Synod Approves Covenant Proposal

There were no amendments. The Proposal was carried as presented:

That this Synod:

(a) affirm its willingness to engage positively with the unanimous recommendation of the Primates in February 2007 for a process designed to produce a covenant for the Anglican Communion;

(b) note that such a process will only be concluded when any definitive text has been duly considered through the synodical processes of the provinces of the Communion; and

(c) invite the Presidents, having consulted the House of Bishops and the Archbishops’ Council, to agree the terms of a considered response to the draft from the Covenant Design Group for submission to the Anglican Communion Office by the end of the year.’

The Covenant Draft is now the primary consideration of the Church of England.

Yesterday, before this vote was taken, Dean Colin Slee of Southwark spoke against the proposal in the Guardian:

Tomorrow the general synod of the Church of England will be asked to pass a resolution from the House of Bishops that hands a blank cheque to the archbishops in negotiations with the rest of the Anglican communion for a "covenant"...

...Will the Anglican communion fall apart without a covenant? The communion is voluntary - let the independent provinces choose to belong, or not; but let none of us dictate terms to one another and determine who's in and who's out; let the church be as mature as the Commonwealth and accommodate differences of opinion in something more durable than toleration: love.

It appears that the Dean's words were ignored. As the Church of England goes, so goes the Communion. There is now a very strong probability that we will soon have some kind of covenant to contend with.

J.