SOCK PUPPET

from Midwest Conservative Journal by The Editor

The Americans have to be pleased with how affairs are shaking out in official Anglicanism these days. One of the new appointees to the Standing Committee, the Rev. Canon Janet Trisk of South Africa, might as well be considered a third American voice.

I can’t remember where I read this but a commenter somewhere or other recalled the rather considerable role Canon Trisk had in derailing the last Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Jamaica and emasculating the Anglican Covenant:

Two resolutions, A and B, were offered to the delegates. A called for section 4 to be detached from the covenant and sent to a committee for further study and revision, while B adopted the Ridley draft as presented by the CDG.

Debate began with supporters of resolution A asking for further time to study section 4. The Rev. Ian Douglas of the Episcopal Church said the Ridley draft was “immature” and “too many ambiguities.” He added that it opened the door to churches not part of the ACC to endorse the document. He speculated that if the breakaway Anglican churches in North America signed the covenant, while the Episcopal Church’s legislative process made it unlikely a final decision could be made in less than six years, this could lead to the “question at ACC-15 about who is the Anglican body” in America?

After a break in the proceedings for lunch, the Primate of Australia offered a new resolution, named C, to the meeting that sought to combine portions of A and B. Objections to C were raised, and it was set to one side.

Following further debate on A, Dr. Williams spoke against A, and a vote was taken by secret ballot which defeated the resolution 17-47, with 1 abstention.

Debate followed on B, with the chairman of the meeting, Bishop John Paterson of New Zealand stating each clause of the resolution would be put to the vote.

After the first two clauses of B passed by near unanimous margins, South African delegate Janet Trisk offered an amendment that sought to incorporate portions of Archbishop Aspinall’s resolution C. The new amendment sought to add the language from the defeated resolution A that would send section 4 to committee for review. Bishop Paterson stated he would not accept the amendment as its substance had already been rejected by the meeting.

Dr Williams then rose on a point of order stating “it did seem to me that the voting on A may very well have been properly influenced by the fact that an alternative form of A is known to be about to be tabled. That I suggested the material of C should be moved as part B, I suspect that people may have voted with that in view.”

Bishop Paterson reversed himself and set the amendment before the meeting. Prompting Dr. Anis to object saying “We have already voted against A, that is deciding to bring in A again, but in a different form.” After one delegate spoke in support of the amendment, it was put to the test and was accepted 34 to 31. Two more votes were held on the remaining clauses of B, but no vote was taken on the amended additions to the resolution.

Members of the Episcopal Church’s delegation told the Episcopal News Service they were pleased by the outcome. “We came up with what was clearly a compromise,” Josephine Hicks said. “Not everyone is entirely happy with what we came up with, I feel certain, but that’s what compromise is all about.”

So for all intents in purposes, the Americans and their supporters now control two Anglican “instruments of unity,” the Anglican Consultative Council and this new Standing Committee. What does this mean?

First of all, it means that neither group should have any credibility at all with the primates. It also means that the conservative primates are now out of “official” options.

They could make a stand at the next Primates Meeting, demanding that Mrs. Schori be sent home, walking out if she isn’t or drawing a line in the sand and informing Dr. Williams that the American situation is going to get solved at this meeting one way or the other.

Will they? Please. Talking about Anglican rules at this point is a waste of time so expect more drift. If the Americans control the instruments of unity, the primates will ignore the instruments, secure in the knowledge that there is little or nothing that Dr. Williams can or wants to do to them.

And the inevitable transformation of Anglican Christianity from Christian tradition to mere religious expression will proceed apace.