No Anglican Covenant Coalition on the Meeting of the Anglican Primates

No Anglican Covenant Coalition moderator, the Ven. Malcolm French, has commented on the recently concluded meeting of the primates at which the primates declared sanctions against The Episcopal Church for its approval of same-sex marriage.

The news release is titled “Statement by No Anglican Covenant Coalition Moderator the Venerable Malcolm French Regarding the Primates Meeting 2016 and the Purported Sanctions Against The Episcopal Church.” It is available on the No Anglican Covenant Coalition Web site, and you can read it here.

Is it dead yet?

There has been very little significant news about the proposed Anglican Covenant for some time. Already three years have passed since the dioceses of the Church of England failed to vote in favour of considering the Covenant at their General Synod. At the time it was suggested that this did not mean the Church of England had said no to the Covenant, and that it still could say yes. Technically, this is quite true. The Church of England didn't say no because it didn't consider the question. And it hasn't taken advantage of the intervening three years to revisit the Covenant.

Now, the most recent news is that the Episcopal Church has similarly not taken advantage of an opportunity to say something about the Covenant - be it no or maybe, though decidedly not yes. At its recent General Convention, the Episcopal Church was offered two equal but opposite resolutions. Both resolutions proposed to affirm the membership in and common identity of the Anglican Communion. But one said that this was described in the first three sections of the Covenant, and the other said that the Covenant did not adequately describe membership and common identity of the Anglican Communion. Neither resolution proposed to adopt or reject the Covenant definitively, merely to comment on the value of the first three sections in describing the membership and common identity of the Anglican Communion. Both resolutions were clear in valuing membership in the Communion, and the common identity (however described) of Anglicanism. And both proposed to communicate the Episcopal Church's appreciation for the Communion to the next meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council. In the end, however, the Convention chose to say all the positive things about the Communion without reference to the Covenant. Not yes, not no, not maybe, not even an unenthusiastic "meh".

Two things are clear from this outcome. First, the Episcopal Church values its membership in the Anglican Communion and appreciates its shared Anglican Identity. Second, it does not apparently see the need to bring the Covenant into that conversation.

Like the Church of England, the Episcopal Church has no apparent energy to discuss the project. Both churches seem to have moved on. The only thing missing now is a formal statement from some credible body (such as the Anglican Consultative Council) that the project is officially dead.

In the absence of such a pronouncement,  the Covenant process has ground to a halt, sitting on a long-forgotten list of things to do, gathering dust.

The Episcopal Church Walks Away from Covenant

The 78th General Convention of The Episcopal Church had two resolutions before it dealing with the Anglican Covenant. Resolution A040, while not declaring that the church was adopting the Covenant, declared that most of the Covenant was acceptable and asked the church’s representatives to thank the Communion for the conversation around the Covenant. Resolution D022 was as gracious about offering thanks but categorically rejected the Covenant.

In the end, the convention passed on both A040 and D022 but reaffirmed its commitment to and financial support for the Communion by way of Resolution A019. That resolution, which received concurrence from the House of Bishops on the last day of the convention, June 3, makes no mention of the Covenant.

Thus, The Episcopal Church has essentially rejected the Anglican Covenant by simply ignoring it. All this might not be apparent to the casual observer. However, Lionel Deimel, Episcopal Church Convenor of the No Anglican Covenant Coalition, explains what happened in Salt Lake City on his blog. No doubt, the Anglican Communion Office will not view The Episcopal Church as having rejected the Covenant, but it has.

A General Convention Resolution to Reject the Covenant

No Anglican Covenant Coalition Episcopal Church Convenor Lionel Deimel has announced that a new General Convention resolution has been introduced. The resolution is D022, and it is not even on the General Convention Web site yet. The new resolution, which can be read here, goes somewhat further toward rejecting the Anglican Covenant than do Deimel’s earlier suggestions.

Deimel has written an essay on his blog arguing that The Episcopal Church has gone along to get along with the Anglican Communion long enough and needs to deliver a Covenant rejection once and for all. He argues that doing so will doom the Covenant, as its real purpose is to control Western churches like The Episcopal Church. Rejecting the Covenant will also encourage the Anglican Church of Canada to do the same at its General Synod next year.

In fact, Deimel has written two essays, titled “Time for a Definitive Response to the Anglican Covenant.” An abbreviated version is here, and the complete version is here. The essays not only include the text of A040 and D022 but also trace the troubled relationship between The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion since the 2003 General Convention consented to the consecration of the Rev. Canon Gene Robinson.

Those who will be participating in the Salt Lake City General Convention should definitely read Deimel’s essay and let others know about Resolution D022. It is our hope that the General Convention will pass D022 or something very much like it.
 

