Two New Zealand dioceses oppose the proposed Anglican Covenant, Canon John Rees says it is both “insignificant and vital,” and The Living Church takes No Anglican Covenant Coalition’s challenge and offers some reasons to support it.
The No Anglican Covenant Coalition is unhappy with they see as a one-sided and biased presentation by the Diocese of Oxford regarding the Anglican Covenant, describing parts of it as “shallow and superficial.”
The Episcopal Church of the Philippines 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.
We are being asked to sign on to an agreement which was basically created because some of the other former British colonies don’t like what we are doing, even though we have followed our own discernment process to the letter. Now the SCCC has declared that it is “of the view that adoption of the current draft Anglican Covenant has the potential to change the constitutional and canonical framework of TEC.
The Church Times has written about the report of the Standing Committee on Constitution and Canons to Executive Council.
Mark Harris, PRELUDIUM blogger and member of the Executive Council D020 Task Force, considers the possible outcomes of The Episcopal Church’s eventual response(s) to the
We acknowledge the legitimate concerns raised about issues of transparency around a decision as important for our Church as the Anglican Covenant. We are releasing the report immediately.
If the report is not released until spring, and if it states that we cannot adopt the covenant without making constitutional and canonical changes, advocates for the covenant will have a fairly compact window in which to draft legislation and organize support.
In opposing the proposed Anglican Covenant, many are saying the only troubling part is Section 4. Many of us find the whole document built on
“We have not arrived at this decision lightly. We hold out hope that the conversations that have developed during these years of heightened conflict will continue as we seek God’s will for us as a Communion.”