Brothers: Below is an interview involving ++Carey. Note his line on the "genius of the Anglican Communion." In the period 1965-1969 when I was earnestly trying to justify aligning with ECUSA, I would expressed what I hoped the "genius of the Anglican Communion" to be in very different terms. What do you think? Charles --------------------------------------------------- Abp. Carey Interview .... http://cbc.ca/national/transcripts/transcript#24F3D7-25 Host: PETER MANSBRIDGE Date: 021023 Time: 22:00:00 ET - 22:30:00 ET CBC-TVTHE NATIONAL SMITH: As Archbishop of Canterbury Carey has often provoked heated talk... CAREY: God calls us to take the risk of faith. SMITH: He advocated the ordination of women and is credited with shepherding his church through a difficult and harsh debate. Now the issue of same sex partnerships is still in dissention and Vancouver is at the centre of the debate. BISHOP MICHAEL INGHAM (Vancouver Anglican Minister): Let us maintain charity towards all members of the household of God. SMITH: Bishop Michael Ingham and his diocese have taken steps towards blessing same sex unions, a move Carey strongly opposes. Why did you feel you had to speak out? Why did you feel you had to intervene? CAREY: Well because as Archbishop of Canterbury, I'm known as one of the instruments of unity within the Anglican Communion. In other words, to be an Anglican is to be in communion with the See of Canterbury, to have some organic link with historic basis from which the church grew. And so part of my concern and part of my job over the last eleven and a half years is to hold the unity of the body. A bit like a parent who wants to try to draw together, and so I regard myself as one of the parents along with all the other primates and Archbishops of the Anglican community. SMITH: I would feel them bristling there... (LAUGHTER) SMITH: ...at the notion of a parent, wouldn't they? I mean... CAREY: No, I think there's a wonderful image of family life you see. And the sense in which the analogy breaks down because I'm talking about a family in which we are all parents and all children at the one and the same time in which we have a responsibility for one another. And collegiality. And so my concern what happens in one small diocese on the other side of Canada will impact in Uganda, in Sudan, in Pakistan and elsewhere and you see we've got to therefore talk together. It is the religious parallel of what you were asking me earlier. SMITH: I mean doesn't progress have to come from that kind of independent action even within a religious community and I know that the church has prided itself to a certain degree on the independence of this. CAREY: But how do we know if it's progress and not regression? How do we know that? We only know that as we seek consensus and we only seek consensus by talking to one another. SMITH: So how did you know that ordination of women was progress? CAREY: Because I would say we talked about it and we shared together as a community. I personally passionately committed to ordination of women but we did so because there was a progression of development and encouragement and communion. What I'm not seeing is that kind of parallel in the case of same sex union. SMITH: So are you suggesting that in the end, the church may bless same sex unions. You just want them to take a slower path to get there. CAREY: I really don't know. I don't know what the outcome. My views are very clear. I do not regard this outright. I believe that you can only look at the issue of sexuality from what the bible gives in terms of marriage. That is the prism through which we have to look at the whole issue of sexuality. What I'm not saying is that I'm not saying the discussion is wrong. Slow it down. Let's carry on talking. We may not agree but the genius of the Anglican Communion is that we know how to internalize disagreement. What we don't want to do is for people to rush away to make decisions that are going to upset the rest of us. SMITH: In preparing for this interview, I read a comment that you made about being a minister. And you talked about how you entered into the loneliness of someone else's life and how it was a huge privilege when you talk to people. I couldn't help but wonder when I read that if as you leave this job now, if perhaps you aren't yearning for a little loneliness of your own in a certain fashion. (LAUGHTER) CAREY: I'm certainly looking forward to a slowing down of activity of being able to reflect and enjoy nature and my wife's company and read a few more books, that kind of thing. But you're absolutely right. There is a loneliness. Any sort of minister will know about that because as other people give their confidences to you which you have to hold, and you actually accept their pain as well, it leaves its indelible imprint upon your life and I've grown not only my respect of human nature of his weakness as well. I also leave with, you know, the church has still got a lot of growing up to do and that goes back to the image of the elderly woman and I believe, you know, under God the church can get progressively younger. More virile in its faith and life, more open to new possibilities while at the same time holding on to the truth that's being given. End _________________________________________________________________ Unlimited Internet access for only $21.95/month. Try MSN! http://resourcecenter.msn.com/access/plans/2monthsfree.asp