From Stand Firm:
Saturday, July 26, 2008 • 5:35 pm
Transcribed from "The Principles of Canon Law Common to the Churches of the Anglican Communion" by Fr. Matt Kennedy
Principle 10: The fellowship of the Anglican Communion
1. The Anglican Communion is a fellowship of churches within the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, characterized by their historic relationship of communion with the See of Canterbury.
2. The Churches of the Anglican Communion are duly constituted national, regional, provincial churches and dioceses, and uphold and propagate the historic faith and order as typified in the Book of Common Prayer 1662 and its derivatives authorized in the several churches of the Anglican Communion.
3. The relationship of ecclesial communion within the Anglican Communion is based on the communion of a church with one or more of the following: (a) the See of Canterbury; (b) the Church of England; (c) all the churches of the Anglican Communion; (d) all church n communion with the See of Canterbury; or (e) all churches which profess the apostolic faith as received within the Anglican tradition.
Principle 11: The instruments of communion
1. Each church acknowledges its adherence to Holy Scripture as containing all things necessary to salvation, the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds, the sacraments of baptism and eucharist, the historic episcopate, the threefold ministry of bishops, priests, and deacons, and common patterns of worship.
2. Each church recognizes that the churches of the Anglican Communion are bound together, not juridically by a central legislative, executive, or judicial authority, but by the mutual loyalty maintained through the instruments of Anglican unity as an expression of that communion.
3. The relationship between member churches is governed morally by the conventions of the Anglican Communion and juridically by the law of each church.
4. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the focus of unity in the Anglican Communion, and the Primates’ Meeting, the Lambeth Conference, and the Anglican Consultative Council are its instruments of communion.
5. The instruments of communion enjoy such binding authority within a church as may be prescribed by the law of that church.
Principle 12: Autonomy and interdependence
1. Each church is autonomous in respect of its freedom of self-government
2. Each autonomous church is free to order and regulate its affairs through its own system of government and law.
3. The validity within a church of any ecclesiastical act is governed by the law of that church in which the act is performed.
4. The exercise within a church of any ecclesiastical function is governed by the law of that church in which the function is exercised.
5. No church is legally bound by the decision of any ecclesiastical body external to itself, unless that decision is authorized under or incorporated into its own law.
6. A church may impose by its own law restraints on the exercise of its freedom of self-government.
7. Each autonomous church has the greatest possible liberty to order its life and affairs, appropriate to its people in their geographical, cultural, and historical context, compatible with its belonging to and interdependence with the church universal.
Principle 13: Mutual respect
1. A church shall respect the autonomy of each church in the Anglican Communion.
2. Each church and its individual members should respect a legislative, judicial, or other decision or action duly authorized under the law of another church.
3. No church, or any authority or person within it, shall intervene in the internal affairs of another church without the consent of that other church given in such a manner as may be prescribed by its own law.
4. It is within the jurisdiction of the central assembly of a church to regulate relationships between that church and other churches of the Anglican Communion.
5. In each church the Word of God is authentically preaching, and the sacraments of baptism and eucharist are duly administered.
Principle 14: Mutual hospitality
1. Each church in the Anglican Communion welcomes members of all other churches in the Communion to share in the spiritual benefits available in the host church.
2. Each church should provide pastoral care and ministrations to a visiting member of a fellow church in the communion.
3. Each church should admit to Holy Communion a visiting member of a fellow church in the communion to the extent authorized by the law of the host church.
4. Each church should welcome the participation in its public worship of a visiting member of a fellow church in accordance with the law of the host church.
5. Each church recognizes between the churches of the Anglican Communion the interchangeability of ministers ordained in a fellow church in the Communion to the extent authorized by the law of the host church.
6. Interchangeability of ordained ministers excludes re-ordination.
7. Ministerial interchangeability enables a minister of one church to exercise ministry in another, and its enjoyment requires the minister to obtain prior permission of the competent authorities of both churches and to comply with the law of the host church.
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