Episcopal Church General Convention - Day 7 (Late)

I really should have blogged about this last night, but we were busily sorting our the official Coalition response to events.  We clearly got what we wanted in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia.  The final result in the Episcopal Church obviously fell short of the clear "no" we desired, yet the final resolution praises with such faint damnation that it is hardly a win for the Covenanters.

As a result, our official response (issued less than two hours ago) essentially claims victory. We got 100 percent of what we wanted from ACANZAP and 80 percent of what we wanted from TEC.  Not bad results, overall.

I especially want to draw your attention to the final paragraph of my statement:

The next major step in the Covenant process will be at the Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Auckland, New Zealand, this fall. We understand that there will be an attempt to introduce a ratification threshold and a sunset date to the Covenant process. Depending on the details, our Coalition is likely to be broadly supportive of both initiatives.

The lack of a ratification threshold has been remarked on by several commentators, and is one of the most glaring examples of just what a hot mess this proposed Anglican Covenant really is.  It has been said that Section 4 was a collaboration between a lawyer and a theologian.  The problem is that the lawyer wrote the theological bits while the theologian wrote the legal bits.

If we look at a ratification threshold in the order of two-thirds of Provinces and a sunset deadline of ACC 16, then anything short of a "yes" becomes an effective "no" and the Covenant's days will truly be numbered.