The Anglican Communion Office (ACO) has issued a rebuttal today suggesting that all the worry about the covenant means people are not really reading it. This seems to indicate that the proposed Covenant is in for some heavy debate at next week's Church of England General Synod:
UPDATED: See below
Modern Church has mailed the following to every General Synod member. This and other articles critical of the proposed Anglican Covenant in main stream news, web sites and blogs are the reasons behind the ACO press release admonishing people to "read" the covenant.
Jonathan Clatworthy, writing on the "No Anglican Covenant" blog, analyzes the defense of the Anglican Covenant by Canon Alyson Barnett-Cowan, Director for Unity Faith and Order The Anglican Communion Office (ACO).
Lionel Deimel offers A Deeper Look into the Covenant in his blog entry If it looks like a duck... and while you are there scroll over the duck. Deimel offers a point by point examination of the entire document with charts of the relationships of the various so-called Instruments of Unity and how an issue would be handled if the Covenant is passed. (see below):
Rounding up the news and essays on the Anglican Covenant. Next week General Synod will vote on the Covenant. If it does not pass that is the end of it. If it does pass it will go to the dioceses of the Church of England and back to General Synod. General Convention, meeting in Indianapolis, IN USA, will take up the Covenant in 2012.
BBC Radio 4's "Sunday" sees Edward Stourton asking Times religion correspondent Ruth Gledhill about the Anglican Covenant - if it's primarily about discipline or something else. She responds,
This is the first of at least two posts regarding the Anglican Covenant today. The Church of England's General Synod takes up that misguided and dangerous document tomorrow. Here is some of what people are saying:
So many points have been made against the proposed Anglican Covenant, which will be voted on this week by the Church of England’s General Synod, that one risks redundancy in expressing one’s own reservations. Mine have to do primarily with how the covenant would operate if approved. It is a dangerous document which takes John Adams’ famous formulation—“a government of laws and not of men”—and stands it on its head. The covenant is a document that sets forth a system for adjudicating disputes based on criteria that are almost entirely subjective and ad hoc.
The Church of England will begin its General Synod today (Tuesday). #synod is the hashtag for Twitter for those who want to follow along. The Queen will conduct the opening session festivities. According to General Synod blog
The Archbishop of Canterbury's opening speech to the Church of England General Synod defends the Anglican Covenant.
Updated. The General Synod voted in favor of debating the Covenant - next step is most likely to debate in dioceses and then back to the next Synod for final vote. However, follow along with Thinking Anglicans as the process continues (and changes, perhaps).
The newsfeeds, blogs, Facebook, and Twitter were all buzzing with news about the vote in the Church of England's General Synod on the Anglican Covenant. Here is a Anglican Covenant News Roundup for your reading pleasure:
BBC Radio's "Sunday" program this week offered an extensive hashing-out of the Anglican Covenant by a number of individuals.
Thinking Anglicans has it:
Bishop John Saxbee of Lincoln said some very sensible things during the debate on the Anglican Covenant in the Church of England's General Synod, and thanks to the Rev. Lesley Fellows, we can share them with you:
Savi Hensman, writing at Ekklesia, gives some examples of how the Covenant might play out if passed by Anglican Communion provinces. For instance adherence to the 39 Articles, #17 and #18
The weekly Church Times had a delightful letter on the Anglican Covenant from the Rev. Jonathan Clatworthy. The letter has just come out from the subscriber wall. An extract:
We therefore have two opposing cases against the Covenant. Many Synod speakers said it was too punitive; the ten Primates say it is not punitive enough. The Covenant itself, lacking any theoretical basis, has been worded to allow either interpretation.
So, oft in theologic wars
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!
The No Anglican Covenant Coalition explains its position in this letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, asks him to reconsider his support of the Covenant, and invites him into dialogue. To date, no answer has been received.
From ACO:
The Archbishop of the Province of the West Indies has announced that his Province has adopted the Anglican Communion Covenant. It is the third to do so officially, the others being the Anglican Church of Mexico and The Church of the Province of Myanmar.
