The No Anglican Covenant Coalition has today published a one-page handout titled “A Short Introduction to the Anglican Covenant.” The document is intended to provide a brief but useful view of the Covenant for those unfamiliar with it. It describes the Covenant, explains where it came from, and offers an evaluation of its possible effect. Anglicans around the world are encouraged to download “A Short Introduction” and to use it to educate their fellow Anglicans.
A news release about the new handout can be found here. A letter-size version of “A Short Introduction” is available here and an A4 version is available here.
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| A brief summary, honest |
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And while, we're in the area, it seems that there have been no takers of the invitation to make the case for the Covenant.
The probable reason, of course, is that we all live in our bunkers and those in favour of the Covenant are unlikely to want to be seen supporting their opponents.
But at the same time silence does help those who want to bounce the Covenant through the Provincial decision making bodies. From the beginning they have recognised the difficulties of getting it through so many different fora - and have tried to keep publicity to the minimum necessary. In England at least all official documentation is in favour of the Covenant, and none of the difficult issues have been given a public airing. It's a strategy of success by keeping people, voters, uninformed.
It is entirely undemocratic - but, the Church is not a democracy. Therefore a vote of members' representatives is an embarrassment and a problem, not an opportunity to engage people openly and constructively.
And I can give chapter and verse of statements made in the early days of the Covenant process which evidence this approach. More recently the failure of Dioceses and the Church of England nationally to distribute arguments against the Covenant alongside supportive literature bears out that the initial strategy is still in place.
It is a very serious matter of credibility that Diocesan Synods are not getting a balance of opinion presented to them before they vote. Members may consequently be ill informed or unwittingly naive about what they are being asked to do.
ReplyDeleteShould, however, sufficient Synods vote against or the English General Synod do so it would kill the idea stone dead. In that case as Rowan Williams has invested so much energy into the project and sacrificed so much personal integrity surely then he would have to 'consider his position' as Archbishop of Canterbury?