From The Living Church-
Two members of the Communion Partners rectors advisory committee say the group is striving to be an irenic voice as the Episcopal Church discusses the Anglican Communion’s proposed covenant.
“We aim to be constructive in relationships between orthodox clergy and their bishops whose theology may not be the same,” said the Rev. Leigh Spruill, rector of St. George’s Church, Nashville.
Communion Partners has begun filling the void left by congregations and dioceses affiliated with the Anglican Communion Network, but it is cautious about becoming another political force within the Episcopal Church.
“We’re trying to find a better way than the political structures that have arisen in response to volatile issues,” said the Rt. Rev. Anthony Burton, former bishop of Saskatchewan and rector of Church of the Incarnation, Dallas.
Both rectors believe the group’s most recent statement, released on Sept. 11, reinforces its stated mission of being “an important sign of our connectedness in and vision for the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.”
“It’s a hand waving across the seas, signaling that we want to remain faithful to the Anglican Communion,” Fr. Spruill said.
“Anglicanism is undergoing what is potentially an exciting evolution in its polity,” Bishop Burton said. “It is finding itself led to become a genuinely global church. I think we need to tend, carefully and together, to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”
Bishop Burton became affiliated with the embryonic stages of Communion Partners in September 2006, when he joined more than 20 other bishops for a meeting at the Camp Allen Conference Center in Navasota, Texas. Most of those bishops helped form Communion Partners, and more than 70 rectors have since signed on as well.
“It’s a theologically serious voice, it’s a tolerant voice, and it’s one that seeks to be accountable to others,” Bishop Burton said. “Ecumenically, it’s important to send a loud and clear signal that Episcopalians are both humble and responsible, and we don’t have any doctrine of manifest destiny.”
http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2009/9/16/rectors-strive-to-be-theologically-serious-voice
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