The Rev. Canon Alan T. Perry, Priest in the Anglican Church of Canada, Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal, and recognized expert in canon law critiques Section 1.2 of the proposed Anglican Covenant and concludes that it is ill defined and worse than making the Anglican Communion subscribe to a Confession ala the Westminster or Augsburg Confessions:
The Diocese of East Carolina has spoken its mind about the proposed Anglican Covenant. Here is some of what it had to say:
Paul Bagshaw has written an essay on the state of the Anglican Communion after the most recent Primates Meeting, and his thoughts are similar to mine. The threat of the primates dictating terms beyond the borders of their own provinces ebbs as the threat of a Communion run by the Archbishop of Canterbury and a London-based bureaucracy flows.
You too can own The Anglican Communion Covenant Study Guide and ancillaries.
Anglicans Online made a little news in its weekly column today. To start at the end:
The Modern Church has issued The Case Against the Covenant by Jonathan Clatworthy and other related resources. Although written with the Church of England debate process in mind, these resources are appropriate in any context as study guide of the Covenant.
The No Anglican Covenant Coalition (NACC) has issued a challenge to church officials who support the proposed Anglican Covenant, especially leaders in the Church of England, accusing them of a pattern of bias and manipulation.
Acceptance of the proposed Anglican Covenant is being urged by the Archbishop of Canterbury's office, officials of the Anglican Communion Office, those who think it will make no difference, those who want to please the ABC, and those who think it will show some kind of good faith with others. Bishop Saxbee at the last General Synod in the Church of England notes that Anglicanism IS a covenant already and warns "for every difficult and complex problem there is an answer that is simple straight forward and wrong" and this answer is wrong. And that this covenant is "more about factory farmed religion than free range faith"
A press release from Modern Church, Inclusive Church and No Anglican Covenant Coalition reports that the first English diocese vote rejects Anglican Covenant:
As dioceses in the Church of England weigh the Anglican Covenant, the Church Times has put together a reader's guide that contains articles both pro and con perspectives.
The document has peeked out from behind the pay wall thanks to Thinking Anglicans.
Via email:
The Chicago Consultation, which advocates for the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Christians in the worldwide Anglican Communion, has released a collection of essays and study questions on the proposed Anglican Covenant.
The Diocese of Los Angeles declines to endorse proposed Anglican Covenant:
It's not been such a great week for the original chocolate teapot known as the Anglican Covenant. First, it was taken down a few notches by The Pluralist, who lableled it as
Received by email:
The Deputation of the Diocese of California reports on the diocesan-wide conversation on the proposed Anglican Covenant, concluding:
Following is the response by the Diocese of Colorado General Convention Deputation to the Executive Council's invitation to study, pray and discuss with the proposed Anglican Covenant. They conclude:
The General Convention deputation of the Diocese of Kansas has weighed the proposed Anglican Covenant and found Section Four wanting:
The following came across our electronic transom this morning. It requires little by way of elaboration, except the irresistible comment that its emphatic nature may be its most remarkable characteristic.
Response to the Anglican Covenant
General Convention Deputation
Diocese of Michigan
The Episcopal Diocese of Quincy
Anglican Covenant Responses
We, the deputies of the Episcopal Diocese of Quincy, each having read the proposed Anglican Communion Covenant thoroughly and prayerfully and various documents in favor and not in favor of adopting the covenant, report our unanimous response (with one lay deputy absent due to serious illness):
Bosco Peters, talking good sense as usual, makes some excellent points about the pointlessness of the Anglican Covenant:
As the Anglican Covenant picks up support from provinces across the globe, we thought it might be a good time for Episcopalians to think once again about the nature of the document we may be asked to put our church's name to at our General Convention in 2012.
