Updated Thursday morning to include more details of the motion and amendments and further press reports
Stephen Bates in The Guardian Church of England keeps distance from breakaway US conservative Episcopalians
Jerome Taylor in The Independent Church sidesteps gay issue at Synod debate
Avril Ormsby at Reuters UK Church stops short of communion with U.S. conservatives
For the record, the original motion proposed by Lorna Ashworth was
That this Synod express the desire that the Church of England be in communion with the Anglican Church in North America.
Synod amended this to
That this Synod
(a) aware of the distress caused by recent divisions within the Anglican churches of the United States of America and Canada;
(b) recognise and affirm the desire of those who have formed the Anglican Church in North America to remain within the Anglican family;
(c) acknowledge that this aspiration, in respect both of relations with the Church of England and membership of the Anglican Communion, raises issues which the relevant authorities of each need to explore further; and
(d) invite the Archbishops to report further to the Synod in 2011.
The amended motion was largely the proposal of the bishop of Bristol, on behalf of the House of Bishops, but paragraph (a) was added on a proposal from the Revd Andrew Dow (diocese of Gloucester).
The amended motion was carried by 309 votes in favour to 69 against, with 17 recorded abstentions.
There was an attempt to amend the motion to read:
That this Synod
(a) express the desire that the Church of England be in communion with the Anglican Church in North America;
(b) recognise and affirm the desire of those who have formed the Anglican Church in North America to remain within the Anglican family;
(c) acknowledge these aspirations, in respect both of relations with the Church of England and membership of the Anglican Communion, raise issues which the relevant authorities of each need to explore further; and
(d) invite the Archbishops to report further to the Synod in 2011.
This was defeated by 166 votes in favour to 223 against with 2 recorded abstentions.
During the debate there were two procedural motions, one to move to next business and one to adjourn the debate, but both were defeated. If carried either would have brought the debate to an immediate end without a vote.
The amended measure is a clear improvement, so far as ACNA proving itself over time in global Anglican community, still nominally big tent more than small tent? The covenant is still yet, Not. For one thing, ACNA has not yet ably demonstrated that it is either willing or able to be a good Anglican citizen, instead of being the pseudo-good-neighbor Anglican sort who pretends to be a good neighbor while insisting underneath that if everybody is not exactly conservatively conformed, then anything goes. Ditto, for groups like Reform, AngMain and others whose behavior clearly suggests that collapsing global big tents… Read more »
Rancid, lukewarm (Rev. 3:16) fudge. Blech! }-0<<
“The General Synod – the church’s parliament, meeting in london – passed a motion recognising the breakawy goup’s (ACNA’s) desire to remain Anglicans but declined to promise to ally with them in their ongoing wrangles with the mainstream US Church” – Stephen Bates, The Guardian – Apart from his neglect to mention the Anglican Church of Canada as part of the ongoing saga, Stephen Bates sums up the result quite well. Listening to the debate, it was interesting that Bishop Mike Hill’s (+Bristol) amendment to the motion survived other prospective amendments that would have further exarcerbated the problem ACNA’s bid… Read more »
Jerome Taylor in the Independent gets it totally wrong.
An exercise in making something read like something, but examine it and it is virtually meaningless. It is a lesson to the proposer of the initial wrecking amendment: next time, be more subtle.
Better than the thieving weasels deserve.
That’s funny, Father Ron Smith, I thought I mentioned the Canadians several times in the piece….
Dave Paisley wrote: “Better than the thieving weasels deserve.” Amen, brother. Besides, it really is nauseating that there were not enough good people committed to truth, and willing to differentiate the fantasies of the ACNA crowd as presented in the PMM, that they would not have dismissed those contentions as part of any response. After all, once could “recognise and affirm the desire of those who have formed the Anglican Church in North America to remain within the Anglican family;” while still demanding adherence to objectivity, and while still rejecting utter hyperbole (and lies). Why was that so difficult to… Read more »
Fr. Smith:
Indeed, it will be a long road of acceptance, but the threats to CofE remain. Elsewhere, we read of someone who hinted at more border crossings on another site–before his comment was taken down.
Stehen Bates. Yes, I’m sorry Stephen, you may have mentioned the Anglican Church of Canada elswhere in your article, but in the specific sentence of yours which I quoted, you ommitted them as being also part of the ‘ongoing wrangles’ with ACNA. You will perhaps pardon a mere cleric for suggesting that perhaps you could have said that the Wrangling of ACNA was with the Churches of North America. This would have included Canada. Sorry for my pedantic maundering, Stephen. I did enjoy your article. Not only was it very good, it was also rather more objective than anything I’ve… Read more »
That’s funny, Father Ron Smith, I thought I mentioned the Canadians several times in the piece….