Anglican Communion Institute (ACI)

TEC Polity, The Civil Law and the Anglican Covenant

An Address Delivered to the Convention of The Episcopal Diocese of Dallas October 14, 2009 Bishop Stanton has already addressed the subject of TEC's polity from the perspective of its history and constitution. In just a bit, Dr. Turner will talk about the Anglican covenant, its provisions and background. What I want to do briefly is address both of these topics, but from a different angle: first, to talk about TEC's polity from the perspective of the civil law and then to look at the Anglican covenant from the perspective of TEC polity.

Dioceses' Endorsement of the Covenant

The Reverend Canon Professor Christopher Seitz The Reverend Dr. Philip Turner The Reverend Dr. Ephraim Radner Mark McCall, Esq. ACI welcomes the encouragement given by the Archbishop of Canterbury to the decision by the Diocesan Board and Standing Committee of the Diocese of Central Florida to affirm the first three sections of the Anglican Covenant. As we have previously stated, these sections entail substantial commitments to mutual responsibility and interdependence in the life of the Communion.

Litigation against Disaffiliating Dioceses: Is it Authorized and What does Fiduciary Duty Require?

This paper examines whether the Presiding Bishop is authorized to initiate and conduct recent property litigation and finds no source for such authority in the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church. Arguments based on a presumed equivalence of the roles of the Presiding Bishop and Executive Council to those of a corporate CEO and board of directors are found not to be valid. The paper also examines claims that pursuit of litigation is necessitated by fiduciary duty. It concludes that no convincing case has been made that this is so. First, no person is under a fiduciary dut

Communion Partner Dioceses and The Anglican Covenant

The Reverend Canon Professor Christopher Seitz The Reverend Dr. Philip Turner The Reverend Dr. Ephraim Radner Mark McCall, Esq. 1. We address below issues related to the capacity of CP dioceses to sign the Anglican Covenant. We consider the text of Section 4 of the Ridley Cambridge draft, ACC Resolution 14.11, the unique polity of TEC and the ACC constitution and membership schedule.

The Anglican Covenant: Shared Discernment Recognized By All

The Reverend Canon Professor Christopher Seitz The Reverend Dr. Philip Turner
The Reverend Dr. Ephraim Radner
Mark McCall, Esq.

The Rt. Reverend Dr. N. T. Wright
Bishop of Durham

"Staying On" - Thoughts of a Life Long Episcopalian Who Intends to Die So

When I was much younger, I lived in Africa; and I lived there at a time when the British Empire was folding up. I was surrounded by people who had spent their lives in the colonies. These people were faced with a terribly painful and frightening question. What were they to do next? Where were they to go?

Comment to Mark Harris, re: Preludium Post of 4 August 2009

On the matter of ACI authorship, first ACI statements entail input from several authors, in the US, UK and Canada. Fr Matthew Olver is a Priest at Church of the Incarnation in Dallas and a contributor to the covenant-communion website. On that site, individuals can submit material available on the web, and he forwarded the essay to that readership. As for your citing Section 3.2.5.of the Covenant Text Since the request was made by the Communion, it will be the Communion which will interpret compliance/rejection.

More On Communion And Hierarchy

I In an article entitled "Why direct sign-on now to the Covenant is a bad idea" (that appeared on his blog PRELUDIUM shortly after our article "Communion and Hierarchy") Fr. Mark Harris has done us all a big favor. He has made clear the full scope of the widespread view among TEC's present leadership that the Archbishop of Canterbury's observation about the possibility of covenant ratification on the part of dioceses is both harmful and unhelpful. Fr. Harris registers five objections to ratification on the part of individual dioceses. We will address each in due course.

Rowan's Reflections: Unpacking the Archbishop's Statement

Introduction 1. In the two days since the Archbishop released his 'Reflections' on TEC's General Convention, they have already generated widely differing responses. We always knew, say some conservatives, that the ABC was a hopeless liberal, and this has confirmed it. Not so, declare many horrified radicals: he has obviously sold out to the conservatives. Some have warmly welcomed the statement and hailed it as paving the way forward. Cautious voices in between are trying to discern strengths and weaknesses.

Communion And Hierarchy

Mark Harris, member of the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church (TEC) and writer of the blog PRELUDIUM is a perceptive and thoughtful commentator on the current scene within both TEC and the Anglican Communion. In two pieces, "The days ahead in the land of the dissatisfied: South Carolina, Albany, and points west" and "The Archbishop blows his ecclesial horn: the last trumpet has sounded," he comments on the just published statement of the Archbishop of Canterbury concerning the recent actions of General Convention. He makes a number of observations and comments, some more accu