We take as our text The Genius of Anglicanism, a study guide produced by the Chicago Consultation. Beginning today, and continuing through the Memorial Day Weekend, we will be featuring three of the eight essays from this booklet on our Daily Episcopalian blog for your examination and discussion.
Give them a read and get back to us.
The Diocese of New Jersey responds to the Anglican Covenant:
Response to the Anglican Covenant, prepared by the Deputation of the Diocese of New Jersey
As was noted at the beginning of this week, there's been a series of three essays posted on Daily Episcopalian each of which invites the readers to take a close look at the Anglican Covenant the Episcopal Church is expected to respond to in the next few years.
If you missed them this week, here they are again in order. They'll make excellent holiday weekend reading:
Bishop Yellow Belly runs into Miss Young Person. Testiness ensues.
Report by the Rev. Bosco Peters in New Zealand:
ENS reports (towards the bottom of this story) that the sub-committee formulating the Executive Council's response to the proposed Anglican Covenant is refusing to release a report on whether the covenant would require changes to the Episcopal Church's Constitution and Canons.
A note left on the Facebook page for the Diocese of Central New York offers thoughts from the Deputation to the 77th General Convention:
In opposing the proposed Anglican Covenant, many are saying the only troubling part is Section 4. Many of us find the whole document built on a very shaky theology and not Anglican at all. Rather it reflects many conservative, evangelical stances and use of scripture, quoting from here and there in the Bible with no consistency or systematic thinking. Jonathon Clatworthy, of the Modern Church takes on the Introduction as an example:
Yesterday I explained why I think Executive Council is violating the spirit, if not the letter, of our canons in refusing to release the report it received from the Standing Commission on Constitution and Canons regarding the Anglican Covenant. Today, I’d like to argue the matter on practical grounds.
From the Office of Public Affairs"
The Executive Council D020 Task Force, a subcommittee of the Executive Council, has released the report from the Standing Commission on Constitution and Canons.
In a statement also released by the D020 Task Force:
Mark Harris, PRELUDIUM blogger and member of the Executive Council D020 Task Force, considers the possible outcomes of The Episcopal Church's eventual response(s) to the proposed Anglican Covenant.
The Church Times has written about the report of the Standing Committee on Constitution and Canons to Executive Council. The article (now behind a pay-wall) says that the "US expresses Covenant doubts" especially around the canonical changes passage of the Covenant would require.
The Rev. Caro Hall, president of Integrity, has a few thoughts on Independence Day:
In the latest issue of The Philippine Episcopalian reproduces the General Synod address of the Prime Bishop of The Episcopal Church of the Philippines, The Rt. Rev. Edward Malecdan. The synod met in early May.
In his address the Prime Bishop reported that the ECP Council of Bishops is not in favor of the Anglican Covenant:
The No Anglican Covenant Coalition is unhappy with they see as a one-sided and biased presentation by the Diocese of Oxford regarding the Anglican Covenant, describing parts of it as "shallow and superficial."
Two New Zealand dioceses oppose the proposed Anglican Covenant, Canon John Rees says it is both "insignificant and vital," and The Living Church takes No Anglican Covenant Coalition's challenge and offers some reasons to support it.
Helpful reflection on the Anglican Covenant, entitled, "Don't Panic"...posted at No Anglican Covenant:
UPDATED: The resolution was not submitted to the Committee on Resolutions by the deadline laid out in the convention's Rules of Order, and will therefore have to be submitted from the floor. The resolution will only be considered by convention if the convention agrees to consider it by a two-thirds affirmative vote.
=====
The following is among resolutions submitted to the Resolutions Committee in the Episcopal Diocese of California for consideration at its convention later this month.
It's not our intention to cover every diocesan treatment of the proposed Anglican Covenant between now and the next General Convention, except possibly when a new or different angle is exposed in the logic around it, pro or con.
So it is that this resolution, passed yesterday, has a slightly different feel about it. In particular, the last three or so paragraphs are succinct phrasings of what we sometimes hear others struggling to say.
