Posted on: December 28, 2009
The Diocese of Central Florida’s annual convention will have an opportunity in late January to affirm the now-completed Anglican Communion Covenant.
In a letter to members of the diocese, the Rt. Rev. John W. Howe urged delegates to support the Covenant by voting for a resolution by the Rev. Eric Turner.
A list distributed by the Episcopal Church Center mentions eight dioceses that have scheduled conventions in January: Central Florida, Florida, Newark, North Carolina, Southwestern Virginia, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington. To date, only Central Florida has posted any resolution that addresses the Covenant in any form. In his letter, Bishop Howe acknowledged that drafting the Covenant has taken a few years and provincial approval of it will take more time still. “It has been a lengthy process, and it will not be concluded soon,” he wrote.
“From the beginning of the Covenant drafting process the Archbishop of Canterbury has been clear that he hoped we would create a Covenant that each member Province could voluntarily decide to ‘opt into’ or not,” Bishop Howe wrote. “He has envisioned a ‘two tier’ or ‘two track’ Communion in which those provinces that choose to ‘opt into’ the Covenant remain in ‘constituent membership’ in the Communion, and those provinces that ‘opt out’ of the Covenant move into ‘associate membership’ — something which he has compared to the status of the Methodist Church: it has an Anglican heritage, but it is really a separate denomination.”
In making a case for diocesan-level support of the Covenant in the meantime, Bishop Howe cited a letter dated Sept. 28 that he received from the Archbishop of Canterbury.
“The Episcopal Church’s Executive Council has said that the earliest time in which TEC as a whole can officially consider the Covenant is the General Convention of 2012,” Bishop Howe wrote. “But, in his response to my inquiry on behalf of our Diocesan Board, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said that dioceses are certainly free to ‘affirm’ the Covenant if and when they choose to do so.”
Bishop Howe added: “Both our Diocesan Board and our Standing Committee have already affirmed the first three sections of the Covenant, and there is a resolution to be considered by our 41st Convention next month to do likewise.
“I have repeatedly said that I believe the only hope for the Anglican Communion is in following the Archbishop’s lead in drafting and adopting this Covenant. I now urge the delegates to Convention to study it and affirm it on January 30.”
The URL for this story is:
http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2009/12/28/central-florida-may-endorse-covenant
Send web site comments to: WebMaster@churchoftheword.net