Joint Assembly - Day Two

Thus far, all the sessions have been joint sessions with our Lutheran brothers and sisters. I've tweeted several comments and at least one picture from the day.

The other piece of business I have been involved with is the resolutions committee.  We met this morning to priorize the resolutions and to identify those to be assigned to the no debate list.  The Council of General Synod resolution regarding the Anglican Covenant has been allocated 45 minutes, and a recommendation has been made that the Synod resolve into committee of the whole in order to accommodate a wider discussion of the Covenant rather than merely the strict terms of the resolution.

From the No Anglican Covenant Coalition perspective, the resolution isn't entirely satisfactory.  Like the Episcopal Church last year, the Proposal is to punt the issue further down the road. One might argue, ironically, that the net effect is the same regardless of whether the resolution is passed or defeated.  If passed, discussions continue until 2016 and another resolution would be presented to the next General Synod. If it is defeated, it would be politically untenable for the Council of General Synod to take any action on the Covenant in advance of the 2016 General Synod.

However, the resolution does direct the Council to take certain actions to continue the discussion. It has been argued that the defeat of the motion would mean Council has no authority to do anything to advance the process and no obligation to present any resolution at all to the 2016 session on this issue.  Further discussion with the rest of the Coalition is needed before the scheduled debate on Friday, but it seems to me the best position for us is to argue for a "no" vote. This would, I argue, put us in a similar position to the Church of England - a de facto (if not strictly de jure) rejection of the proposed Anglican Covenant.

A supply of the Coalition's "Yes to Communion - No to Covenant" buttons has arrived - after accidentally having arrived at the wrong hotel.

I'm late getting to bed tonight, and I have an early breakfast with our diocesan delegation, so that's enough for now.