This resolution was adopted with no opposition at the Diocesan Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Eastern Oregon on Oct. 16, 2011.
Māori Anglicans in New Zealand have rejected the Anglican Covenant as out of keeping with the constitution of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, because it seeks to impose by law what should be accomplished through relationship.
Lesley Crawley reports that the synod of the Diocese of St. Edmundsbury and Ipswich of the Church of England has voted against the Covenant. The synod tally as of today is split 2 for - 2 against.
From the Diocesan Website:
Savi Hensman reports on a better and older Anglican Covenant in Ekklesia
The Rev. Tobias Haller, speaking in the Diocese of Albany, presented his thoughts on the Anglican Covenant: Anglican Disunion: The Issues Behind "the Issue."
Updated: The Diocese of Truro has also voted against adopting the Covenant.
Thinking Anglicans is reporting that the Diocese of Birmingham has become the third English diocese to vote to reject the Anglican Covenant.
Briefly noted in the Faith, Worship, and Ministry Committee section of yesterday's Council of General Synod highlights, Anglican Church of Canada:
Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, gave the Anglican Journal an overview of what dominated the bishops’ discussions over the course of the Nov. 20-24 meeting.
No Anglican Covenant Coalition notes accomplishments to have a fair hearing of reasons for voting against the proposed Anglican Covenant:
On his blog, Tobias Haller quotes from the 1878 Lambeth Conference's Encyclical letter, section 1.5:
Anglican Communion News Service reports today that a "recent" meeting (six weeks ago) in Asunción, Paraguay, saw the endorsement of the proposed Anglican Communion Covenant by the bishops and Executive Committee of the Province of the Southern Cone of America.
As its tepid reception throughout the Communion continues, notable hand-wringing over the proposed Anglican Covenant persists in Lambeth.
The Primate of the Anglican Church of South Africa has posted an open letter calling on provinces of the Anglican Communion to adopt the Anglican Covenant. The questions to be asked are why now, and who is the audience?
The Anglican Communion Office has a summary of the Archbishop's letter which can be read in it's entirety on their website:
Jonathan Clatworthy of Modern Church discusses Canon Librarian at Norwich Cathedral Stephen Doll's paper "Anglican Covenant - Bishop's Council" which was circulated to all bishops in the Church of England. It intends to support voting for the Anglican Covenant and has the Archbishop of Canterbury's approval (including the anti-American rhetoric):
Lionel Deimel takes a very close look at the American-in-England's pro-covenant essay that was circulated by the Archbishop of Canterbury to the bishops. An excerpt from a detailed commentary on the entire Doll essay:
News from the No Anglican Covenant Coalition:
COALITION ANNOUNCES PROFESSOR DIARMAID MacCULLOCH AS PATRON
According to twitter reports this afternoon, the Diocese of Derby in England has voted strongly to reject the Anglican Covenant. The votes were 24 against and 2 for in the laity, 21 against and 1 for in the clergy (with two abstentions), and the bishop voted against it.
From the No Anglican Covenant Coalition:
NEWS RELEASE
FEBRUARY 14, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEPROFESSOR MARILYN McCORD ADAMS APPOINTED AS COALITION’S FOURTH PATRON
The Diocese of Norwich in the Church of England has a web page highlighting papers giving arguments both for and against the adoption of an Anglican Covenant. In addition to a video talk by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Dr. Rowan Williams, there are five papers that can be downloaded in MS Word format.
In Church Times, Giles Fraser says he's against the proposed Anglican Covenant.
Not long ago I edited a study guide for the Chicago Consultation on the proposed Anglican Covenant. It was called The Genius of Anglicanism, and while it included many excellent essays, one in particular has stuck with me, perhaps because I covered a few trials during my days as a reporter.
The Rev. Malcolm French, Canadian coordinator for the No Anglican Coalition, reports on the status of the proposed covenant with 1/3 of the Church of England synods reporting on the voting:
Right Reverend Nicholas Roderick Holtam is the Bishop of Salisbury in the Church of England. In his Presidential Address to Diocesan Synod on February 18th, he expressed what many have thought about the proposed Anglican Covenant.