Covenant Proposal for Episcopal Church General Convention

A proposed resolution on the Anglican Covenant will be offered at this summer’s General Convention of The Episcopal Church. Episcopal Church convenor Lionel Deimel has written two blog posts about the resolution. Resolution A040 does not adopt the Covenant, but it is kinder than we in the No Anglican Covenant Coalition think appropriate. You can read Deimel’s blog posts here and here. If you are a bishop or convention deputy, you should definitely read these posts. Deimel suggests amendments that will improve Resolution A040.

Update: Lionel Deimel had written a third post on Resolution A040 here.

How Many Churches Have Adopted the Covenant?

A recent Anglican Communion News Service story indicates that Melanesia is the 12th church to adopt the Anglican Covenant. Episcopal Church Convenor Lionel Deimel argues that Melanesia is only number 11. His carefully documented blog post is “How Does the Anglican Communion Office Count?”
 

Melanesia Adopts Covenant

Anglican Communion News Service has reported that The Church of the Province of Melanesia adopted the Anglican Covenant at its November 2014 General Synod. The ACNS story is here. Our own tally of provincial actions on the covenant is here.
 

IASCUFO Still Waiting for Covenant Decisions

Not much has been heard about the Anglican Covenant of late. I suspect that it is significant that Communion churches are not falling all over themselves to act on the Covenant. Despite occasional declarations that the Covenant is dead, it isn’t dead until it is officially dead.

Chief Covenant cheerleader Alyson Barnett-Cowan, Director for Unity, Faith and Order, delivered a report from the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity Faith and Order (IASCUFO) to the just-concluded meeting of the Anglican Communion Standing Committee. The report of the second through fourth days of the Standing Committee meeting includes the following paragraph:

Dr Barnett-Cowan told the Standing Committee that IASCUFO was waiting for to hear from all provinces about their decisions regarding the Anglican Communion Covenant. She expected the Covenant to be an agenda item at ACC-16 in Lusaka, Zambia in 2016.

(The report on the first day of the meeting, by the way, is here.)

I suspect that some pressure will  be brought to bear on churches to make a decision about the Covenant. The best outcome, of course, would be for ACC-16 to conclude that the time for the Covenant has passed and to put an end to this ill-considered project.

Stay tuned and don’t become complacent.

Australia Fails to Adopt Covenant

Without fanfare, the following item was added to the page on the Anglican Communion Web site that keeps track of the status of “responses” to the Anglican Covenant:

• The Anglican Church of Australia declined to adopt the Covenant but adopted a resolution affirming its commitment to the Anglican Communion. July 2014.

In particular, on June 30, 2014, the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia passed the following motion:

That this General Synod:

1. Affirms the commitment of the Anglican Church of Australia to the Anglican Communion;
2. Affirms its openness to participating in any further consideration of a covenant proposal; and
3. Urges upon the Instruments of Communion a course of action that continues to seek reconciliation and the preservation of the Communion as a family of interdependent but autonomous churches.

In other words, while expressing support for the Anglican Communion, the Australian church pointedly declined to adopt or reject the covenant on offer. This is, of course, standard Anglican politeness. Apparently, Australia has no interest in the present Anglican Covenant and covets its autonomy.

The motion as passed and the record of amendments that were rejected can be found on page 15 of the minutes of the June 30, 2014, session of the General Synod, which can be found here.

Sudan Adopts Covenant

It was reported at the just completed meeting of the Standing Committee in London that the Episcopal Church of South Sudan and Sudan has adopted the Anglican Covenant. (See ACNS report here.) Note that, although the nation of Sudan split into Sudan and South Sudan, the church in that part of the world has remained united.

The official tally of Covenant reception is here. The accounting by the No Anglican Covenant Coalition, which includes more detail, is here.

Andrew Brown: The Anglican Communion is Dead

 Andrew Brown’s Guardian blog offers a provocatively titled essay, “It started as a split over gay clergy. But now the Anglican Communion is dead.” That title is a bit of an exaggeration; Brown’s point is better captured in his opening sentence: “What, you gave a schism and nobody came?” He argues that people in the Church of England—laypeople, anyway—are quite indifferent to GAFCON and the Anglican Mission in England.

I was particularly interested in this paragraph:

They [conservatives] feel they are part of the global, “orthodox” mainstream of Christianity. But almost the only decisive act of Rowan Williams’ time in office was the rejection, by a clear majority of committed churchgoers, of his “covenant”–a plan to bind the Church of England into the structures of the rest of the Anglican Communion. No one here wants to be told what to do by the Church of Nigeria, however many Anglicans there are there and however sincerely they seem to hate gay people.

From my vantage point in the United States, I cannot be sure that Brown is reading public opinion correctly, but I suspect he is. I certainly hope he is.

