Understanding the Players

This short excerpt was posted at the Covenant Communion site. It was written by Graham Kings, a Church of England priest, to differentiate between the different stances adopted during the Anglican crisis precipitated by pecusa. Bp. Adams of the DCNY would clearly be in the federal liberals quadrant of the table that Kings constructs. Adams is liberal on sexual ethics and his response to the Windsor Report demonstrates that he has a low regard for catholic ecclesiology. ed.


How do we make sense of the differing responses to this issue? Generalizations are dangerous and fixed models are not fluid, however, l have found very helpful the suggestions in the Bishop of Exeter’s address to ECUSA’s House of Bishops. He outlined four groups, each of which is located by their general stance on sexual ethics and ecclesiology:

As I look at the Anglican Communion at present I see its life threatened by two intersecting fault lines, each with its own totem.

The first is the issue of same sex relations, with its focusing in Lambeth 1.10. The second is the nature and future of Communion, with its focus being the Windsor Report and the Windsor/Dromantine process.[15]

Andrew Goddard has written a perceptive commentary on these intersections.[16] With trepidation, I will attempt to build on their ideas by describing this quadrant of responses and also developing it, including titles for the four groups and examples of names of people and groups within them.

The vertical line intersecting the quadrant concerns Resolution 1.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference:[17] to the right are those in favour of it, and to the left those against. The horizontal line intersecting the quadrant concerns the Windsor Report and Dromantine Communiqué:[18] above the line are those in favour of it, and below the line are those against it.

1. ‘Federal Conservatives’, in the bottom right, consists of those who are conservative on sexual ethics but who do not consider highly the ecclesiology of the Windsor Report and especially its warnings against transprovincial interventions. They would not be unhappy with the demotion of the Anglican Communion to a Federation of Anglican Churches. Examples of this group may be the Anglican Mission in America, which began with transprovincial consecrations, parts of the American Anglican Council and the Archbishops of Nigeria and of Sydney.[19]

2. ‘Communion Conservatives’, in the top right, consists of those who are conservative on sexual ethics but have a high regard for the ecclesiology and the recommendations of the Windsor Report. They are keen to hold to the concept of Communion. Examples of this group may be Fulcrum and the Anglican Communion Institute and the Bishop of Pittsburgh.[20]

3. ‘Communion Liberals’, in the top left, consists of those who are liberal on sexual ethics but have a high regard for the ecclesiology set out in the Windsor Report, if not all its recommendations. Examples of this group may be the Bishop of Virginia and the centre of the Special Commission of ECUSA.[21]

4. ‘Federal Liberals’, in the bottom left, consists of those who are liberal on sexual ethics and have a low regard for the ecclesiology set out in the Windsor Report and many of its recommendations. Examples of this group may be Integrity USA and the Bishop of Washington.[22]

Concerning the Anglican Covenant proposed by the Windsor Report, which recently has had some preliminary shape given to it,[23] groups 1 and 4 are likely to be against it and groups 2 and 3 for it.