There are no grounds for taking my 'reflection' as an attack on the Archbishop of Canterbury. In fact the misleading nature of the Sunday Telegraph report says more about contemporary news values than it does about either myself or Dr Rowan Williams. The speech was supportive of him and his leadership in this current crisis and the Windsor Report.

The Sunday Telegraph selectively quoted from my talk to suggest that I was criticising the ministry of my successor and bringing our relationship to a new low. The quotations they used were an entirely misleading interpretation of my talk. For example, they quoted 'When I left office at the end of 2002 I felt the Anglican Communion was in good heart."

This gave the impression that I felt all the problems occurred on my successor's watch and even that they were in fact his fault. Had they quoted the very next clause of the same sentence this impression could never have been sustained by any fair-minded reader. The full quote is: "When I left office at the end of 2002 I felt the Anglican Communion was in good heart, although forbidding black clouds were appearing on the horizon as a result of the decisive outcome of the Lambeth Conference on August 5th 1998 in which the resolution on homosexuality was agreed overwhelmingly by the assembled bishops."

The Sunday Telegraph chooses to believe that the relationship between myself and my successor is troubled. In fact the relationship between myself and Rowan has always been very warm dating from a great deal of time spent at numerous meetings as fellow Primates of the Anglican Communion. During my time as Archbishop of Canterbury the Anglican Communion benefited enormously from the theological expertise of Rowan Williams.

But what was most troubling of all about this report was the fact that I was denied any right to balance the story or deny the allegations made in the story. In fact, a Sunday Telegraph reporter did indeed ask me to comment on the story. I supplied the Sunday Telegraph with a short statement to bring some balance to the report. They ignored this entirely.

In my statement I reiterated the fact that in my talk I had made no attack on the Archbishop of Canterbury and in fact made clear my support of his initiative, the Windsor Report.

Lord Carey

11 June 2006

Notes:

1. Statement issued on 10.06.2006 to the Sunday Telegraph prior to publication:

"I was recently invited to give a 'low-key' reflection on the current Anglican crisis at Virginia Theological Seminary in the United States . My talk was not in any way a criticism of the Archbishop of canterbury . The problems facing the Anglican Communion are not the fault of any single individual but as my talk suggested arise from a crisis of authority within Anglicanism. These faultlines have been with us for a very long time indeed, although the cause for the immediate crisis was the ordination of a practising homosexual bishop in the United States.

"Rowan Williams has himself recently suggested that the Anglican Communion could split. I agree with his analysis which is why I support his initiative, the Windsor Report, which suggests ways in which reconciliation can take place.

"In my Virginia talk I made clear that I am not a campaigner. The greater part of my energy these days is spent in interfaith work and development. My passion is the mission of the church and sharing the love of God in Jesus Christ with the poor and needy."

2. My reflection to Virginia Theological Seminary can be found on my website (http://glcarey.co.uk/) by following the links 'speeches' and then '2006'.

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