Monday, November 7, 2011

Maori reject Anglican covenant


From New Zealand-

A proposed Anglican Communion covenant that might have been used to discipline churches which ordain gay bishops and priests has been rejected by the Maori Anglican church.

Members of Te Runanganui o te Pihopatanga of Aotearoa (the Maori Anglican Church) gathered at Te Papa-i-o-uru Marae, Ohinemutu, in Rotorua at the end of last week for a biennial meeting at which the covenant was discussed.

The covenant idea surfaced following the 1994 ordination of an openly gay bishop by the American Episcopal church.

That sparked the biggest convulsions the Anglican Communion has seen in recent years.

In the face of that uproar, The Archbishop of Canterbury set up a commission to look at ways that the Anglican Communion could stay together in the face of conflicts.

The New Zealand church's media officer Lloyd Ashton said one of the ideas that commission came up with was an Anglican Covenant. He said the covenant was proposed as something that Anglicans the world over could agree on, that would bind them together, that prescribed a way of resolving conflicts - and which spelt out disciplinary procedures if a province was found to be "acting up".

more here-

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10764379

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