CANARY IN THE MINE SHAFT?

from Midwest Conservative Journal by The Editor

The Anglican left is still completely and utterly bat crap over the idea of an Anglican Covenant. Savitri Hensmanwrites in the Guardian:

The Church of England’s House of Bishops is urging it to accept an Anglican Communion Covenant. This would give top leaders of overseas churches more power over the C of E and (strictly in theory) vice versa. The Archbishop of Canterbury has been a champion of greater centralism among Anglicans worldwide, supposedly to strengthen unity. But recent events have exposed the tawdry reality behind talk of “interdependence” and “bonds of affection.”

The Communion has long been a family of churches in different parts of the world, with a common heritage of faith but able to make their own decisions. The 1878 Lambeth Conference resolved that “the duly certified action of every national or particular Church, and of each ecclesiastical province (or diocese not included in a province), in the exercise of its own discipline, should be respected by all the other Churches” and “no bishop or other clergyman of any other Church should exercise his functions within that diocese without the consent of the bishop thereof.”

Unlike any other Lambeth resolution, 1.10 in 1998 – which rejected “homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture” and advised against blessing same sex unions or ordaining partnered gay clergy while urging Anglicans “to listen to the experience of homosexual persons” and “minister pastorally and sensitively to all” – was treated as binding, though even then selectively. Leaders like Akinola scorned any pretence of pastoral sensitivity or willingness to listen to “deviants.”

In power-play of the type the Covenant encourages, global church politics will trump love, justice and even logic. This is a poor substitute for freedom in Christ.

All of which makes the following news rather…interesting.

The Anglican Church of Mexico, which was part of the Episcopal Church until 1995, has become the first province to adopt the Anglican Covenant.

“We are delighted to hear that Mexico has agreed to adopt the Covenant,” said the Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, Secretary General of the Anglican Communion. “Provinces were asked to take their time to seriously consider this document, and we are glad to hear from recent synods that they are doing just that.”

Especially considering the nature and leadership of Mexican Anglicanism.

The vote also is significant because Mexico’s primate, the Most Rev. Carlos Touche–Porter, has frequently stood with pro-gay advocacy groups within the Anglican Communion.

The archbishop became one of four patrons of Inclusive Church in 2007. He said then that his province would accept clergy involved in same-sex partnerships, adding: “Mexican society is open and tolerant and our church reflects this.”

Is Mexico a provincial test case? Will Mexico sign on the dotted line, bring in homosexual clergy, perform homosexual marriages, dare Lambeth Palace to come down hard on some Third-Worlders and show the world what a sham the Anglican Covenant really is?

Stay tuned.