The Right Reverend George Leonard Carey (born 1935) was formally enthroned as the 103rd Archbishop of Canterbury in 1991. For the previous three years he had been Bishop of Bath and Wells, a region in southwest England.

Much of the world's religious community was surprised on July 25, 1990, when the announcement was made that Bishop George Carey would be the next Archbishop of Canterbury --head of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. When Carey was formally enthroned in 1991, he took responsibility for 70 million people scattered across 164 countries.

For many generations, the Archbishop's throne has been occupied by men born into England's upper classes and educated in the country's most elite schools. Those responsible for selecting Carey (a man with humble beginnings) to lead the church, may have been motivated by their recognition that the Church of England was a deeply troubled institution, badly in need...