The immediate future of the Anglican Communion Covenant is now uncertain. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, hoped that by setting down some simple rules for the worldwide Anglican Communion he might prevent it breaking up.
Each of the forty-four Provinces, spread across one hundred and sixty five countries and more than eighty million people, were requested in December 2009 ‘to consider it for adoption according to their own internal procedures’.
Although the Scottish Episcopal Church has roots that are different, nearly all the Communion owes its origins to the Church of England and so the outcome of its internal procedures, as the Mother Church, carries great significance.
The Church of England’s General Synod accepted the Covenant and sent it to each of its forty-four dioceses for a decision - an unusual procedure in England more familiar to the Church of Scotland and its presbyteries. Only if a majority of the dioceses agreed to the Covent would it come back to the General Synod.
One by one Diocesan Synods have been meeting across England and now about three quarters have made their decision. By this past week some twenty-three have turned it down. And that’s more than half. General Synod rules say that without a majority the matter cannot return to the Synod during its lifetime. Synods last five years and this one expires in 2015.
The Scottish Episcopal Church is a Province of the Anglican Communion. So what is the Scottish Episcopal General Synod to do when it meets in June?
If homosexuality is the root cause of the Communion’s problems, the Church of England’s decision can be interpreted as saying it does not want the African churches holding sway on the issue. Under Primus Richard Holloway, the Scottish Episcopal Church was way ahead in its acceptance of its gay membership - but does the current leadership think the same?
The Secretary General of the Anglican Communion says ‘What next steps are taken by the Church of England is up to that Province. Consideration of the Covenant continues across the Anglican Communion and this was always expected to be a lengthy process. I look forward to all the reports of progress to date at the ACC-15 in New Zealand in November 2012’.