wfn.org | Former Archbishop of Canterbury accepts Virginia bishop's invitation to preside at supplemen

[George Conklin <gconklin@igc.org>]

Daybook, from Episcopal News Service

September 9, 2004 - Thursday: Newsmakers

Former Archbishop of Canterbury accepts Virginia bishop's invitation to 
preside at supplemental confirmations

by Nancy Jenkins

[ENS, from 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 to the consecration of the Bishop of New 
Hampshire, and feel the need for alternative 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 alternate 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."

--Nancy Jenkins is director of communications for the Diocese of Virginia.

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