SOUND AND FURY

from Midwest Conservative Journal by The Editor

The final version of the Anglican Commmunion Covenant is out so let’s immediately get to the question that’s on everyone’s mind. Will the Anglican Church in North America be able to adopt the Covenant and become “official” Anglicans? Theoretically. But Bob Duncan shouldn’t hold his breath:

(4.1.5) The Instruments of Communion may invite other Churches to adopt the Covenant using the same procedures as set out by the Anglican Consultative Council for the amendment of its schedule of membership. Adoption of this Covenant does not confer any right of recognition by, or membership of, the Instruments of Communion, which shall be decided by those Instruments themselves.

Something Ken Kearon says isn’t going to happen for some time.

"The Standing Committee has decided that it will neither invite any other Churches (beyond the Schedule of members of the ACC) to adopt the Covenant (Covenant 4.1.5), nor propose any amendments to it (Covenant 4.4.2), until it has had an opportunity to evaluate the situation after ACC-15."

This, by the way, was how that section used to read.

(4.1.5) It shall be open to other Churches to adopt the Covenant. Adoption of this Covenant does not bring any right of recognition by, or membership of, the Instruments of Communion. Such recognition and membership are dependent on the satisfaction of those conditions set out by each of the Instruments. However, adoption of the Covenant by a Church may be accompanied by a formal request to the Instruments for recognition and membership to be acted upon according to each Instrument’s procedures.

According to the Covenant Working Party, the people in charge of the redesign, the reason for the change was the following.

"In response to the question, ‘what happens if Churches other than current member Churches of the Anglican Consultative Council wish to adopt the Covenant?’ the Working Group was concerned that due process was needed. The procedures set out in the Constitution of the Anglican Consultative Council for amendment of its Schedule of Membership provide a suitable course of deliberation and consultation with the Anglican Consultative Council and the Primates’ Meeting before an invitation to consider adoption of the Covenant by any such Church is agreed upon. The Working Group incorporated these principles in Section 4.1.5."

Translation: the Americans insisted. What happens if the US or Canada ordains a polyamorous priest or makes a bishop out of a tricked-out ‘56 Corvette drop top? By the looks of things, not a heck of a whole lot.

(4.2.2) The Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion, responsible to the Anglican Consultative Council and the Primates’ Meeting, shall monitor the functioning of the Covenant in the life of the Anglican Communion on behalf of the Instruments. In this regard, the Standing Committee shall be supported by such other committees or commissions as may be mandated to assist in carrying out this function and to advise it on questions relating to the Covenant.

(4.2.3) When questions arise relating to the meaning of the Covenant, or about the compatibility of an action by a covenanting Church with the Covenant, it is the duty of each covenanting Church to seek to live out the commitments of Section 3.2. Such questions may be raised by a Church itself, another covenanting Church or the Instruments of Communion.

(4.2.4) Where a shared mind has not been reached the matter shall be referred to the Standing Committee. The Standing Committee shall make every effort to facilitate agreement, and may take advice from such bodies as it deems appropriate to determine a view on the nature of the matter at question and those relational consequences which may result. Where appropriate, the Standing Committee shall refer the question to both the Anglican Consultative Council and the Primates’ Meeting for advice.

(4.2.5) The Standing Committee may request a Church to defer a controversial action. If a Church declines to defer such action, the Standing Committee may recommend to any Instrument of Communion relational consequences which may specify a provisional limitation of participation in, or suspension from, that Instrument until the completion of the process set out below.

(4.2.6) On the basis of advice received from the Anglican Consultative Council and the Primates’ Meeting, the Standing Committee may make a declaration that an action or decision is or would be “incompatible with the Covenant”.

(4.2.7) On the basis of the advice received, the Standing Committee shall make recommendations as to relational consequences which flow from an action incompatible with the Covenant. These recommendations may be addressed to the Churches of the Anglican Communion or to the Instruments of the Communion and address the extent to which the decision of any covenanting Church impairs or limits the communion between that Church and the other Churches of the Communion, and the practical consequences of such impairment or limitation. Each Church or each Instrument shall determine whether or not to accept such recommendations.

Why such weakness? Well, says the Working Group, we don’t want to be badasses here.

"The Covenant Working Group has taken very seriously the representations of a number of Provinces that this section should avoid a punitive or juridic tone, that it should emphasise relational and communion aspects, and defer to the dispersed model of authority, which places emphasis on the autonomy of the Churches as final arbiters of maintaining the Communion which their relations constitute. In particular, the Covenant Working Group has taken very seriously the concern that relational and conciliatory approaches should figure highly, but also acknowledges the point made, amongst others, by the Inter-Anglican Theological and Doctrinal Commission in their report “Communion, Conflict and Hope”, that mutual accountability is a fundamental Communion value which should draw the Churches into a common life. The links between the processes in Section 4 and the principles of interdependence in Section 3 are therefore made explicit (4.2.3), and the Standing Committee is called upon to “make every effort to facilitate agreement” (4.2.4)."

Translation: we need TEO’s jack, that’s why. What if TEO think that even this is too much and refuses to sign? Or what if TEO spends the next seven years “studying” the Covenant and three more putting it to the vote of two successive GenCons? Could dioceses sign up if provinces do not?

"In response to the question ‘who is being invited to adopt the Anglican Communion Covenant?’, the Working Group reaffirmed the principles set out in the Lambeth Commentary of September 2008, in its definition of “Churches of the Communion” as those for whom adoption is intended.

“In Anglican ecclesiology, there is a creative tension between the understanding of “local Church”, which is that portion of God’s people gathered around their bishop, usually in the form of a territorial diocese, and “Church” as a term or description for a national or regional ecclesial community, which is bound together by a national character, and/or common liturgical life, governance and canon law. Traditionally, Anglicans have asserted the ecclesial character of the national Church as the privileged unit of ecclesiastical life. The Church of England’s very existence was predicated upon such an assumption at the time of the Reformation. Recognised in most cases as “Provinces”, these national or regional Churches are the historical bodies through which the life of the Anglican Communion has been expressed, and they are the primary parties for whom the covenant has been designed. If, however, the canons and constitutions of a Province permit, there is no reason why a diocesan synod should not commit itself to the covenant, thus strengthening its commitment to the interdependent life of the Communion.”

"The Group recognise that any ecclesial body may express commitment to the Covenant. Some may find that the affirmations and commitments of the Anglican Communion Covenant contain helpful guides for interdependent life at other levels and in other contexts than those specific to relations amongst the Member Churches of the Anglican Communion. This sort of endorsement is to be encouraged as contributing to the covenantal life of the Communion."

Meaning what? Meaning that Communion Partner bishops and dioceses can pass a resolution every day for the next 10 years praising the Anglican Communion and promising to abide by the Covenant and it won’t matter in the slightest.

Because if the Episcopalians don’t sign up, “Communion Partner” bishops and dioceses will be just as out in the Anglican cold as the national church to which they insist on remaining connected.

So where are we? Same place we were yesterday. As of right now, unless the primates stop being polite and start being real, it will be considerably harder for ACNA to obtain any kind of “official” status in the Anglican Communion any time soon.

Not that there’s anything significant for ACNA to sign its name to. This brain-dead Anglican tendency to always split the difference in order to make everyone happy has produced a document that does not deal with the current controversy and cannot satisfactorily address any problems that will arise in the future.

Think Panel of Reference on steroids.