our grandchildren and take them away to Disneyland or somewhere nice like that," he answered.

[thumbnail: George Carey, archbishop...]