The Church of England cannot sign up to a plan aimed at preventing the global Anglican Church from splitting up after half its dioceses voted against it.
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The Church of England General Synod backed the covenant in November 2010, despite the misgivings of many liberals within the Church, and referred it to the dioceses.
But the covenant received a decisive setback immediately afterwards when it was rejected by the Gafcon Primates' Council - the very Church leaders that it was intended to placate.
The Council said: "While we acknowledge that the efforts to heal our brokenness through the introduction of an Anglican Covenant were well intentioned we have come to the conclusion the current text is fatally flawed and so support for this initiative is no longer appropriate."
Reuters
The Independent (the whole article:)
And from Bishop Yellow Belly
More reports as I trip over them
A proposed deal to hold the worldwide Anglican Communion together amid divisions over homosexuality and same-sex unions appeared to be in tatters on Saturday after the mother church, the Church of England, voted to reject it.
Analysts said the Church's decision effectively derailed the adoption of the pact throughout the Communion, a loose family of 38 national and regional churches, and raised questions about whether the Christian alliance could stay united.
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The No Anglican Covenant Coalition said on Saturday it had gained the remaining two votes it needed from the Church of England's 44 dioceses to block the pact after a protracted voting process.
"The covenant is either buried or disabled," said Simon Barrow, co-director of the religious think-tank Ekklesia.The Reuters story has been used in, of all places, the Daily Star in Lebanon, the Stabroek News (Georgetown, Guyana), and the Times Colonist (Canada, Victoria and Vancouver).
The Independent (the whole article:)
A proposed pact aimed at healing rifts in the Anglican church over issues such as same sex unions and gay bishops is in danger of collapse.Diarmaid McCulloch in The Guardian
The Church of England voted against signing up to the "Anglican Covenant", despite support from the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. The covenant called on members of the Anglican Communion not to upset colleagues in other countries. Critics said the move would undermine the indepedence of individual churches. A majority of the 44 dioceses in the CofE opposed the deal leading to fears the deal is "dead in the water".
Something very significant in the history of the Church of England happened on Saturday. An absolute majority of dioceses in the Church of England, debating diocese by diocese, voted down a pernicious scheme called the Anglican Covenant.
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So now Anglicanism needs to move forward and forget this sorry diversion, into which many perfectly well-meaning people poured a huge amount of energy over a decade when they might have been doing something useful. Woe betide any attempt to revive it, though I notice that the secretary general of the Anglican communion (now there's an office that sounds ripe for culling) is clearly determined to keep it alive.The Episcopal News Service, curiously slow off the mark. It includes:
In the U.S.-based Episcopal Church, the Executive Council agreed at its October 2011 meeting to submit a resolution to General Convention that would have it state that the church is “unable to adopt the Anglican Covenant in its present form.”
The resolution also promises that the church will “recommit itself to dialogue with the several provinces when adopting innovations which may be seen as threatening the unity of the communion” and commits to “continued participation in the wider councils of the Anglican Communion” and dialogue “with our brothers and sisters in other provinces to deepen understanding and to insure the continued integrity of the Anglican Communion.”
The 77th meeting of General Convention will decide in July whether to pass, amend and pass, or reject the resolution.
And from Bishop Yellow BellyThe votes are mounting against the Anglican Covenant. And yet somehow Bishop Yellow Belly seems to think that he is winning. Has he finally gone 'round the bend?
More reports as I trip over them
The press have missed the point here, the Covenant if passed would have cemented schism and division. Its defeat ensures that we are still together even if in a status quo position.
ReplyDeleteYou might even think that certain schisms are more newsworthy than others or,at any rate, that that's how the story's been presented to the media.
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