Overwhelming Support for the Anglican Covenant?

Recently, I heard An English bishop saying that the Covenant debate in the English General Synod was good because a range of views were expressed and articulated, but ultimately people voted for the Covenant, not because they liked it or wanted it but for other reasons, such as to back ++Rowan or to keep open a dialogue. Hence, if it is passed then it will be next to useless because no one seems to actually want it.

It is the fifth time it has come before Synod, and ++Sentamu encouraged the Synod to vote for it even if they didn’t like it, in order to support ++Rowan and to let the Dioceses have a look at it. So in a sense they didn’t vote for the Covenant at all. Looking back they never have:

In 2008 Sentamu said that:

 “a vote to take note of the report would not commit the Church of England to every dot and comma of the document. The C of E was only one of 38 provinces, and it was too early to say what the final text would be. But an enthusiastic “take-note” would indicate general support for the direction of travel set out by the Windsor report, and an affirmation of Dr Williams’s efforts to hold the Communion together.”

In July 2007:

 “Dr Tom Wright, almost dared the Synod not to go along with it. It mattered to millions of Christians in a less fortunate position, he said; the Synod had voted “massively” in favour of the Covenant in 2005; no classical Anglican would have embraced the contemporary idea of inclusivity; and if the Synod voted against it, it would be undermining the Archbishop of Canterbury.”

However, back in November 2005 , the vote wasn’t massively in favour of the Covenant – it was to ‘take note’ of it: 

“In the morning, the Synod voted on a motion from the Bishop of Durham, Dr Tom Wright, to welcome the House of Bishops’ response to the Windsor report, accepting the report’s principles; urging the Primates, who will meet next week, to take action in the light of the Windsor recommendations to secure the unity of the Communion; and assured the Archbishop of Canterbury of its prayerful support.”

The ‘overwhelming support’ that has been suggested for the Covenant feels disingenuous to me. I hope, when the document comes to the Dioceses in The Church of England there won’t be a feeling that it must be accepted because the General Synod were so keen on it.