"One I've been passionately committed to, of course, is women's ministry; I believe solidly in it as a Gospel issue and we've found our way through that"
About this Quote
Carey’s line is doing the careful work of Anglican politics: affirming change while signaling continuity to an audience trained to hear danger in both. “Passionately committed” is personal heat, but it’s immediately tempered by procedural calm: “of course” and “we’ve found our way through that” flatten conflict into a completed pastoral journey. The message is reassurance disguised as conviction.
The key move is framing women’s ministry as “a Gospel issue.” In church debates, that phrase is a rhetorical escalator: it relocates women’s ordination from ecclesial preference or institutional modernization into the realm of salvation-shaped fidelity. It quietly rebukes opponents by implying that resistance isn’t merely conservative; it risks being un-Gospel. Yet Carey hedges the escalation with “I believe solidly in it,” a statement of personal certainty rather than a direct charge against dissenters. He’s anchoring the position in theology without openly excommunicating the other side.
Context matters: Carey led the Church of England through the early 1990s, when women were ordained as priests amid intense internal backlash, provisions for “flying bishops,” and fears of schism. “We” is strategic here. It distributes ownership and diffuses blame, casting the institution as collectively discerning rather than forcibly pushed. Even “ministry” rather than “ordination” softens the flashpoint, emphasizing service over power.
The subtext is managerial grace: a leader presenting a controversial doctrinal shift as both spiritually necessary and already survivable. The sentence is a peace offering with a spine.
The key move is framing women’s ministry as “a Gospel issue.” In church debates, that phrase is a rhetorical escalator: it relocates women’s ordination from ecclesial preference or institutional modernization into the realm of salvation-shaped fidelity. It quietly rebukes opponents by implying that resistance isn’t merely conservative; it risks being un-Gospel. Yet Carey hedges the escalation with “I believe solidly in it,” a statement of personal certainty rather than a direct charge against dissenters. He’s anchoring the position in theology without openly excommunicating the other side.
Context matters: Carey led the Church of England through the early 1990s, when women were ordained as priests amid intense internal backlash, provisions for “flying bishops,” and fears of schism. “We” is strategic here. It distributes ownership and diffuses blame, casting the institution as collectively discerning rather than forcibly pushed. Even “ministry” rather than “ordination” softens the flashpoint, emphasizing service over power.
The subtext is managerial grace: a leader presenting a controversial doctrinal shift as both spiritually necessary and already survivable. The sentence is a peace offering with a spine.
Quote Details
| Topic | Faith |
|---|
More Quotes by George
Add to List