Episcopal priest Mark Harris writes on three videos produced by the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity Faith and Order (IASCUFO), which was tasked with offering commentary in support of the Anglican Covenant.
Now that IASCUFO has decided to make a case for the Anglican Communion Covenant to the average Anglican in the pew, it's clear that they were never really prepared to make the case in the first place. And they certainly weren't prepared to handle serious dissent.
Diarmaid MacCulloch, Professor of the History of the Church, University of Oxford, author of Christianity: the first three thousand years asks, "Anglican Covenant: where next"?" in a Letter to the Editor in the Church Times
Last weekend three Church of England dioceses voted to affirm the Anglican Covenant. The week before three voted against. So far this week, including the vote of Sodor and Man on Thursday night, another three dioceses have voted against the Anglican Covenant.
There is no clearer sign that the proposed Anglican Covenant is in some trouble than the fact that Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, feels the need to release a video in an attempt to enlist support.
Yesterday we told you about Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and his video message to the Anglican Communion about why we need an Anglican Covenant. Today we find others with YouTube accounts and their own thoughtful responses.
UPDATED (see below)
Four more diocesan synods of the Church of England have rejected the Anglican Covenant in voting today. That makes the total 17 against and 10 in favor. If 22 synods vote against the Covenant it will not be taken up by the Church of England's General Synod for adoption.
After yesterday's votes, there are now 17 dioceses voting against taking the next step towards an Anglican Covenant in the Church of England. That's seven more than those in the "for" category. How it fares in England, of course, is at least notionally important in light of Communion structures and personalities.
While the Church of England dioceses are voting on the question of the Anglican Covenant, there's a second resolution being in considered in just less than a quarter of the 44 dioceses. It's related to the Covenant question, but it doesn't reference the Covenant directly. It thanks the Archbishop of Canterbury for his leadership and calls on the English House of Bishops to take much more seriously their responsibility for promoting the community of the Communion.
Canon Alan Perry continues to offer some of the more incisive and effective criticisms of the proposed Anglican Covenant. Yesterday he took his scalpel to the recent video in support of the document released by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury.
From the blog, Not the same stream a report on the status of the covenant in the Scottish Episcopal Church:
There are five dioceses of the Church of England voting on the question of the Anglican Covenant today. So far this morning two have voted and both have rejected the Covenant. Liverpool voted "no" by almost 3 to 1 margins (and both bishops voted no). St. Albans voted "no" with the laity more than two to one opposed.
We'll update this as the voting is reported.
The Diocese of Liverpool voted strongly across all "houses" of their diocesan synod to reject the Anglican Covenant today. That degree of rejection must have been influenced by the Presidential Address of the diocesan bishop, James Jones. He sees the Covenant as a distraction to the real work of the Church.
UPDATED and corrected: Three of six dioceses voting today have rejected the proposed covenant, three have voted in favor. The covenant has been rejected by the Church of England
Reuters and the BBC have posted lengthy reports this evening on the votes that for all intents and purposes have scuttled the Anglican Covenant in the Church of England.
Reuters features a number of quotes from people that have figured prominently in opposition to the Covenant in England:
Can the Anglican Communion start afresh after Rowan Williams steps down as the Archbishop of Canterbury? The great church historian
Diarmaid MacCulloch thinks so. On the Guardian's website he writes:
The Anglican Communion Office released a statement from Canon Kenneth Kearon, the communion’s secretary general, on Saturday shortly after the Church of England rejected the proposed Anglican Covenant claiming that eight provinces had approved the covenant, and suggesting that the verdict in England was not final—even though that church, under its own rules, cannot take up the issue again until 2015.
Bishop Alan Wilson's blog has a few now-that-the-dust-has-cleared type thoughts on the question of how to proceed as the Anglican Communion in light of the news out of the Church of England concerning the rejection of the proposed Anglican Covenant.
