Archbishop of Canterbury Visits U.S. to Talk about Anglican Identity
Episcopal News Service. November 23, 1993 [93207]
Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey recently spent a week in the United States, lecturing on Anglican identity and hosting a fundraising event at the United Nations for the office of the Anglican observer.
First stop for Carey was the national offices of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in Chicago, reciprocating a 1988 visit by ELCA Bishop Herbert Chilstrom to former Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie. Carey spent October 22 visiting staff and discussing ecumenical issues.
At a news conference Carey highlighted the agreement already in place between the Church of England and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany that provides for sharing the Eucharist. He also pointed to proposals for a new relationship between Anglicans and the Nordic and Baltic Lutherans.
Carey also expressed his appreciation for the dialogue between the ELCA and the Episcopal Church in this country, calling the proposals for full communion a "model of theological clarity." While conceding that "much work remains to be done," Carey cautioned against "pulling back from critical questions that have radical consequences."
Among the thorniest issues the two churches are dealing with is the Episcopal Church's insistence that Lutherans adopt the historic episcopate and that the Episcopalians study the Lutheran confessional statements.
The release of an ELCA study document on sexuality at the same time as his visit was attracting national attention and reporters asked Carey about his church's views on homosexuality. Carey said that "there should be room within our church for homosexuals" but that homosexual priests must abstain from sexual activity. Referring to a Church of England House of Bishops report, Carey added that the "mind of the Church of England" is that "homosexual relationships are not on the same level as heterosexual marriage."
Speaking at the closing session of the Anglican Institute's 1993 convention in Colorado Springs on the theme, "The Practice of Anglicanism," Carey said, "We are a roomy church -- let us rejoice in that roominess." He argued that the church was broad enough to embrace conservatives and liberals without abandoning its fundamental teachings.
Rather than be dismayed by some of the controversies raging in the church, Carey said that "they are proofs that we reflect Anglicanism at its best. "
While understanding why gays might feel estranged from the church, Carey offered no hope that they would be welcomed soon in the priesthood. He told of meeting recently with a group of gays in England. "I felt their pain when they said that they felt the church did not accept them as people. I was stirred by the force of their despair and anger."
After a stop in St. Louis where he preached at Christ Church Cathedral on Sunday, October 24, Carey and his party went to Virginia Theological Seminary where he delivered two lectures and received an honorary doctorate.
During the annual Zabriskie lectures, named for a former dean of the seminary, Carey discussed the faith and mission of the Anglicans in an age of unbelief and superstition. As the world moves away from rural life, people are removed from nature and the natural order. "Faith has been replaced by sociological, intellectual and cultural movements" and "scientific thought has shaped the way we think," he said.
Anglicanism has much to offer because it is adaptable, it "has always related effectively to its setting" because its vision is balanced and integrated. He encouraged Anglicans to continue to "struggle to keep the balance" between being "too loose or too rigid." And he warned against "privatized religion" that "divides faith and morals."
In outlining Anglicanism's mission, Carey said that Anglicans in the Third World "refuse to split mission and evangelism." They operate on the theological principle that "people cannot receive the bread of life until they have bread for their bodies."
Carey used fellow Anglican, Hanan Ashrawi, who also received an honorary doctorate from the seminary, as an example of Anglicanism's engagement with society. Ashrawi is spokesperson for the Palestinian delegation to the Middle East peace talks.
In New York City Carey hosted a fundraising dinner on October 26 at the United Nations for the Office of Anglican Observer at the UN. Bishop Sir Paul Reeves has held the position as the first full-time observer for the last three years and will leave at the end of the year to return to New Zealand. His successor has not been appointed yet.
The Anglican presence at the UN is a two-way street used to bring the Anglican Communion's concerns into the international arena but also keep Anglicans informed about world issues. "We are a world church," Carey said at the dinner honoring Reeves. While cherishing the autonomy of members of the Anglican Communion and its differences in tradition, "we are a lively, exciting and growing family," Carey said.
The Anglican family of 70 million members is "widely scattered in over 150 countries and, without question, in the affairs of their nations, Anglicans are influential out of all proportion to their size," Carey observed. "In the turbulence of the modern world, Anglican influence needs to be brought to bear, not only in the countries concerned, but in those regional and global councils where peace and justice can be effectively advanced."
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