The Archbishop of Canterbury has spoken out against blessing gay and lesbian unions, saying differences over homosexuality could potentially cause a rift in the Anglican Church.
The Most Rev. George Carey made these comments while visiting Wycliffe College on Monday. He was in Toronto to celebrate the college’s 125th anniversary and to receive an honorary doctorate.
“The Bible is very, very clear. I mean it’s very, very clear on where we stand on the issue … Marriage is central to human sexuality,” he said.
His comments were made in response to the decision of a British Columbia diocese to bless homosexual unions. The governing body of the New Westminster diocese voted last June in favour of the decision and the diocese’s bishop, Michael Ingham, supported the move. Ingham did so without consulting with global Anglican leaders, although he did consult with leaders of the Anglican Church in Canada.
Carey said he was concerned about the effect the Vancouver diocese’s decision would have on the stability of Anglicanism and its 70 million members around the world. “If more and more dioceses take this approach, it’s going to undermine the unity of the Anglican Communion and I don’t know if the Canadian Church can afford to pay the deep price,” he said.
He said he was open to hearing arguments as to why homosexual unions should be blessed and why gays and lesbians should be ordained as priests. “I’m not absolutist on the issue,” he said. He acknowledged that there is a “tension between the gospel, which is reaching out to everybody and which wants to include everybody, and yet is saying to people who may be in a homosexual relationship, ‘You don’t belong.’”
Carey, 67, is due to retire at the end of the month, having been asked by the Queen to prolong his tenure so that he might oversee the religious aspects of her jubilee celebrations. He has been the Archbishop of Canterbury for 11 years and was appointed by former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher.
While his conservative views on gay and lesbian issues are well-known, Carey did allow women admission into the priesthood of the Church of England. This move highlighted a divergence between Anglicanism and Catholicism, as Pope John Paul adamantly prohibits female priests.
The issue of homosexuality in the Anglican Church has been raised again, since Carey’s successor, Rowan Williams, has ordained a gay priest. Williams is said to be critical of the Church’s stance on homosexuality and has also spoken out against the U.S.-led war on terrorism and any possible invasion of Iraq.
Unlike the Pope, the Archbishop of Canterbury is not the formal head of the Anglican Church. Anglican churches worldwide form an association, known as the Anglican Communion, over which Carey is seen to have moral authority and significant influence, but not absolute control. He cannot force the diocese of New Westminster to reverse its decision.
