UPDATED: The resolution was not submitted to the Committee on Resolutions by the deadline laid out in the convention’s Rules of Order, and will therefore have to be submitted from the floor. The resolution will only be considered by convention if the convention agrees to consider it by a two-thirds affirmative vote.
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The following is among resolutions submitted to the Resolutions Committee in the Episcopal Diocese of California for consideration at its convention later this month.
Surely this is just the beginning of a soon-to-be-growing list incorporating a wide variety of opinion. If your diocese will be debating the Anglican Covenant – or at least entertaining the question of debate on resolutions about the proposed Covenant – let us know.
This resolution is proposed by:
The Rev. Kitty Lehman, Rector, St. Bede’s, Menlo Park;
The Rev. John Kirkley, Rector, St. James, San Francisco;
The Rev. Richard E. Helmer, Rector, Church of Our Savior, Mill Valley; and
The Rev. Thomas C. Jackson.
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Resolved, That the 162nd. Convention of the Diocese of California urges the 77th. General Convention of the Episcopal Church to reject the proposed Anglican Covenant.
Explanation: Our opposition to the proposed Anglican Covenant grows out of a lengthy listening process that involved all six of our deaneries. More than 200 lay and clergy members from across this diocese participated in this process. These speakers were well prepared, demonstrating both familiarity with issues and a deep affection for the Anglican Communion. They placed a deep value on the Anglican Communion, The Episcopal Church’s constituent part in it, and the common heritage shared by all Anglicans. They voiced a deep desire to continue in the Communion’s common life. They spoke of the importance of our developing diocesan companion relationships as well as the inter-provincial relationships a number of our congregations enjoy.
Working from these discussions, we affirm our tradition holds Holy Scripture as containing all things necessary for salvation. We hold fast to our responsibility to interpret scripture to meet the needs and challenges of living in our time and place. We affirm the value and importance of the Anglican Communion in our life and work. We affirm our Communion is founded on the Thirty-Nine Articles, The Book of Common Prayer, and the other instruments of communion which are well known to all. We believe the current instruments of communion are adequate to heal today’s wounds if all parties are willing to accept and live within a communion that has room for divergent views and differing understandings of how Holy Scripture speaks to us today.
Working from these discussions, we reject a proposed Anglican Covenant that creates a means for creating second class Anglicans instead of building bridges between Anglican Churches with different traditions for understanding scripture. God does not make second class people, how could our church now endorse making some people second class Anglicans?
We reject a proposed Anglican Covenant that seeks to replace our democratic decision making process with a process giving foreign bishops final say on what we are to believe and how we are to live out the Gospel around the Bay Area and across America.
We reject a proposed Anglican Covenant that converts our Communion into a creedal denomination enforced by a disciplinary process detailed in Section 4 of the proposed covenant.
We reject a proposed Anglican Covenant that seeks to build a church on division rather than inclusion, orthodoxy rather than prophecy, inequity rather than justice.
As the Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of California, we urge our Deputies and Bishop to reflect these concerns in their work during the 2012 General Convention of the Episcopal Church. We recommend The Episcopal Church reject the Anglican Covenant as currently drafted.
h/t Oasis News Blog