The Windsor Report’s proposals for a Covenant to keep the Anglican Communion together have now become the focus in efforts to resolve the Church’s crisis over homosexuality.
According to an Anglican working party investigating the plans, it could take up to nine years before such a covenant could come into effect, and the final result may be a two-tier Communion, reports the Church of England newspaper.The working party, however, clearly indicates that the Covenant itself cannot solve the current predicament of the Communion, but that it could go on to help the Communion overcome future problems.
“In principle ... the Covenant could identify where legitimate differences of view over matters even as important as, for example, the ordination of women could be recognised. In doing so, it could indicate how such ‘agreement to disagree’ on other issues might be reached and what processes might be used to foster trust and unity during periods of extended or sensitive discernment,” the working party says.
In particular, the covenant could provide protection for ‘conscientious objectors’ to new developments within provinces, the group says.
The research into the covenant was commissioned by the Joint Standing Committee of the Primates’ Meeting, and the Anglican Consultative Council.The group stated, “It will not do to say ‘There is one Anglican Covenant for this group and another Anglican Covenant for that group’. For the Covenant concept to work there comes a point at which Provinces and Churches will have to say about the Covenant that they will ‘take it or leave it’.”
The working party included two legal experts, Professor Norman Doe, and Canon John Rees, the evangelical theologian Dr Andrew Goddard and Canon Robert Paterson, a theologian from the Church in Wales, tell the Church of England newspaper.
The group’s report went on: “As time goes on, stronger presumptions of mutual recognition and inter-changeability of ministry and membership would arise between those Churches and Provinces that had signed up than amongst those that had chosen not to do so... What might emerge is a two (or more) tiered communion, with some level of permeability between Churches signed up to the Covenant and those who are not.”However, the groups refused to go into detail regarding the nature of a proposed Covenant, and did not side on whether it should be a confessional statement laying out what the Communion believes, or whether it should simply provide guidelines for resolving controversial questions as a worldwide Church.”
One suggestion made by the group, is the speculation that a covenant might involve some ceding of jurisdiction by Provinces to a new central body, or indeed to Dr Rowan Williams, the head of the Church of England.
There is still a long path to travel for a Covenant to become reality, as the proposals face strong opposition, particularly among liberals in the West. However, hope for the Covenant is seen from the Global South, which expressed its support during a 2005 meeting in Egypt of Anglican Leaders.
