According to Simon at Thinking Anglicans, here and here, the Dioceses of Birmingham and Truro in the Church of England voted down the Anglican Covenant. The votes bring the total to four dioceses in England that have voted against the covenant. 23 dioceses, 50%, must vote FOR the covenant, or it dies.
Earlier, the Dioceses of Wakefield and St Edmundsbury & Ipswich voted against the covenant.
The Dioceses of Lichfield and Durham voted in favor of the covenant.
Lookin' good.
ReplyDeleteLapin, I am amazed. I hope the two latest indicate a trend. Wouldn't it be great if the measure didn't even make it to General Synod? I rather doubt that will happen, but at least the claims that the whole church wants the covenant will no longer be valid.
ReplyDeleteThe 80% anti-covenant vote unofficially reported from both the clergy and laity of the Truro diocese is, is correct, exceedingly encouraging.
ReplyDeleteFrom friends in England, I gather that Truro was something of a surprise. Folks over there are working double time to see that the diocesan synods get information which points to the problems with adopting the covenant, since the Church of England is sending out only pro-covenant papers.
ReplyDeleteThe "proclamation" of the DIVCCON conference (yet another acronym!) indicates pretty clearly that the Covenant might, in the hands of the Global South, serve as a knife for the Church of England's own throat.
ReplyDelete"We are convinced that no community without the living God at its centre is a true Commonwealth. Neither is a “Commonwealth of Nations” a true commonwealth if it does not stand for righteousness. In this regard, we were shocked by the recent statement from the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the Right Honourable David Cameron, to the effect that his Government would aid only those countries that adhere to “proper human rights”. It is clear that his true agenda is to force the normalization of homosexuality and gay marriage as a human right”. While acknowledging the sacred worth of every human being we reject this erroneous notion as contrary to God’s intention for humankind and harmful to those he claims to protect. Another implication of this is that the “Commonwealth of Nations” is still being treated as a body of unequal partners, where, because of economic status, some nations are still vulnerable to manipulation. We urge the Federal Government of Nigeria to resist any such intimidation on this matter."
Perennial trouble-maker Canon Dr Rev Chris Sugden is in prominent attendance at DIVCCON - scans 8 & 9 in this picture gallery.
ReplyDeleteWhy another acronym? Why not a conference of the Global South. Is this an entirely new group? Nevermind. I can't keep up with the alphabet soups already around.
ReplyDelete