Dear Andre Waldo+, Will You Agree to This?

(4.2.5) The Standing Committee may request a Church to defer a controversial action. If a Church declines to defer such action, the Standing Committee may recommend to any Instrument of Communion relational consequences which may specify a provisional limitation of participation in, or suspension from, that Instrument until the completion of the process set out below.

(4.2.6) On the basis of advice received from the Anglican Consultative Council and the Primates’ Meeting, the Standing Committee may make a declaration that an action or decision is or would be “incompatible with the Covenant”.
(4.2.7) On the basis of the advice received, the Standing Committee shall make recommendations as to relational consequences which flow from an action incompatible with the Covenant. These recommendations may be addressed to the Churches of the Anglican Communion or to the Instruments of the Communion and address the extent to which the decision of any covenanting Church impairs or limits the communion between that Church and the other Churches of the Communion, and the practical consequences of such impairment or limitation. Each Church or each Instrument shall determine whether or not to accept such recommendations...

This is just one small subsection of a larger document that the Archbishop of Canterbury has asked our church to agree to sign. It is supposed to be more than a document, it is a written indication of the presence of an Anglican Covenant. Read the whole thing and decide for yourself.

Several questions for the Episcopal church come to mind. Does the General Convention have the authority to agree to this, or is this something the House of Bishops will be asked to address? If the House of Bishops does not agree, will the Communion Partner bishops agree on their own accord? Can individual dioceses agree?

WWWD(What Will Waldo Do)?

I would not have needed to ask that last question if Stockton Williams+, Neal Michelle+, or John Burwell+ had been elected bishop.

After you are finished reading the covenant, consider for a moment whether or not the Episcopal church wants to convene with all those fundamentalist Anglican churches out there, or does it want to go its own way?

"Tell me why everything turned around?
Packing up, shacking up, is all you wanna do
If I could baby I'd give you my world
Open up, everything's waiting for you
You can go your own way, go your own way
You can call it another lonely day
You can go your own way, go your own way" Fleetwood Mac