Be wary, be very wary

(c) ACNS, Tumilty

The Archbishop of Canterbury spoke in yesterday's opening address about the draft Anglican Covenant. The Guardian reports:

A unifying document, the Anglican Covenant, would set out the loyalty and bonds of affection governing relationships between churches. Such a covenant would, however, carry the weight of an international obligation and prevent churches pressing ahead with unilateral innovations.

He said the document would not be a means of excluding the "difficult or rebellious" but would intensify existing relations. "Whatever the popular perception, the options before us are not irreparable schism or forced assimilation," he said.

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I had hoped that since seven FOCA primates had dismissed the covenant as inadequate, it would die the death it should.

Bishop Wayne Smith writes on his blog:

Following that briefing came presentations from the Covenant Planning Group and the Windsor Continuation Group. I need time to ponder on the sobering words from these reports, especially those from the chair of the Windsor Continuation Group, Bishop Clive Handford, former Primate of Jerusalem and the Middle East. The words sounded very hard for the Episcopal Church, but it may be that the hardness of the words clearly sets before us all the work we have to do in interpreting the Episcopal Church to the rest of the Communion. I think that we are not well understood, and I know that some of the facts as stated in the report are incomplete. I will not attempt to outline the report, which should be available on the web soon enough.


I am further concerned by a comment of another bishop at Lambeth, Kirk Smith of Arizona:

It was then back up the hill for our first "serious" meeting of conference. It became clear to me that not everyone is feeling as optimistic as I was, and that this is going to be a lot harder than I first thought. The ABC and those working for him are strongly invested in the idea of a Covenant, which as it stands, looks to me like it could result in the expulsion of the American Church from the Communion, although I doubt this is what the ABC really wants. Anyway, I left that meeting feeling not quite so sunny as I did this morning.

If you haven't read the background on the Saint Andrew's draft (SAD), go over to Mark Harris' thoughts on it. Make sure your bishop and deputation to General Convention have it, too.

And then definitely go read the Rev'd Canon Marilyn McCord Adam's critique of SAD which can be found here.