Standing Committee releases Anglican covenant’s revised section 4
[Ed. Note: Section 4 is the "hard news" section of the Covenant because it deals with discipline. This new Section 4 is expanded from the first Section 4, in order, I believe, to give clearer explanation for the precepts of this section. The 1st paragraph adds that provinces, "freely offer this commitment to other Churches in order to live more fully into the ecclesial communion and interdependence which is foundational to the Churches of the Anglican Communion." The next paragraph states that, "..each Church recognises in the preceding sections a statement of faith, mission and interdependence of life which is consistent with its own life and with the doctrine and practice of the Christian faith as it has received them." This is not submission to an external jurisdiction. However, other churches and/or dioceses may be offered the opportunity to sign the Covenant, which does not imply that they are part of the Communion. In their expanation, the Standing Committee stated that, "“In Anglican ecclesiology, there is a creative tension between the understanding of “local Church”, which is that portion of God’s people gathered around their bishop, usually in the form of a territorial diocese, and “Church” as a term or description for a national or regional ecclesial community, which is bound together by a national character, and/or common liturgical life, governance and canon law..." TEC insisted that the new US province not be established as the 'authentic Anglican Church' because they signed the Covenant and it is uncertain (actually, unlikely now) that TEC will do so. That request was respected, but given latitude. "The Covenant operates to express the common commitments and mutual accountability..." The Standing Committee, those who wrote the new Section 4, are responsible for oversight of adoption and working of the Covenant and will answer questions asked about it. Most pertinent to the last few weeks in TEC, "After adoption of the Covenant,the Standing Committee may request a Church to defer a controversial action. If a Church declines to defer such action, the Standing Committee may recommend to any Instrument of Communion relational consequences..." The Standing Committee went on record last week in opposition to the consecration of Mary Glasspool in Los Angeles, but has no "authority" since no one has signed the Covenant yet. Should a Church or Province refuse to accept this recommendation, the Standing Committee will have the authority to suggest consequences and/or declare "such action incompatible with the Covenant." The offending Church has the ability to accept or deny the recommendation. Churches/Provinces may withdraw from the Covenant by a procedure similar to adoption. Covenanting Churches may suggest revisions to the Covenant through the Instruments of Communion. On the whole, I would say that the revision is stronger than the initial Section 4. It is clearly worded and there isn't much wiggle room for interpretation. The entire Covenant, with this Section 4 in place, will now be released to the members of the Anglican Consultative Council for their consent. Since consideration will be done outside of the pressure TEC exerted in May in Jamaica, this is very good news. Cheryl M. Wetzel]
December 18, 2009
Episcopal News Service
The Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion, at the conclusion of its Dec. 15-18 meeting in London, released the revised text of section 4 of the proposed Anglican covenant, a set of principles intended to bind the Anglican Communion in light of recent disagreements over human sexuality issues and theological interpretation.
The revised text of section 4, with alterations noted against the previous draft, is available at http://www.anglicancommunion.org/commission/covenant/docs/section_four_comparisons.pdf
A commentary from the small working group set up to revise the text of section 4 is available at http://www.anglicancommunion.org/commission/covenant/final/commentary.cfm [Both of these sections are worth reading, but I feel that the commentary from the working group is essential reading.]
Responses from Anglican Communion provinces to section 4 of the Ridley Cambridge Draft are available at http://www.anglicancommunion.org/commission/covenant/responses/index.cfm [17 Provinces responded.]
A letter from the Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, secretary general of the Anglican Communion, is available at http://www.anglicancommunion.org/commission/covenant/docs/letter_from_the_secretary_general.pdf
Representatives of the ACC decided last May that the Ridley Cambridge Draft of the covenant needed more work before it could be presented to the communion’s provinces for adoption because the disciplinary process outlined in its fourth section had not received the same degree of consideration and comment by the communion’s 38 provincial churches that sections 1-3 had.
In late May, Archbishop of Canterbury appointed a small working group to consult with the provinces about section 4 and its possible revision and to report to the Standing Committee. The ACC also requested that the Standing Committee approve a final form of section 4, which it did Dec. 18