Southern Africa Completes Covenant Adoption

As expected, the Anglican Church of Southern Africa completed its adoption of the Anglican Covenant. Anglican Communion News Service reported on this today. The church first voted for the covenant three years ago, and the recent action completed the church’s approval.

See the No Anglican Covenant table showing the status of the Covenant throughout the Anglican Communion. If you know anything that should be in our table but isn’t, please e-mail us with the information. (Addresses can be found here.)
 

Canada Delays Covenant Decision

As expected—see previous post here—the Anglican Church of Canada has adopted a resolution to delay a decision on the Anglican Covenant until 2016. Anglican Journal reported the action and quoted our Moderator, the Rev. Malcolm French. Malcolm has blogged about the ACoC action here.

Hong Kong Anglican Church adopts the Anglican Covenant

Episcopal News Service reports that Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui, the Hong Kong Anglican Church, has adopted the Covenant. You can read the story here.

Canadian Resolution Revealed

There has been little news about the Anglican Covenant of late, in part, no doubt, because the Anglican Communion has been occupied with installing a new Archbishop of Canterbury and trying to figure out what that means for the Communion. Of course, some have interpreted the lack of news as lack of interest, but that is a thesis that is hard to prove. In any case, the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) is about to take action on the Covenant. Well, sort of.

The ACC will hold its General Synod in July. As expected, a resolution will be put forward that delays action on the Covenant until at least 2016. Resolution A120, from the Council of General Synod, declares that the General Synod “direct[s] the Council of General Synod to bring a recommendation regarding the adoption of the Covenant to General Synod 2016.”

Of course, a similar 2010 resolution required that the Council of General Synod bring a resolution regarding adoption of the Covenant to the 2013 General Synod. If A120 is passed, the ACC may find itself voting on Covenant adoption in 2016. Or not.

The text of Resolution A120 can be found here.
 

Week of Prayer for Christian Diversity

Bosco Peters, the Anglican New Zealand priest who writes the Liturgy blog, has declared January 27, 2013 – February 3, 2013, the Week of Prayer for Christian Diversity. The octave of prayer for diversity is analogous to the established Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Unity in the Anglican Communion is taken by some to require uniformity, and Peters’ newly declared week is intended to promote the acceptability of the notion of unity in diversity. His blog post on his declaration is here, and the logo he has designed to celebrate Christian diversity is shown below.

Status Update on the Covenant

“South Park” Malcolm
from Simple Massing Priest blog

News of the Anglican Covenant has been scarce for quite some time. The Anglican world has instead largely been focused on various goings on in the Church of England. The English church now has a new Archbishop of Canterbury, has the potential to consecrate gay (but celibate) bishops but not women bishops (of any sort), and has shown itself to be out-of-touch with the larger society on the matter of marriage equality. No one seems to be talking about the Anglican Covenant.

The Rev. Malcolm French, the No Anglican Covenant Coalition moderator, noting that he has not written anything about the Covenant since he blogged from the General Convention of The Episcopal Church last summer, has now published a post on his blog titled “Time for the new broom to sweep clean.” In it, Malcolm offers an evaluation of where the Covenant stands in January 2013. He stops short of asking Justin Welby, the new Archbishop of Canterbury, to sign the death certificate (or, perhaps, death warrant) of the Covenant, but he observes that the Covenant “staggers on like some dessicated zombie or reflection-free nosferatu.”

You can read Malcolm’s post here.
 

Moderator French an Episcopal Candidate

We are pleased to announce that the moderator of the No Anglican Covenant Coalition (and convenor for the Anglican Church of Canada), the Rev. Malcolm French, is a candidate to become the next bishop of the Diocese of Qu’Appelle in the Anglican Church of Canada. The list of candidates is here. Malcolm’s profile is here.

Please pray for the selection process in the Diocese of Qu’Appelle.

The Rev. Malcolm French

Blog Comments

Recently, this blog has experienced some odd posts. While I share this blog with my colleagues and do not post my "three rules" here regularly, they are worthy of your consideration.

1. Stay within musket range of the topic. Items that are off subject are deleted.
2. Ad hominem attacks will be deleted period.
3. Avoid obscure unintelligible writing. While this is often in the eye of the beholder, Lionel and I while tolerant, do mean it.

So, if you are wondering why you are not finding some brilliant comment you think really showed the Coalition how wrong it is, consider it it light of those three. We do not claim infallibility, we know we can be wrong. But we do expect guests here to be reasonably polite.

Jim B

General Convention Brochure

The No Anglican Covenant Coalition distributed both buttons and brochures at the recent General Convention. For the benefit of those who did not attend, you can see one of our buttons in a previous post.

Our brochure was a tri-fold affair on glossy white paper:

 

Click here to see the content of the brochure, which was designed specifically for distribution at the 2012 General Convention.

You can find pictures of Malcolm French and me at our General Convention display on my own blog.