Covenant Text Completed

From the Living Church (includes video of Rowan)-

The final text of the Anglican Communion covenant was released for formal consideration for adoption by the Communion’s provinces on Dec. 18. The Rev. Canon Dr. Kenneth Kearon, secretary general of the Anglican Communion, made the announcement (in a letter [PDF] addressed to “Primates, Moderators and Provincial Secretaries of the Anglican Communion”), saying that the presentation of the covenant to the provinces “represents an invitation to deepening of relationships among those provinces.”

“We have a long history of friendship, affinities and collaboration between provinces, dioceses, parishes and people across the globe, and we celebrate these manifold expressions of our oneness in Christ.” Canon Kearon wrote. “The covenant represents a further step in these relationships, building on and giving expression to the bonds of affection which shape our common life.”

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams offered a preview to the official release of the text via a video message on Dec. 18, saying he hopes that the covenant “will be adopted by as many provinces as possible.”

“In recent years in the Anglican family, we’ve discovered that our relations with each other as local churches have often been strained, that we haven’t learned to trust one another as perhaps we should, that we really need to build relationships, and we need to have a sense that we are responsible to one another and responsible for each other,” Archbishop Williams wrote. “In other words, what we need is something that will help us know where we stand together, and help us also intensify our fellowship and our trust. The covenant text sets out the basis on which the Anglican family works and prays and lives and hopes.”

The archbishop emphasized that “it’s quite important in this process to remember what the covenant is and what it isn’t,” noting in particular that “it’s not going to be a constitution, and it’s certainly not going to be a penal code for punishing people who don’t comply.”

Citing the fourth and final section of the covenant text, Archbishop Williams called it “the most controversial, because that’s where we spell out what happens if relationships fail or break down.”

More here-

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2009/12/18/anglican-covenant-final-draft-released