Standing Committee Endorses (Really!) the Anglican Covenant

A member of the Board of Albany Via Media reported recently on a conversation he had with the Diocesan Canon to the Ordinary.  According to the AVM member, he mentioned the endorsement by the Diocesan Standing Committee of the latest (Ridley) draft of the ever-evolving Anglican Covenant.  The Canon to the Ordinary reportedly declined to acknowledge that endorsement and challenged the AVM representative to prove the Standing Committee had taken such a step, which suggests one of three things -- either the Canon does not know recent events in his diocese; the diocese is attempting to distance itself from the action of Standing Committee, or it reflects diocesan instinct to maintain an attitude of plausible denial.  Fortunately, denial is not possible, and to refresh everyone's memory, here is an excerpt from Bishop Love's letter approving of the Standing Committee's endorsement and calling for Diocesan Convention to likewise approve the Covenant:

October 20, 2009

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

During its regularly scheduled October 5th meeting, the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Albany passed a resolution endorsing the four sections of the Third (Ridley Cambridge) Draft of the Anglican Communion Covenant.  In addition, the Standing Committee is recommending that the same or a similar endorsement be placed before the Diocesan Convention for adoption

Faithfully Yours in Christ,
+Bill

This statement was part of a longer letter posted electronically in October, 2009, on the Priests and Deacons Update, an occasional broadcast to all members of the Diocese of Albany.  Certainly the Canon to the Ordinary received this emailing along with the rest of us.

The 2010 Diocesan Convention will again be held at Camp of the Woods in Speculator, New York.  Although an official call to convention has already been issued, that  invitation does not say at this time whether an endorsement of the Covenant by representatives of the whole diocese will be sought.  Certainly there has been no diocesan-wide discussion of the Covenant, local deanery convocations to consider the merits of a Covenant, or surveys of convention delegates on the matter.  These would seem to be necessary preliminary steps before Convention meets if an endorsement similar to that made by the Standing Committee is to be considered.

Perhaps the report of the conversation with the aforementioned diocesan official simply reveals a miscommunication.  Then again, the ambiguous response by the Canon to the Ordinary might have been delivered in a jocular manner, and was misconstrued.  Either way, it is important to remember that proclamations by the Standing Committee, or any action taken by Diocesan Convention for that matter, have no official standing in The Episcopal Church.  As has been pointed out many times before in this blog and elsewhere, only the Province has the standing to decide on a Covenant, and a vote by TEC is not likely to be taken any time soon.

Comments

[Allison de Kanel]

I wonder if the content of those DVDs could be put on YouTube. Depends on how long the presentation is, I suppose.

[Allison de Kanel]

The Call to Convention for my parish was handed to me at the recent regional Parish Leadership Conference at the Cathedral on Saturday February 6th. Advantages of distribution at the PLC include saving postage and being able to get a signature indicating receipt. I don't know if all the PLCs have been held, but apparently those parishes who did not receive them at one of the PLCs will get them in the mail.

[William F. Hammond]

I have 3 issues with the proposed "Anglican covenant":

1. It is a hybrid in that it is part covenant and part constitution.

2. It seems to be blind to the importance of the Summary of the Law for Christian ethics.

3. It fails to incorporate the Anglican method of theology that is commonly cited as "Scripture, reason, and tradition".

[Dennis Wisnom]

Will these DVDs be available at the PLC this Saturday?

[Fr. Christopher Brown]

I actually agree with Bob Dodd. We dropped the ball on the call to discuss the Anglican Covenant and contribute our thoughts to the process of forming its final draft.

It certainly is fitting that there be discussion about the Covenant from the ground up in our diocese. It was for this reason that at last year's Parish Leadership Conferences I gave a presentation on the Covenant (which elicited praise for its balance from a former AVM board member from St. Andrews). A couple of weeks ago we filmed a revised version of that presentation to be distributed in DVD form to all the parishes in the Diocese.

The Covenant is an imminently reasonable document, and not the imposition of a narrow confessional dogma. It is about process, how we go about making decisions and functioning as a communion. While it has been criticized by some progressives, the GAFCON people are not enthusiastic either. Archbishop Moses Tay has rejected the Covenant as a “whitewash” intended to smooth things over without addressing the “darkness” and “immorality” of the American Church. The Covenant is the position of moderation (dare I say “via media”?) and represents the Anglican center of Archbishop Rowan Williams.

[Fr. Joel Grigg]

Regarding the Call to Convention, I don’t know what email list the Diocesan office used for distribution. If you decided not to avail yourself to this communication method then that was your choice. With that noted, however, it doesn’t dismiss the error of your claim that no Call to Convention had been published. Robert, I encourage you in the future to get ALL the fact available BEFORE you make such comments.
Also, let’s wait and see if the call to study the proposed covenant is “too little and far too late.” My guess is that most of the people in the diocese will be willing to engage the document with an open mind and a willingness to learn. Let’s let them decide.

[Robert Dodd]

One small niggle about this post. The Diocesan Updates (previously Priests and Deacons Updates) do not go to everyone in the diocese. Hence the need for this blog and the AVM website to announce such newsworthy items as the Bishop's premature endorsement of an unfinished document.

In response to Fr. Grigg's third point: Responsible Anglican provinces and dioceses have responded to the Communion's request for wide discussion
of each Covenant draft. Why not Albany? The SC's call for "everyone to study the covenant" is too little and far too late.

[Fr. Joel Grigg]

Reality check time.
#1 You wrote "The 2010 Diocesan Convention will again be held at Camp of the Woods in Speculator, New York. Although an official call to convention has already been issued"
A call to convention has gone out. I received a copy via email last week.

#2 The SC resolution called for the convention to take up the matter to consider endorsing the proposed covenant. It does not necessarily have to appear in any call to convention communication.

#3 The SC resolution calls for a everyone to study the covenant.

Now a suggestion. Rather than posting items like this wihtout the facts, why not try to get the facts first. Your constant attempt to raise doubt on our Bishop, his staff, and the committees of this dicoese is really getting old and only deminishes the value of this cite, and the Albany (so-called) via media.