Philippines “not in favor” of Anglican Covenant

In the latest issue of The Philippine Episcopalian reproduces the General Synod address of the Prime Bishop of The Episcopal Church of the Philippines, The Rt. Rev. Edward Malecdan. The synod met in early May.

In his address the Prime Bishop reported that the ECP Council of Bishops is not in favor of the Anglican Covenant:

[T]he Anglican Covenant which is supposedly a proposed document to help diffuse

the tension in the Communion. The document is intended to be the final arbiter in the resolution of conflicts in the communion and that all member churches will have to adhere to its provisions. The ECP Council of Bishops noted that the document provides for the creation of a Standing Committee that will be the “Supreme Court” as it were, for the Anglican Communion to lord it over all Anglican Provinces. This, to the Council is very un-Anglican because of the autonomous nature of each Anglican Province. Hence, we are not in favor of the document.

In the Primates’ Meeting I attended in Ireland, the unity and diversity of the Anglican Communion was clearly and strongly affirmed. We recognized that Anglicans have many disagreements as a Communion but we still can be agreeable to one another. We can still move towards reconciliation as sisters and brothers as a gift of God to us by persistently talking about our differences. This is the beauty of Anglicanism. Unity in diversity which is a recognized uniqueness of the

Communion is preserved.

He also speaks of those who boycotted the Dublin meeting and who “plan to create a parallel Anglican Communion which would exclude in its membership TEC, ACoC and the Archbishop of Canterbury as [an] instrument of Communion.”

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