Covenant and Communion Resolutions of ACNA Provincial Council

The Provincial Council of the about to be formed Anglican Church in North America has passed two resolutions on Covenant matters:

"Resolved, under provisions of Canon I.1.1 of the Constitution and Canons, the Provincial Council of the Anglican Church in North America expresses its readiness to adopt the proposed Anglican Communion Covenant (Ridley Cambridge Draft) at an appropriate future meeting of the Provincial Council."

All of which is to say they are standing at the head of the line to be another "church" not currently part of the Anglican Communion to be considered a member using the Anglican Covenant as the entry test. Nothing is said, of course, about the fact that,

"Our ultimate goal is a realignment of Anglicanism on North American soil committed to biblical faith and values, and driven by Gospel mission. We believe in the end this should be a “replacement” jurisdiction with confessional standards, maintaining the historic faith of our Communion, closely aligned with the majority of world Anglicanism." This from the Chapman Memo.

So they are ready to stand in like to be admitted, but the caveat is that the do so with the goal to replace The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada as the jurisdictions of the Communion already here.

"Further Resolved, that the Provincial Council of the Anglican Church in North America expresses its solidarity with the Communion Partner Bishops in North America in the hope that individual dioceses and other churches [Covenant 4.1.5] might be encouraged to adopt the Anglican Communion Covenant whether or not the Provinces of which they are a part have chosen to do so."

The Communion Partner Bishops paper, written by Mark McCall, was published when it was for several reasons, among them to provide just precisely this possibility as well as to shore up the argument that The Episcopal Church is not a hierarchical church. How nice of ACNA to come to their support.

According to BabyBlue there is a representative from the Diocese of South Carolina, whose bishop is a member of the Communion Partner Bishops group.

So the Provincial Council is making their connections and tidying up.