Anglican Communion News Service - Digest News

A laudable attempt to unite Anglicans is in danger of becoming a contract designed to cut off those who don’t conform, warns the Archbishop of Wales.

Church in Wales today, Dr Morgan said that, while he supported the principle of an Anglican Covenant, he could not endorse the proposed version currently on the table.

He fears the draft - under consideration by all churches in the Anglican worldwide community - will lead to one voice on controversial issues, such as homosexuality, which members would have to sign up to or leave.

While the Church of England has said it is willing to ‘engage positively’ with the recommendations, Dr Morgan believes a similar response from the Church in Wales would be seen as an acceptance not just of the concept of the Covenant, but also the draft version. He asked the Governing Body just to note the process taking place to produce a Covenant and invite the Welsh bishops to finalise a response.

Dr Morgan, who will fly to New Orleans tomorrow with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, for a pivotal meeting for the Anglican Church, said, “There is no doubt that things have got bitter in the Communion.

‘The original intention of a Covenant to affirm the bonds of affection, was good. The indications now are that many see it as a contract, a means of ensuring a uniform view on human sexuality enforceable by the threat of exclusion from the Communion if one does not conform. I certainly do not want to sign up to that kind of Covenant.’

He criticised the draft Covenant for seeming to put sexual morality interpreted in one particular way at the heart of what might cause exclusion from the Communion.

‘The Lambeth quadrilateral of scripture, creeds, sacraments and historic episcopate are no longer sufficient credentials for being an Anglican. A particular view of human sexuality is also required. That devalues scripture by restricting its moral values simply to what it might be saying about sexual relationships and turns the Bible into a kind of rule book where texts can be wrestled out of context.’

He also warned that the draft Covenant would interfere with the autonomy of the Anglican provinces, such as the Church in Wales.

‘There will be obvious constitutional implications for us as a Church because we may be asked to subject decisions to primates and this will alter the nature of the Church in Wales and its provincial autonomy. Our Constitution allows the Governing Body the authority to change our doctrine. If we pass a doctrine, which the primates think breaches the Covenant, we may face censure.’

Dr Morgan also criticised Anglican primates threatening to boycott the Lambeth Conference next year.

‘They are not willing to come to talk and deliberate with those who differ from them. That seems to me to deny the very nature of Anglicanism. The way some of the primates have behaved does not give me great hope of entrusting the interpretation and the implementation of the terms of the Covenant to them.’

He also warned that the draft Covenant might prevent theological change and innovation in the Anglican church.

‘The history of both Christianity and Anglicanism shows that what tends to happen is, that one part of the church innovates and the rest of the church eventually catches up. It happened in Anglicanism over the ordination of women. Some provinces did it and whilst keeping in dialogue and in communion with other provinces, nevertheless did not seek permission from them.’

The full text of Dr Morgan’s speech

Notes to Editors

• The Governing Body of the Church in Wales is meeting at the University of Wales, Lampeter, today (Sept 18) and tomorrow (Sept 19). It is attended by about 175 lay and clergy members.

• The Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, will leave the meeting tomorrow to fly to New Orleans to attend the House of Bishops of the US Episcopal Church with the Archbishop of Canterbury and fellow members of the Joint Standing Committee of the Primates of the Anglican Communion. It will be followed by a meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council.

• All provinces of the Anglican Church are being asked to respond to the draft text of the Anglican Covenant by the end of 2007. The final version of the Covenant will be sent to them after the Lambeth Conference 2008 for formal debate and response. The draft has been drawn up the Covenant Design Group, appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury on behalf of the Primates of the Anglican Communion.

• The call for an Anglican Covenant comes in the wake of a row within the church over homosexuality. The row was sparked by the consecration in 2004 of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire, USA, a divorced man living with his male partner, and the blessing of some same sex unions in the Diocese of New Westminster, Canada. Many Anglicans, including the Archbishop of Nigeria, Peter Akinola, argue that homosexuality is contrary to scripture and goes against the 1998 Lambeth Conference resolution which rejected ‘homosexual practice as incompatible with scripture’. In 2006, Martyn Minns was elected by the Church of Nigeria’s House of Bishops to serve as Missionary Bishop for a new orthodox Anglican presence in the western hemisphere called Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA). As a result of the row, neither Bishop Gene Robinson nor Bishop Martyn Minns have been invited to vote at the Lambeth Conference 2008.

Item from: The Church in Wales