House of Deputies president asks deputies to discuss covenant draft
Episcopal News Service. April 21, 2008 [042108-02]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
Episcopal Church House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson has asked diocesan General Convention deputations to find ways to comment to their bishops about the second draft of the proposed Anglican covenant.
Anderson made her request in an April 21 letter emailed to all deputies and first alternate deputies. The full text of the letter is below.
"We are told that the bishops at the Lambeth Conference will not be making a decision on the Anglican covenant, nor will they be ratifying any draft of the covenant," Anderson wrote, reminding deputies that "the only body with authority to commit the Episcopal Church to an Anglican covenant is the General Convention in which bishops, priests and deacons and lay persons share authority."
Thus, she wrote, "the input of the clergy and laity of the Episcopal Church is especially important as the Anglican Communion considers the development of a covenant."
"In the Episcopal Church the belief that God speaks uniquely through bishops, laity, priests and deacons, enables our participatory structure and allows a fullness of revelation and insight that must not be lost in this important time of discernment," Anderson wrote. "The joint work of the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops is the highest institutional expression of this belief. It is thus crucially important that our bishops go to Lambeth with a sense of where their General Convention deputations (and their diocese) are with respect to the current state of the Anglican covenant."
Anderson asked that the deputations gather to discuss the second draft of the covenant and "involve your bishop in your conclusions." She suggested using a study guide developed in February by a work group of the Executive Council's International Concerns Standing Committee (INC) for the so-called St. Andrews Draft.
"Perhaps your bishop might join you in these discussions," Anderson wrote.
In any event, Anderson asked that deputies document their discussions for their diocesan bishops and for the General Convention office at the Church Center in New York City "so that they may be available to the Executive Council who is tasked with following the development of the Anglican covenant."
Finally, she asked that deputies "consider establishing a regular prayer discipline during the Lambeth Conference (July 10-August 3) and ask your diocese to join you in prayer during this time."
Covenant background
The idea for an Anglican covenant came from the Windsor Report (paragraphs 113-120). The report was published in October 2004 after a year's deliberations by the Lambeth Commission on Communion, a group appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury to explore ways the Communion could maintain unity amid differing viewpoints.
The 75th General Convention, which met in Columbus, Ohio, in June 2006, passed Resolution A166 which directed the International Concerns Committee of the Executive Council and the Episcopal Church's members of the Anglican Consultative Council to follow the development processes of an Anglican covenant, and report regularly to Council and the 76th General Convention.
The communion's Covenant Design Group gave a preliminary report to the Primates Meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in February 2007. That report included the first draft of a proposed covenant, which is now being called the Nassau Draft. The Primates asked for comments on the Nassau Draft from each province by the end of 2007.
Members of the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops discussed the Nassau Draft at their March 2007 meeting.
The Executive Council gave the Episcopal Church's official response to the Nassau Draft in October 2007.
The Covenant Design Group met again at the end of January 2008, and produced a second report and draft -- the St. Andrew's Draft -- which took into account many of the comments made about the Nassau Draft.
The House of Bishops has not commented formally on either draft.
The full text of Anderson's letter follows.
The 75th General Convention of The Episcopal Church passed and concurred Resolution A166 "as a demonstration of our commitment to mutual responsibility and interdependence in the Anglican Communion, support the process of the development of an Anglican covenant that underscores our unity in faith, order, and common life in the service of God's mission." You will find the full text of the resolution below.
The second draft of the covenant, known as the "St. Andrew's Draft," has been developed and released. It will be discussed at the Lambeth Conference this summer by our bishops and other bishops of the Anglican Communion who will be present at the conference. The bishops gathered will have the opportunity to share their thoughts and responses on the covenant with each other and with members of the Covenant Design Group.
It is important to stress that we are told that the bishops at the Lambeth Conference will not be making a decision on the Anglican covenant, nor will they be ratifying any draft of the covenant. The only body with authority to commit the Episcopal Church to an Anglican covenant is the General Convention in which bishops, priests and deacons and lay persons share authority.
The input of the clergy and laity of the Episcopal Church is especially important as the Anglican Communion considers the development of a covenant. In the Episcopal Church the belief that God speaks uniquely through bishops, laity, priests and deacons, enables our participatory structure and allows a fullness of revelation and insight that must not be lost in this important time of discernment. The joint work of the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops is the institutional expression of this belief.
It is thus crucially important that our bishops go to Lambeth with a sense of where their General Convention deputations (and their diocese) are with respect to the current state of the Anglican covenant.
So that our bishops may carry with them to Lambeth the comments of the laity and clergy of The Episcopal Church, I ask that you do three things:
Please gather your deputation to review and discuss the St. Andrew's Draft of the proposed Anglican covenant and involve your bishop in your conclusions. Attached is a "Study Resource" developed by the Executive Council to assist with your deliberations. Perhaps your bishop might join you in these discussions.
Please document the comments you give to your diocesan bishop for use in the covenant discussions at Lambeth and send an electronic copy of your comments to gcoffice@episcopalchurch.org so that they may be available to the Executive Council who is tasked with following the development of the Anglican covenant.
Please consider establishing a regular prayer discipline during the Lambeth Conference (July 10-August 3) and with your bishop, ask your diocese to join you in prayer during this time.
Thank you, in advance, for your response to this request. Please let me know if I may be of assistance to you in any way.
You and all the members of the House of Deputies are in my thoughts and prayers.
Peace,
Bonnie Anderson, President
The House of Deputies
Resolution A166: Anglican Covenant Development Process
Resolved, That the 75th General Convention of The Episcopal Church, as a demonstration of our commitment to mutual responsibility and interdependence in the Anglican Communion, support the process of the development of an Anglican Covenant that underscores our unity in faith, order, and common life in the service of God's mission; and be it further Resolved, That the 75th General Convention direct the International Concerns Standing Committee of the Executive Council and The Episcopal Church's members of the Anglican Consultative Council to follow the development processes of an Anglican Covenant in the Communion, and report regularly to the Executive Council as well as to the 76th General Convention; and be it further Resolved, That the 75th General Convention report these actions supporting the Anglican Covenant development process, noting such missiological and theological resources as the Standing Commission on World Mission and the House of Bishops' Theology Committee to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Joint Standing Committee of the Anglican Consultative Council and the Primates, and the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion; and that the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church report the same to the Primates of the churches of the Anglican Communion.