Anglican Covenant Could Be Operative By May 2009

From The Living Church:

Posted on: September 17, 2008

Adoption of the proposed Anglican Covenant could be completed much sooner than the 10-year time frame mentioned frequently during the Lambeth Conference, according to one of the two Covenant Design Group members from The Episcopal Church.

Basing on submissions received from bishops attending the Lambeth Conference, the Rev. Ephraim Radner predicted that only a small minority of provinces would fail to approve the Covenant. Prof. Radner, who teaches historical theology at Wycliffe College in Toronto, said the Covenant Design Group is scheduled to disband after holding a second meeting sometime after the first of the year. From there, the Covenant is scheduled to be considered by the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), which meets next May in Jamaica.

Prof. Radner told The Living Church it is not clear whether the ACC would be asked to hold an up-or-down vote on the final language drafted by the Covenant Design Group or whether they would be encouraged to propose amendments before a vote.

With the situation in the Anglican Communion so fragile at present, Prof. Radner said if the ACC were to approve the language proposed by the design group, it could be operative as an official document of the Anglican Communion as soon as the ACC meeting adjourns.

Under that scenario all provinces would have an opportunity to consider the Covenant within three years, the length of time before the 77th General Convention in 2012. Most provinces will not require that much time, however, Prof. Radner said.

He said he has come to the conclusion that some form of separation in the Anglican Communion is inevitable and that a Covenant which includes an established process for holding those who adopt it accountable is the best alternative.

“The alternatives of doing nothing or of positively encouraging the current of spontaneous disintegration and dissolution continue to move in the same direction: profound Christian incoherence,” he said.

Prof. Radner also said the Covenant should include a provision whereby individual dioceses may adopt the Covenant separately if their province or national church declines, and he has submitted a proposal to that effect.

A paper published by the Anglican Communion Institute included the substance of Prof. Radner’s submission. “Individual dioceses who accept the Covenant apart from their provinces or national churches, or congregations whose bishops are not part of the Covenant, are free to seek informal partnerships with other Covenanted Communion bodies, and, if there is no change in status in the meantime, are free to petition the next Lambeth Conference for recognition of their partnerships as formal covenanting dioceses or provinces,” he wrote. “Matters relating to property, however, are to be resolved solely within the negotiations and parameters of local law, seeking where possible to mediating counsel of the Pastoral Forum.”

The Covenant Design Group is scheduled to meet in Singapore beginning next Monday.

Steve Waring