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The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion: A new beginning or the beginning of the end? A Summary by The Rev. Brian C. Taylor February 25, 2007

The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion
A new beginning or the beginning of the end?
A Summary by The Rev. Brian C. Taylor
February 25, 2007

(After more significant meetings take place in March, we'll have a two-part series in April to bring us all up to date. Wednesday, April 18th, there will be a presentation of information about developments in the Anglican Communion and Wednesday, April 25th, Bishop Steenson will be with us for a potluck dinner to hear our concerns about the diocese and the Episcopal Church.)

At the recent meeting of the primates of the 38 member provinces of the Anglican Communion (including our primate, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori), they expressed their disagreement with the Episcopal Church’s consecration of a gay bishop and same-gender unions and proposed the following:

1. A draft proposal for an Anglican Covenant
The draft will be discussed and refined over the next two years, and presumably made ready for the Episcopal Church to consider in final form at the General Convention in the summer of 2009. The draft says that when there is a serious dispute among churches that have signed on to the covenant, the primates will provide “guidance and direction.” If their “guidance” is refused, they may judge that “such churches will have relinquished the force and meaning of the covenant’s purpose” [to hold Anglican provinces together], “and a process of restoration and renewal will be required to re-establish their covenant relationship with other member churches.” Obviously, a “no” vote on this covenant by our General Convention could be the watershed when we and many other Anglicans part company.

2. An (Anglican) Pastoral Council within the Episcopal Church
The council’s purpose would be to negotiate structures for pastoral care for parishes and dioceses that are disaffected from the Episcopal Church and to serve as a liaison with other Anglican primates. It would consist of two members appointed by the primates, two by our Presiding Bishop, and the chair, appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury. This council, together with the Primatial Vicar (below) is supported by our Presiding Bishop as an interim way to deal with disaffected groups, avoid lawsuits, and stop uncanonical interventions of foreign primates into Episcopal dioceses, until a final version of the Anglican Covenant is considered and voted upon.

3. A Primatial Vicar
They recommend that disaffected bishops in the U.S. nominate a Primatial Vicar for the Presiding Bishop’s “consent,” and who shall be responsible to the Pastoral Council. This Vicar would provide pastoral leadership for dioceses that refuse to accept Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori’s leadership until an Anglican Covenant can be considered.

4. A request that our House of Bishops make an unequivocal commitment to refrain from authorizing same-sex unions and consent for any further gay bishops
The primates ask that an answer to this request be given by Sept. 30, 2007. The House of Bishops’ next meeting is from March 16-22. If they choose not to adopt this recommendation from the primates, they say that then “the relationship between the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion as a whole remains damaged at best, and this has consequences for the full participation of the Church in the life of the Communion.” One problem with this request is that while our bishops may decide among themselves to affect such a moratorium, it has no canonical force, since only General Convention – not the House of Bishops – can legislate canon law. Without canonical force, a moratorium on blessings will be ignored by some of our bishops, and this situation will no doubt be unacceptable to the primates.

5. A request that the Episcopal Church and congregations in property disputes suspend all legal actions and for affected parties to not alienate property from the Episcopal Church without its consent

A final note: Bishops do not decide important matters for our church, and neither do foreign primates; only General Convention has that authority. The language of the primates’ communiqué indicates to me that the primates seek to place power in their own hands and in the hands of our bishops. I pray that our bishops will not presume this authority and General Convention 2009 will not give it away. I agree with Bishop Mark Sisk of New York who recently said “Being part of the Anglican Communion is very important to me. But if the price of that is I have to turn my back on the gay and lesbian people who are part of this church and part of me, I won’t do that.” I assume, prayerfully and hopefully, that this will remain the prevailing position of our church in the years to come.

The the draft Anglican Covenant is posted on the Anglican Communion website: http://www.aco.org/commission/d_covenant/docs/covenant.pdf
The communiqué from the primates’ meeting is also posted:
www.aco.org/primates/downloads/communique2007_english.pdf