The candidates for confirmation did not want to be confirmed by their own bishop. In making his Episcopal visit to Virginia from Great Britain, Lord Carey, who disagrees with the approval of Bishop Robinson, assumed the role that would normally be played by the local bishop.

Robinson’s enthronement as bishop led 21 of the 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion to break or declare impaired communion with the Episcopal Church in the United States.

In response to the crisis, the Primates of the Anglican Communion last fall set up an Anglican Communion Commission at the urging of the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. The commission is to issue a report on October 19.

“I am delighted to find a way to show generosity toward one another at a very critical time in the life of the Anglican Communion,” Lord Carey stated at a press conference ahead of the services.

The event was a joyful and pastoral interlude in the ongoing pitched battle over the survival of the Anglican Communion in its present form and the role the Episcopal Church might play in any reordering or division in the communion.

“I hope my presence is a positive thing,” Lord Carey said. “I would never have done this if the Bishop of Virginia had said this would be unhelpful.”

Bishop Lee issued a statement that he hoped “this pastoral gesture will be seen as a way of accommodating people who have differing views within the Diocese of Virginia.”

The diocese, which has 89,000 members, is the largest in the Episcopal Church, and the participating congregations represent some of the largest individual parishes in the church, several of them with thousands of members.

Many parishes in the diocese have redirected the contributions they would normally make to the diocese to other causes, including overseas missions. As a result, the diocese has had a budget shortfall reportedly over $900,000.

Despite a steady drizzle of rain outside, the mood at Truro was upbeat and joyful before and during the services, each of which lasted about two and a half hours. There were hundreds of smiling faces as candidates returned to their seats after going forward to be confirmed.

“This is really a wonderful time for us, an occasion for celebration with 318 people, at last count, who are going to confirm their faith in Christ and we’re just rejoicing in that,” said Fr. Martyn Minns, rector of Truro.

Fr. Minns described the situation as also representing “a sign of the brokenness of our Episcopal Church and also a painful reminder of the alienation we feel for our own bishop.”

Lord Carey made it clear to the press gathering that his visit was legal. “I want to make it clear I would do nothing illegal,” he said. “I’m here to support the bishop, Peter Lee, a bishop who is a personal friend,” he added.

Carey indicated that both he and Fr. Minns had asked Bishop Lee if Lord Carey could come for the confirmations.

The visitation and confirmation by Lord Carey represents a departure from a common pattern in the ECUSA (the Episcopal Church in the United States). In a number of dioceses bishops refuse to allow alternative Episcopal oversight to congregations who are at odds with them on such issues same sex blessings and the ordination of homosexuals to be priests and bishops.

Lord Carey’s visit highlighted the potential of alternative Episcopal oversight to keep parishes and people in the Episcopal Church and to prevent the Anglican Communion from further divisions and perhaps a formal break with the American.

When asked if the visit was made to demonstrate the potential of the flying bishop model, Lord Carey said it was not. “It is a very important model and I hope it will be taken up. I’m not here because I want to offer that as a model. I’m simply here because two friends invited me to take a confirmation,” he said.

Lord Carey said that the Bishop of Virginia indicated that he wanted to see that the parishes who opposed his visits had access to pastoral care from a bishop. “If I had not expressed my willingness, we would have a standoff between churches and the bishop and the people would suffer who wanted to be confirmed in the Episcopal Church,” Lord Carey said.

Lord Carey noted that the issues involving homosexual practice are more intractable and on a different scale from those involving women’s ordination, for which alternative Episcopal oversight has been provided in England and Wales, but has been tried only on a very limited, voluntary basis in the United States.

“This is not the same as the ordination of women,” said Lord Carey, noting that he had supported women’s ordination on Biblical grounds. “Many do not see Biblical grounds for ordaining practicing homosexuals. We must not equate the two.”

He did, however, suggest that, however the principle behind alternative oversight held some appeal in disputes over homosexual practice. “[Alternative Episcopal oversight] could well serve as a model. Generosity, understanding, sympathy are the key ingredients to solve issues of this dimension.”

In many dioceses where bishops might be willing to accept alternative oversight in principle, there is often no agreement on a specific potential flying bishop. In contrast, in the case with Lord Carey, there was agreement between Bishop Lee and the congregations and rectors that were at odds with him.

During the press conference Lord Carey objected to the way Bishop Jon Bruno of the diocese of Los Angeles has responded to three parishes that left the diocese to come under the Episcopal oversight an a bishop in Uganda.

“He should recognize that the Bishop of Uganda is part of the Anglican Communion. There’s room, therefore, for understanding and generosity without going to the law,” he said. The diocese of Los Angeles, joined by ECUSA, has gone to court to try to take back the property of the three departing parishes.

Eames Commission

When asked about the work of the commission set up by the Primates, Lord Carey said he, like everyone else, was waiting to hear the recommendations of the Anglican Communion Commission, often referred to simply as the Eames Commission, in honor of its chairman, Archbishop Robin Eames of Ireland.

Lord Carey, while acknowledging he had spoken to the members of the commission to present his views and had spoken with its chairman, Archbishop Eames, said he was “out of the loop” on what recommendations might come forward.

When asked whether or not the Eames Commission would take any action against the Episcopal Church, Lord Carey noted that the commission could only make recommendations, not take actions, “because the Eames Commission really doesn’t have any teeth. It’s an advisory group of people.”

“If I have a fear about the Eames commission, is that it will fudge the issue, that it will avoid the deep crisis in the heart of the Anglican Communion” Lord Carey said. “Having said that, I know Robin Eames very well . . . . and my feeling is that he will go straight to the heart of the issue.”

Lord Carey continued: “I do hope it will come up suggestions that enable us to move together in achieving unity. And again, I don’t know what that could be. My guess it will require some form of impaired communion to make it work. But, I’m simply guessing here. I have no idea.”

After the commission releases its report next month, Lord Carey indicated he expected that the report would go to Archbishop Williams, who would comment on it. Following then, the matter would go before the Primates at their February meeting. Then, the Primates can be expected to offer recommendations to the Communion,” Lord Carey said.

Lord Carey urged people in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion to engage in a “constructive dialogue” and find a way through the disputes over homosexuality.

“This is going to be difficult,” Lord Carey said, “because there are those of us who believe that the practice of homosexuality . . . goes against Scripture and the weight of the whole Christian world.”

Lord Carey also noted that “the wider Anglican Communion is deeply unhappy with the decision” to approve Bishop Robinson last year. He noted that Lambeth Conference had sated that homosexual practice was incompatible with Scripture, while also suggesting that a discussion continue on sexuality issues.

“What happened August 5th last year is that ECUSA stopped the discussion,” Lord Carey told the press gathering.

During the confirmation service, Lord Carey laid his hands on each of the more than 300 candidates who were there to be confirmed, received or reaffirmed into the church. The candidates were seated
in the center of the church, occupying 10 pews on either side of the center aisle. As each group of candidates came forward, the rector of the parish joined Lord Carey and Fr. Minns in the confirmation ceremonies.

Two services were necessary to accommodate the large number of candidates who wanted to be confirmed by Lord Carey.

The following parishes and congregations were represented: Truro, the Hispanic congregation of Truro, The Falls Church, Church of the Apostles, Church of the Holy Spirit, South Riding, All Saints Church in Dale City, Christ the Redeemer, Church of the Epiphany, St. Paul’s in Haymarket and St. Stephen’s in Heathsville.

The offering collected during the service was dedicated to planting new churches in Virginia.

END