The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has given his backing to a deal intended to prevent a split between the Church’s traditionalist and liberal wings, by effectively preventing openly gay clergy from becoming bishops.
However, last night the proposed Anglican Covenant stood on the brink of failure, after worshippers and clergy rejected it in votes up and down England. Two bishops voted against it.
Supporters of Dr Williams said that a defeat would be a “devastating” blow to him after he staked so much of his authority on the Covenant.
When Dr Williams unveiled the document in 2010, he urged the church to endorse it or risk seeing the “piece-by-piece dissolution” of the Anglican Communion.
The Bishop of Sherborne, the Rt Rev Dr Graham Kings, warned that rejection of the Covenant would cause the worldwide church to “disintegrate”, and added: “Rowan Williams has put his whole weight behind this ... For anyone in his position it would be devastating [if it failed].”
In 2003, a split in the church emerged when Gene Robinson was appointed as the first openly gay Anglican bishop, elected by the liberal-leaning Episcopal Church in the US.
Conservative clergy, including Anglican leaders in Africa, protested against the move, leading Dr Williams to set up a commission to find ways to heal the divisions.
The 2004 Windsor Report recommended that ties between Anglican churches around the world should be made “explicit and forceful”.
The Covenant, drafted in 2009, does not deal explicitly with the question of gay bishops, but says branches should take into account the views of the wider Anglican church when doing anything that “may provoke controversy”.
Under the proposed regime, a branch of the church that breached the rules could suffer sanctions, including suspension from Church bodies.
Branches of the Anglican church around the world are considering whether the Covenant should be adopted.
In the Church of England it requires the approval of a majority of the 44 dioceses in order to proceed to a final vote at the General Synod.
However, by last night, 13 dioceses had voted against it, with only eight in favour. More votes will be held in coming weeks. Opposition is being led by figures on the Church’s liberal wing. They say the Covenant would penalise branches of the Church which have adopted liberal positions.
Dr Kings said: “If we don’t pass the Covenant we will disintegrate into a vortex of more splits and more fragmentation. It’s between increasing fragmentation or intensifying our relationships - that’s the choice.
“The ridiculous situation we could be in if it doesn’t go through the dioceses is that the Communion could agree to the Covenant while the Church of England doesn’t.”
Another supporter, the Rt Rev Robert Paterson, Bishop of Sodor and Man, said a defeat of the Covenant should not be seen as a personal rebuke to Dr Williams, who has been “thrust” into an “impossible” position.
Opponents argue that the Covenant would penalise branches of the church which have adopted liberal positions on sexuality.
The Bishop of Salisbury, the Right Rev Nicholas Holtam, who last month became the first senior cleric to publicly support gay marriage, said of the Covenant: “I have thought long and hard about my own position which, as a matter of public record prior to my appointment as bishop, is against.”
He told his diocesan synod: “It seems to me that the Covenant will indeed create a different set of relationships in the Communion but that this will on balance be unhelpful and un-Anglican, like a piece of unshrunk cloth sewn on to an old cloak.”
Sir Diarmaid MacCulloch, professor of the history of the Church at Oxford University, described the Covenant as a “witch hunt” against the US and Canadian Churches.
Conservative clergy, including Anglican leaders in Africa, protested against the move, leading Dr Williams to set up a commission to find ways to heal the divisions.
The 2004 Windsor Report recommended that ties between Anglican churches around the world should be made “explicit and forceful”.
The Covenant, drafted in 2009, does not deal explicitly with the question of gay bishops, but says branches should take into account the views of the wider Anglican church when doing anything that “may provoke controversy”.
Under the proposed regime, a branch of the church that breached the rules could suffer sanctions, including suspension from Church bodies.
Branches of the Anglican church around the world are considering whether the Covenant should be adopted.
In the Church of England it requires the approval of a majority of the 44 dioceses in order to proceed to a final vote at the General Synod.
However, by last night, 13 dioceses had voted against it, with only eight in favour. More votes will be held in coming weeks. Opposition is being led by figures on the Church’s liberal wing. They say the Covenant would penalise branches of the Church which have adopted liberal positions.
Dr Kings said: “If we don’t pass the Covenant we will disintegrate into a vortex of more splits and more fragmentation. It’s between increasing fragmentation or intensifying our relationships - that’s the choice.
“The ridiculous situation we could be in if it doesn’t go through the dioceses is that the Communion could agree to the Covenant while the Church of England doesn’t.”
Another supporter, the Rt Rev Robert Paterson, Bishop of Sodor and Man, said a defeat of the Covenant should not be seen as a personal rebuke to Dr Williams, who has been “thrust” into an “impossible” position.
Opponents argue that the Covenant would penalise branches of the church which have adopted liberal positions on sexuality.
The Bishop of Salisbury, the Right Rev Nicholas Holtam, who last month became the first senior cleric to publicly support gay marriage, said of the Covenant: “I have thought long and hard about my own position which, as a matter of public record prior to my appointment as bishop, is against.”
He told his diocesan synod: “It seems to me that the Covenant will indeed create a different set of relationships in the Communion but that this will on balance be unhelpful and un-Anglican, like a piece of unshrunk cloth sewn on to an old cloak.”
Sir Diarmaid MacCulloch, professor of the history of the Church at Oxford University, described the Covenant as a “witch hunt” against the US and Canadian Churches.
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