Frank Wade: Coup d’Eglise

See the post immediately below this one to discover something Fr. Wade obviously missed. ed.

Reader's Viewpoint

06/24/2007

In 1851, French President Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte seized dictatorial powers that eventually allowed him to become Emperor Napoleon III, the last monarch of France. His actions gave currency to the term coup d’ètat, literally “strike the state,” which has described political takeovers from that day to this.

The parallel phrase coup d’èglise (strike the church) has not made it into the common lexicon but may be the only way to accurately describe the lightning ascendancy of the primates of the Anglican Communion. From their first meeting in 1979 to their asserted role in the proposed Anglican Covenant, the group has moved from non-existence to centrality. This may or may not be what the Anglican Communion needs; it may or may not be what every devoted Anglican wants; it may or may not be the leading of the Holy Spirit; but we should all know that it is happening.

For most of its history the Anglican Communion lived with three basic facts of life: The members had a common root in the Church of England, a common focal point in the Archbishop of Canterbury, and common mission on a selective basis. A common doctrinal base was assumed but basically unexamined.

The idea of ecumenicity in the late 19th century led to the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral, which was as close as the Communion ever came to formal doctrinal expression. The Quadrilateral was so broad that it was said that when we speak neither the pope nor the premier of China can say for certain they are not Anglicans.

This hazy sense of communion lasted until the emergence of indigenous leaders in the post-colonial church brought pre-existing differences of perspective and orientation into clarity and conflict. These differences became an Anglican crisis when the American and Canadian provinces gave tangible expression to a faithfully developed, but to many intolerable, view of human sexuality. That crisis provided the platform for the primates’ move to power.

The opening for the coup d’èglise came from the Windsor Report, which among many challenges dealt with the question of whether 75 million people spread across 38 independent provinces, several countries and innumerable cultures could come to a common understanding of God’s will without the benefit of a central authority. Being reasonable people, the report’s authors concluded that it could not be done, and that the center of Anglicanism needed to be strengthened. To that end they made two proposals.

The first (Windsor Report 111-112) was that the Archbishop of Canterbury have a council of advice “to enhance the foundations of any authority on which the Archbishop might feel truly enabled to act,” and to help him in “discerning when and how it might be appropriate for him to exercise a ministry of unity on behalf of the whole Communion.” The second was the development of an Anglican Covenant (WR 119) to provide “an agreed mechanism to enable and maintain life in communion and to prevent and manage communion disputes.”

The primates made short work of the first proposal when they observed that any increased authority for the Archbishop of Canterbury would “override our proper provincial autonomy” (February 2005 Communiqué), thereby becoming the first Anglican body to fail to be “Windsor compliant.” There was no system that could either give or deny the power of the primates to exercise such a veto. But the council of advice apparently has disappeared from our list of options.

The report’s covenant proposal had several immediate responses from the Communion. The report itself had appended a draft that had a canonical, structural orientation. The Anglican Consultative Council said that the covenant should be relational, like those we have with other denominations. The primates argued for a covenant that was more doctrinal, providing an interpretation of the faith. The only one currently being circulated is from the primates although, to be fair, one must note that the relational suggestions of the ACC are incorporated in it. But so are the basic elements of the coup d’èglise.

The Covenant Design Group, bishops, priests and laity “appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury on behalf of the primates” and chaired by one of the leaders of the Global South primates, Archbishop Drexel Gomez of the West Indies, used the language that has been developed by leaders of coups over the years. They assure us that the covenant contains “nothing new,” that whatever steps it has taken are because of “urgent need,” and that their suggestions are only “short term” with imperfections to be addressed in the “long term.”

It then goes on to, among other things, assign roles to the four instruments of communion that leave no question as to who will be in charge. The Archbishop of Canterbury is to be accorded “honor and respect” and is allowed to preside at meetings. The Lambeth Conference is for “collegiality.” The Anglican Consultative Council is to concentrate on coordinating ecumenical and mission work. The primates, expanding on a suggestion in the Windsor Report’s draft covenant, will monitor global developments and handle “doctrinal, moral and pastoral matters that have Communion-wide implications.” In addition the primates will deal with “matters in serious dispute among churches.” Louis-Napoleon himself could not have done it better.

The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church defines Anglican Communion as “The Church in communion with, and recognizing the leadership of, the see of Canterbury…” Future editions may well reference relationship with the primates as the defining characteristic of the Communion.

Perhaps the Anglican Communion needs a stronger center as the Windsor Report suggests. It is certainly possible that the primates are best equipped to fulfill that role. If so, one hopes that the role will be granted by some consensus of the Communion, rather than a power grab by the primates. ❏

The Rev. Francis H. Wade is a retired priest of the Diocese of Washington.

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