Anglicans for Comprehensive Unity (Home) (original) (raw)

Welcome

Welcome to No Anglican Covenant. We invite you to explore this site, which we hope you will find both interesting and useful. Below, we answer some of the questions you are likely to have. Contact us if you have further questions or comments.

What is the Anglican Covenant?

All thirty-eight provinces (national and regional churches) of the Anglican Communion have been asked to adopt an agreement, the Anglican Covenant (or Anglican Communion Covenant), which sets out reputedly common doctrine and describes a process for dispute resolution among Communion churches. The idea for a covenant was proposed in the Windsor Report, which was written in the wake of a Canadian diocese�s authorizing a liturgy for the blessing of same-sex unions and an American diocese�s electing a partnered gay bishop. A brief introduction to the Covenant can be found here. To see where churches stand in the adoption process of the Covenant, click here.

Who are we, and why do we oppose the Covenant?

We are an international group of Anglicans, both lay and ordained, who are active in our respective churches and concerned about the future of Anglicanism. (Clickhere to read more about us.) We want an Anglican Communion comprising churches that are respectful of one another and are united in gospel mission. We have grave doubts that the Covenant will advance this vision. We believe that the drafters of the Anglican Covenant were motivated by a desire for uniformity, as they have favoured the use of coercion over the hard work of reconciliation. To see ten reasons why we think the Covenant is a bad idea, click here.

What is our view of Anglicanism?

We believe in an Anglicanism adapted to local needs and based on a shared heritage of worship, not on specific understandings of church doctrines to which all must subscribe. Our view of Anglicanism leads us to conclude that the Anglican Covenant is profoundly _un_-Anglican.

How can you help?

Together we can make a difference. Please click on the buttons below to (1) view our Facebook

page, (2) be added to our list of supporters, or (3) follow us on Twitter. You will be joining the campaign to stop the radical transformation of the Anglican Communion that the Covenant threatens to bring about.

What you can find on this site?

No Anglican Covenant is designed to educate Anglicans about the Anglican Covenant and to present the case against its adoption. The site includes useful material for those studying the Covenant or looking for resources to support the campaign against it. You can also find background material here and track the status of the adoption (or rejection) of the Covenant across the Communion. To read our Site Guide, clickhere.

New Short Introduction

to Covenant Available

London, July 19, 2011 � Seeing a need for a concise introduction to the Covenant, the No Anglican Covenant Coalition has issued �A Short Introduction to the Anglican Covenant.�

�A Short Introduction� is intended for duplication and distribution to Anglicans who need to know about the Covenant but who do not have the time or inclination to wade through the flood of history and commentary available on this Web site and elsewhere. As the Revd. Dr. Lesley Fellows, Moderator of the No Anglican Covenant Coalition put it, �This brief, plain‐language explanation is intended to help ordinary Anglicans worldwide to understand what is being proposed.�

�A Short Introduction� also attempts to give a more balanced view of the Covenant than is available elsewhere. As our Convenor for the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Revd. Canon Hugh Magee, has said, �Many people have complained that the official study material from the Anglican Communion Office has lacked balance and has failed to take seriously the concerns of Covenant critics.�

Read the Coalition�snews release about �A Short Introduction.� A one-page version of the new handout is available as a PDF file for letter-size orA4 paper. An more attractive two-page version is also available as a PDF file forletter-size or A4 paper.

Updates

Our accounting of the reception (or rejection) of the Covenant has been updated. New Zealand seems set to reject the Covenant. A majority of dioceses in England must approve the Covenant if it is to get a final up or down vote in the General Synod. Thus far, the votes are running 4�3 against adoption.

Mrs. Laura Sykes, editor of theLay Anglicana blog, has joined the No Anglican Covenant Coalition. (You can find all the members of the Coalition on our About page.) We are pleased to have Mrs. Sykes joining the organized opposition to the Anglican Covenant.

Two dioceses in Australia have voted against Covenant adoption. See our latest tally of votes on the covenant on ourBackground page.

The report of an Episcopal Church task force studying what the church should do with the Covenant has suggested a resolution stating that the Covenant cannot be adopted in its present form. We have added the report to our Resources page, as well as a negativeresolution from the church�s Diocese of California.

New Zealand diocese are largely voting against adoption. See the latest tally here.

We have added an unusualentry in our resources, essays from The Living Church that actually advocate adoption of the Covenant. Unlike most pro-covenant material, these essays are at least interesting.

�An Introduction to the Anglican Covenant Debate� from the Diocese of Oxford has been added to our resources listhere. The No Anglican Covenant is not happy with this document and has issued astatement andnews release about it.

We have enhanced our table tracking the adoption of the Anglican Covenant to make it easier to understand at a glance.

The Episcopal Church in the Philippines has apparently become the first church to reject the Anglican Covenant. See our blog post here.

The Coalition has released its own one-page summary of the Covenant that explains what it is, where it came from, and what its adoption could bring about. More information about �A Short Introduction to the Anglican Covenant� can be found in thestory above.

The Revd. Canon Alan T. Perry offers a spirited defense of that attribute of Communion churches that the Covenant would, its declarations notwithstanding, take away in �Provincial Autonomy,� which has been added to our Resources pagehere.

The No Anglican Covenant Coalition announced 6 July 2011 that Bishops John Saxbee and Peter Selby have been named Episcopal Patrons of the No Anglican Covenant Coalition. The Coalition news release can be found here.

A report from the Standing Commission on Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church has been recently released. It argues that extensive changes to church polity would be required if the Anglican Covenant is adopted by The Episcopal Church. It can be found on our Resources page here.