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Comprehensive Unity: The No Anglican Covenant Blog

Monday, June 25, 2012

Covenant Opponents Continue to Carry Votes

If we Anglicans share one characteristic, it is civility. Our Moderator is a Canadian and tells the joke (apparently common in Canada) about how one evacuates a swimming pool full of Canadians. One says, quietly, "It is time to exit the pool." The same joke works for a pool full of Anglicans. So, in some polities where our civility makes it hard to tell Dr. Williams how silly his "Anglican Church" idea really is, we see votes to extend consideration of the Covenant until after he retires. Which leads to the vote this week in the diocese of Brisbane.
The delegates to their diocesan synod are thinkers: they are also polite. So we have a resolution that follows the civility path:
    That this Synod recommends to the General Synod that it:
  1. Affirm the commitment of the Anglican Church of Australia to the Anglican Communion.
  2. Affirm its readiness to engage with any ongoing process of consideration of the Anglican Communion Covenant
  3. Request clarification from the 15th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council as to the status and direction of the Covenant Process in the light of the position of the Church of England.
  4. Urge upon the Instruments of Communion a course of action which continues to see reconciliation and the preservation of the Communion as a family of interdependent but autonomous Churches.
There are several points to note here.
First, the rules of the Australian Church require that all the diocese agree to something like the Covenant. That means that this vote is decisive for this year.
Second, Resolve 3 suggests what is clear to this writer, the no vote in England should be decisive. That it is not so treated by the Church House staff is deplorable.
Finally, Resolve 4 makes it clear that this diocese at least and we know, others in Australia and around the world, reject the content of the Covenant, even when they are entirely to polite to simple say it. The entire "Anglican Church" enterprise stands as the singular failure of the Williams term. The ideas simply makes no sense. But we are Anglicans, we find it hard to let our "no" be, "of course not!"
None-the-less, the Covenant is dead in the water. It is good to see the Australians adding their voices in the no column, no matter how politely. Their vote like that in Wales, can and likely will be misconstrued by the "secretary general" whose entire office is dependent on the Covenant. But even he knows, I am sure, that the "Anglican Church" enterprise is DOA, and deservedly so.

FWIW
jimB

Friday, June 22, 2012

Support Our Presence at General Convention

Dear Coalition Supporter,

The No Anglican Covenant Coalition will send our moderator, Malcolm French, and me, our Episcopal Church convenor, to the 2012 General Convention of The Episcopal Church in Indianapolis, Indiana. The convention begins in less than two weeks. Along with other Coalition members and friends, we will monitor the progress of Covenant-related resolutions and will lobby for The Episcopal Church to take a strong stand against the Anglican Covenant. We will also distribute buttons and brochures to convention bishops and deputies in support of our lobbying efforts.

For the first time, the No Anglican Covenant Coalition needs to solicit financial help in support of our efforts. To date, coalition members have run our operations on a shoestring, and some members have made significant personal sacrifices to enable us to oppose what we believe is a disastrous change in direction for the Anglican Communion.

Our presence at General Convention will be our most expensive undertaking so far, requiring funds for travel, lodging, meals, buttons, brochures, etc. We estimate that this project will cost more than $3,000 US. Your help is urgently needed. Please consider making a generous donation to this important effort.

The No Anglican Covenant Coalition is an unincorporated organization, and contributions are not tax-deductible. However, donations of $25 US or more will be acknowledged with our Yes to Communion button that we will be distributing at General Convention.

By making a donation through PayPal, anyone in the world can contribute to this effort. Note that I, as Episcopal Church convenor, am acting as treasurer, so you will see both the Coalition’s name and my own on the PayPal pages when you make your donation using the button at the bottom of this post.

Thank you for your support,
Lionel Deimel
NACC Covnenor for The Episcopal Church


Donate to NAAC




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Saturday, June 9, 2012

General Convention Resolutions Analyzed

The General Convention of The Episcopal Church meets next month and will take up Covenant adoption. To date, depending on how one counts, as many as seven resolutions have been proposed to deal with the request from the Anglican Communion to adopt the Anglican Covenant. These will go to a legislative committee that will determine just what legislation will come before the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies. Almost certainly, that legislation will be an amalgam of what has been proposed thus far.

Blogger Lionel Deimel has written a helpful post explaining and comparing the seven resolutions. Anyone who wants to understand the resolutions should read his post, which you can find here.
 

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Friday, June 8, 2012

This Just In From Scotland!

It takes courage to stand for the right. The Scottish Episcopal Church has that courage. They have officially said no to the Covenant and yes to Communion. The news is posted on their official web site at this page.

The address by their primus is worth reading. It is a solid endorsement of the Anglican Communion, not the unwelcome hierarchical "Anglican Church" Dr. Williams and his myrmidons have been so eager to inflict on us. FWIW jimB

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