A majority of the synods of the Church of England have spoken and are agreeing not to return to the discussion of further supporting the proposed Anglican Covenant. But this doesn't make the Covenant a dead letter.
The Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, The Most Rev. Thabo Makgoba, has written to Archbishop of York John Sentamu in support of the proposed Anglican Covenant. Arguing for the Covenant as an instrument of mutual interdependence, he writes, "The Communion, and all it has the potential to be and become, under God, matters."
The London diocesan synod today voted against the Anglican Covenant. This brings to 24, a majority, the number of Church of England dioceses against; 23 22 dioceses against was sufficient to defeat the covenant and that number was reached this past weekend. The Church of England is, for now, an associate, not a constituent, member of the Anglican Communion -- if we take Rowan Williams at his word.
Thinking Anglicans and The Wounded Bird have round ups of reactions to the failure of the Anglican Covenant in the Church of England, and with it, the apparent failure of the plan in the Anglican Communion as a whole.
Giles Frasier in the Church Times writes:
Manchester, the last Church of England diocese to vote until after Easter, has voted "no" to the Anglican Covenant. That brings the present vote total, including London's "no" vote this week, to 25 dioceses against and 15 in favor.
Thinking Anglican has the vote totals:
Why did the bishops of the Church of England differ so strikingly from their clergy in their voting about the Anglican Covenant? Sam Norton, an English priest argues that it's because the Church of England's "stupid and ungodly culture" honors being busy more than it honors the work of the discernment of God's will.
The Governing Body of the Church in Wales has put the Anglican Covenant on hold, asking for clarity from the Anglican Consultative Council about the documents future in light of rejection by the Church of England.
Kelvin Holdsworth, Provost of St, Mary's Cathedral in Glasgow, says that it is important for the American Episcopal Church to formally say "no" to all of the Anglican Covenant even though the issue appears to be dead in the Church of England. He says that there are subtle, but equally destructive aspects of the sections not dealing with discipline.
Lionel Deimel analyzes the General Covnention resolutions on the proposed Anglican Covenant:
UPDATED
The Scottish Episcopal Church has vote no on adopting the proposed Anglican Covenant.
The Rev. Malcolm French wonders if the leaders of the Church of England are trying to sneak the Covenant in by the back door of Church of England Synod. French writes at Simple Massing Priest. In an unseemly power grab they are trying to subvert the defeat of the Covenant in the Diocesan Synods:
The Diocese of Brisbane, which is led by Archbishop Phillip Aspinall of Australia, a key player in Anglican Communion politics, has passed up a chance to support the proposed Anglican Covenant. Jonathan Clatworthy has the story gleaned from the Australian Catholic discussion board:
The Revd. Dr. Marilyn McCord Adams refutes the arguments that The Episcopal Church should sign up to the proposed Anglican Covenant or at least continue the discussion of the document and not refuse it outright. Shared with permission:
A news release from the No Anglican Covenant Coalition:
COALITION STATEMENT ON THIS WEEK’S VOTES ON THE ANGLICAN COVENANT
Church News Ireland takes stock of the Anglican Covenant and where it stands as of today:
Canon Alan T. Perry takes a comprehensive look at which provinces have adopted the Anglican Covenant, which have rejected it, and which ones have given qualified and even ambiguous assent. He writes:
This is a post about the Anglican Covenant. Bear with me.
Kelvin Holdsworth, provost of St. Mary's Cathedral in Glasgow, Scotland, comments on a speech on the Anglican Covenant made by The Rt. Rev. Victoria Matthews, Bishop of Christchurch in the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia in which ...
The Rev. Alan Perry, Executive Archdeacon in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada comments on the recently released theological analysis of the Anglican Covenant:
As Justin Welby prepares to become Archbishop of Canterbury, Malcolm French, convenor of No Anglican Covenant Coalition offers his thoughts:
