Anglicans Vote On Creating Faith Statement Amid Great Tension
The Church of England's ruling body agreed on Sunday to draw up a disciplinary covenant intended to foster unity within the worldwide Anglican Communion amid rising tension.
The General Synod, in a July 6-10 meeting in York, voted in favor of proceeding with the Anglican Communion Covenant process which aims to create a faith statement and settle disputes within the 77 million-member body.
"In a situation which is becoming increasingly overheated, we need to hear a voice of calm," said Archbishop of the West Indies, the Most Rev. Drexel Gomez, on Sunday. "We need to identify the fundamentals that we share in common, and to state the common basis on which our mutual trust can be rebuilt."
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Gomez is chairing the Anglican Communion Covenant Design Group which was appointed earlier this year by the Archbishop of Canterbury - spiritual leader of the Communion - to articulate the common foundations of Anglican belief, particularly on the issue of homosexuality and how member churches and provinces should manage related disputes. The covenant is also intended to set out principles that bind the worldwide body.
While a draft version has already been drawn up, Gomez urged the synod earlier on Sunday to proceed with a formal draft of the proposed code of belief, saying it is needed because of the risk that the Anglican Communion will fall apart, according to UK's The Guardian newspaper.
"[T]here is less trust now between different parties and different provinces than there has been for a long time. Everyone claims to be the defender of the true spirit of Anglicanism and to describe that spirit as orthodox, mainstream, comprehensive or inclusive," he said, as reported by The Guardian.
The Anglican Communion is believed to be on the brink of schism and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has said he is not absolutely confident the Anglicans can get it together.
Divisions within the global body deepened in 2003 when The Episcopal Church - the U.S. branch of Anglicanism - consecrated an openly gay bishop. Conservative Anglican leaders say The Episcopal Church has departed from Christian orthodoxy and Anglican tradition and have called for true repentance and the expression of regret for the American body's controversial actions. But Episcopal leaders have stated they will not go "backward" on their 2003 decision.
"Unless we can make a fresh statement clearly and basically of what holds us together we are destined to grow apart," said Gomez, according to BBC News. "Do we Anglicans have a clear and shared identity? It is a question that our ecumenical partners are increasingly asking us.
"I believe that the covenant can only succeed if it accurately describes a sufficient basis to hold us together and for us to want to stay together, based on what we already hold and believe."
During a three-hour debate on Sunday, the synod rejected a motion proposed by Tim Cox from the Diocese of Bradford who called for the rejection of the draft Covenant and instead a simpler declaration upholding "the biblical teaching that sexual intercourse belongs solely within the lifelong commitment of a man and a woman in marriage."
The synod voted as high as two to one in favor of the motion to engage "positively" with the Covenant, a motion put forward by the Bishop of Chichester, the Rt. Rev. John Hind.
