Albany Via Media

Policy on the Anglican Communion Covenant

The Vestry of Christ Church Episcopal, Hudson, New York, believes that the Anglican Communion Covenant is an improvident instrument. The issue is not how the instrument is expressed, though the Covenant lacks the grandeur of a constitution or the focus of a contract. The issue is the existence of the Covenant.

The Covenant is about the exercise of group power through bargaining and voting; it is not an instrument that encourages all Anglicans to come together and pray. It threatens to punish unorthodoxy; it does not promote healing.

Under the Covenant, the Anglican Communion could shun an Anglican church for standing by its views on contemporary social and leadership matters. Four hundred years ago, Queen Elizabeth I declined to inquire into worshipers' religious beliefs. Today the sacraments and the Prayer Book still unite us, and no other document should presume to divide us.

The Covenant would radically accelerate the customarily slow pace of adjustment in the Anglican Communion. The Covenant demands action in a few years, instead of waiting for changes of persons, experience, and accommodation to wear the edge from current disagreements.

While all concerned Episcopalians will watch developments within the Anglican Communion, Christ Church Episcopal would like the Diocese of Albany to postpone indefinitely the consideration of the instrument called the Anglican Communion Covenant.

Adopted unanimously by the Vestry, May 8, 2010