Archival Documents
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Who are the authors? The two signatories on behalf of The Society for the Propagation of Reformed Evangelical Anglican Doctrine (SPREAD) are Bishop John Rodgers Jr and Bishop John Rucyahana from Rwanda . This is important. In addition to their involvement in a similar petition to the Egpyt meeting of the Global South, both have a long history of separatism and intervention within the American Church . John Rodgers was one of the first consecrated Anglican Mission in American (AMiA) bishops and John Rucyahana not only serves in the province which created AMiA but notes that he himself sought...
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A brief analysis by the Anglican Communion Institute It is now nearly three months since General Convention ended and, with the latest letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury, the situation and difficult path in the months ahead is becoming clearer. The background The significance of General Convention cannot be downplayed. The Primates at Dromantine in February 2005 had faced requests from many in the Global South for a speedy response to Windsor. The Primates made clear the seriousness of the situation: We as a body continue to address the situations which have arisen in North America with...
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We appreciate the Presiding Bishop's reference to papers published on our web-site in his most recent letter to his own House of Bishops. As he comes to the end of his tenure, we only regret that he has not chosen to engage the Anglican Communion Institute until this point and now only in this manner. In this case, we fear he may not have read very thoroughly or accurately. Our writings are offered publicly to the Church at large with a deep commitment to Communion health, life and order, and have always been available for open discussion. The Anglican Communion Institute represents a global...
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For over three years now, most of the Communion’s attention has been focussed on the Episcopal Church of the USA due to its decisions at the 2003 General Convention. It is easily forgotten that the current crisis was really triggered a year earlier when, in June 2002, the Diocese of New Westminster decided to authorise same-sex blessings through a synodical vote (the third, following similar votes in 1998 and 2001) and the consent of its bishop, Michael Ingham. This action was not only clearly in opposition to Lambeth 1998 Resolution 1.10 but also to the 1979 statement of the Canadian House of...
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Three documents produced at the recent meeting of the Inter-Anglican Doctrinal and Theological Commission (ACNS 4189, 15 September, 2006) have been commended by the Archbishop of Canterbury for study throughout the Anglican Communion. In common with other commissions and networks, the IATDC considered the proposal of the Windsor Report for the creation of an Anglican covenant which could express the way in which Anglicans in different parts of the world live together. 'Responding to the Proposal of a Covenant' reflects on the biblical and ecclesiological background to the idea of covenant, and...
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The new Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church and a group of like minded bishops have just released a proposal to address an appeal by a number of dioceses for Alternative Primatial Oversight/Relationship. It must be pointed out that this appeal was originally to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and thereby to the Primates of the Communion, and not to the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, she herself symbolizing the very problems necessitating such alternative arrangements. Further, any solution that leaves the new Presiding Bishop giving alternative relationships and oversight as her...
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The Report of the Communion Sub-Group of the Joint Standing Committee of the Primates’ meeting and the Anglican Consultative Council produced instant responses of horror from those committed to Lambeth I.10 and delight from those wishing to see The Episcopal Church (TEC) remain fully integrated in the life of the Communion. It is not difficult to see why these were the initial reactions but it may be that a more measured judgment needs to be made which, while highlighting the serious flaws in the report’s analysis, also recognises its potential significance in shaping a reconfiguring of the...
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We are grateful for the general direction and careful recommendations offered by the Primates in their Dar es Salaam Communiqué. With them, we share the "belief that it would be a tragedy if the Episcopal Church was to fracture", and with them "we are committed to doing what we can to preserve and uphold its life". But the Primates are right in noting that, whatever their particular recommendations may be for The Episcopal Church, they are only recommendations: "such change and development which is required must be generated within [TEC's] own life" (28). The House of Bishops is about to meet...
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I want briefly to say something about the Covenant's origins in a practical sense, and then move on to its rationale and content. As most of us know, the proposal for an Anglican Covenant derives almost exclusively from the Windsor Report itself (see e.g. par. 118-120). The proposal came in the context of the Report's recommendations to enhance the unity of the Anglican Communion: ''This Commission recommends, therefore, and urges the primates to consider, the adoption by the churches of the Communion of a common Anglican Covenant which would make explicit and forceful the loyalty and bonds of...
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To a certain kind of faithful Episcopalian, things may indeed look bleak. The recent House of Bishops meeting in Texas seems to put a seal of finality to the fraying hopes many of us had for the renewal of our common life.To be realistic, however, is not to lose hope; rather, it is see more clearly where our true hope must lie. As for reality: There is clearly no real place left for conservative Christians within TEC's official structures. It is obvious to me that, not only are the vast majority of the denomination's leaders personally hostile to conservative commitments, but they have reached...
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