From Episcopal Life Online-
Over the next few years, the provinces of the Anglican Communion will receive and study an invitation to deeper relationship through a formal covenant. The text (with a few procedural items still being edited) may be found online at the website of the Anglican Communion Office.
For our upcoming General Convention, I am a co-sponsor of a resolution, D020, titled "Provisional Acceptance of the Anglican Covenant." It builds on the foundation of two resolutions adopted by the last General Convention in 2006.
Resolution A159 affirmed the commitment of the Episcopal Church to the interdependent life of the Anglican Communion and our desire to live with our brother and sister Anglican churches in "the highest degree of communion possible." Resolution A166 affirmed the commitment of our church to participation in the development of an Anglican covenant.
The 2006 convention also (resolution A160) expressed regret that "our failure to accord sufficient importance to the impact of our actions on our church and other parts of the communion" has "strained" the "bonds of affection" in the communion.
This year, D020 commends the Anglican covenant to our dioceses for study in the next triennium and asks for the creation of a special task force to consider what modifications of our Constitution and Canons might be required if the Episcopal Church were to adopt it.
Importantly, the resolution asks that as we study and discuss the covenant over the next three years, we make a voluntary commitment to live to the highest degree possible in accordance with both its spirit and its guidelines for collaborative life in the communion.
Which is to say—and this is the source of our resolution's title--that during this time of discernment we engage voluntarily, "provisionally," in the deeper patterns of mutuality, of communion-wide conversation and consultation envisioned by the covenant, showing thoughtful restraint when considering any action that might further strain relationships and complicate a decision to endorse and adopt the covenant in 2012.
More here-
http://www.episcopal-life.org/80050_111233_ENG_HTM.htm
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