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Much of the criticism of the Anglican Consultative Council's deliberations concerning the Anglican Communion Covenant has centered on control of the resolutions committee by those opposed to a covenant with real accountability, confusing and inadequately explained procedures during the debate and intervention by the Archbishop of Canterbury said to have had the effect of diminishing chances for adoption of the intact Ridley Cambridge draft. As forceful as those criticisms may be, there is still more to the story. The bottom line is that it appears the deliberative process did not produce the...
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A transcript of the proceedings at ACC-14 on May 8, 2009, when the Council voted in conflicting ways on key votes, raises the important question of how many of its members, including officers and proponents of key amendments, understood what they were actually voting on when they narrowly passed an amendment intended to open Section 4 of the Anglican Communion Covenant to "possible revision." The source of the confusion arose from multiple attempts by a minority of members generally opposed to the covenant to derail Section 4, a key section. Their first attempt was a resolution, Resolution A...
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In May, 2007 the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada issued a Pastoral Statement on same-sex blessings. At the end of the statement, the bishops made the following request: "Looking ahead, we ask the Primate and General Synod for a report on: The theological question whether the blessing of same-sex unions is a faithful, Spirit-led development of Christian doctrine (St. Michael Report) The implications of the blessing of same-sex unions and /or marriage for our church and the Communion (The Windsor Report) Scripture's witness to the integrity of every human person and the...
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Chief among the claims now made by The Episcopal Church (TEC) is that it is an inclusive church that is open to a variety of opinions and practices. This self-definition is an updated version of the traditional claim that Anglicanism represents a via media between extremes of one sort or another"”Catholic/Protestant, liberal/conservative, modern/traditional, etc. The simple fact is, however, that the policies and actions of the progressive leadership of The Episcopal Church have exposed the false nature of these claims, at least as in so far as they are applied to TEC. The false nature of the...
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The proposed covenanting of Anglican churches that is embodied in the Covenant “process” now before the Anglican Communion has brought to the fore an important question: what is the appropriate “church” body to adopt the Covenant? Is it a province or a diocese? The question has already stirred acrimony in debate, because it is seen to touch at least two current sore spots in the Communion’s life: that is, the status of churches who a.) have left TEC and the Anglican Church of Canada, gone “under” the temporary jurisdiction of non-North American provinces, and are now forming a “new” North...
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A Concluding Postscript to "The organizational basis of the Anglican Communion: a theological consideration" by Ephraim Radner I My colleague Prof. Radner traces a significant history"”one that locates the authority of Bishops as prior to that of the administrative structures into which they were later folded. The prior authority of the Episcopal Office, in the tradition of the church, rests not in its structural position within a hierarchical order but in self-expenditure on behalf of the church on the part of those who hold office. The self-expenditure of Bishops has through the ages...
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The President of the House of Deputies, in remarks made in an internet-viewable report of a private meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury, expressed the view that the polity of the Episcopal Church is unique ('anomalous')and must be appreciated as such (9 July 2009). This opinion appeared to be directed at an account of the church that has given and gives significant and prioritized room for communications and directives to be made from Bishop to Bishop. Another spokesperson present indicated that the Archbishop was told that communications from the Communion ought to be made to the...
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We deeply regret yesterday's decision by the House of Bishops to repudiate the Anglican Communion's moratorium on the consecration of bishops living in homosexual relationships. As recently as May of this year, the Anglican Consultative Council officially affirmed the "implementation" in the Communion of the moratoria called for by the Windsor Report, including the moratorium rejected yesterday by the House of Bishops. With the adoption of these moratoria by the Anglican Consultative Council all of the Communion's Instruments have now recognized their implementation as crucial to our common...
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In a joint letter sent today to the Archbishop of Canterbury by the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church and the President of its House of Deputies, the presiding officers of General Convention acknowledged that that body cannot speak for the whole church in crucial matters affecting the life of the Anglican Communion: Some are concerned that the adoption of Resolution D025 has effectively repealed Resolution B033. That is not the case. This General Convention has not repealed Resolution B033. It remains to be seen how Resolution B033 will be understood and interpreted in light of...
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At its recently concluded General Convention, The Episcopal Church passed resolutions that are widely regarded as repudiations of prior commitments to the Windsor moratoria that have been officially implemented by the Anglican Communion. Apparently reacting to the swift denunciation of these actions by many in the Communion, various constituencies in TEC are now scrambling to re-interpret General Convention's actions. ENS withdrew and revised its story about a key vote and Convention participants have produced wildly inconsistent, if equally far-fetched, interpretations of what took place...
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