Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion Continues Slide into Mockery

from Stand Firm by Greg Griffith

The forthcoming Standing Committee meeting will welcome two new members from Asia and Africa: Bp Paul Sarker (Moderator of the Church of Bangladesh and Bishop of Dhaka) and Revd Canon Janet Trisk of South Africa (Rector of the Parish of St David, Prestbury in Pietermaritzburg, in the Diocese of Natal).

Who are Sarker and Trisk? Well:

Church of Bangladesh Bishop Paul Shishir Sarker visited the Episcopal Church Center in New York July 6, meeting with Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and program staff.

Trisk was responsible for proposing the amendment to the Anglican Covenant thatremoved Section 4 and essentially gutted the covenant of any meaningful enforcement measures.

And as the ACI points out, Trisk's appointment is against the rules:

Similar issues arise with the Standing Committee’s attempt to appoint the Rev. Janet Trisk of Southern Africa to replace a lay representative on the Standing Committee. The ACC constitution provides that the ACC members of the Standing Committee are to be appointed by “the Council.” Article 7 of the bylaws supplements this constitutional article by providing that in the case of vacancies between meetings “the Standing Committee itself shall have power to appoint a member of the Council of the same order as the representative who filled the vacant place.” If, as seems reasonable, the bylaw is a lawful supplement to the constitution and is not itself unlawful, the Standing Committee is clearly authorized only to appoint someone of the same order. It is not given any power to go beyond not only the constitution but even the additional authority granted in the bylaws by appointing someone such as Trisk who is not of the same order as the previous member. The attempt to appoint Trisk, therefore, was ultra vires and ineffective. And, lest anyone claim the Trisk appointment is valid under the “new” unpublished constitution, it should be emphasized that it was done last December when the old constitution was unquestionably still in effect.