According to twitter reports this afternoon, the Diocese of Derby in England has voted strongly to reject the Anglican Covenant. The votes were 24 against
This pernicious proposal of a Covenant (an unhappy choice of name if you know anything about our Church’s history) ignores the Anglican Communion’s past, and seeks to gridlock the Anglican present at the cost of a truly Anglican future. ~MacCulloch
I see no reason why making nice with people in faraway churches with unfamiliar traditions and conflicting theologies is a greater good than truth and justice. The reality is that positive change in the world… does not, historically, come about through agreement within councils at the summit of hierarchical structures.
.. a response to the paper ‘Anglican Covenant – Bishop’s Council’ by Peter Doll, Canon Librarian at Norwich Cathedral. At the Archbishop of Canterbury’s suggestion it was circulated to all the bishops in the Church of England. … presumably Dr Williams approves of its content, including the strong anti-American tone
The Primate of the Anglican Church of South Africa has posted an open letter calling on provinces of the Anglican Communion to adopt the Anglican Covenant. The questions to be asked are why now, and who is the audience?
“In the present situation this does not require any change to the powers of the Instruments of Unity or the Standing Committee. What it does require is a committed public defence, by church leaders, of the principle of toleration.”
The voters in question weren’t circumspect in their reasoning: if the Communion is indeed a family, certain members are acting like bratty siblings – irrationally and with too much independence – and must bridled.
From the Encyclical letter of the 1878 Lambeth Conference: “First, 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 by their individual members.”
No Anglican Covenant Coalition
Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, gave the Anglican Journal an overview of what dominated the bishops’ discussions over the course