Executive Council set to discuss communiqué, Anglican covenant responses

Proposed statement, summary of draft covenant response lead June 14 agenda

By Nan Cobbey and Mary Frances Schjonberg, June 13, 2007

[Episcopal News Service] A task group of the Episcopal Church's Executive Council will propose June 14 that Council tell the Anglican Communion that no governing body other than General Convention can interpret Convention resolutions or agree to deny "future decisions by dioceses or General Convention."

A draft of the statement, titled "The Episcopal Church's Commitment to Common Life in Anglican Communion," says it "strongly affirm[s] this Church's desire to be in the fullest possible relationship with our Anglican sisters and brothers."

The draft would have the Council decline to participate in a so-called Pastoral Scheme proposed by the Primates of the Anglican Communion for dealing with some disaffected Episcopal Church dioceses. In March the House of Bishops said the plan "would be injurious to The Episcopal Church" and urged the Council to decline to participate.

The draft of the statement was released to Council members and staff the afternoon of June 13 at the Council's meeting in Parsippany, New Jersey. The draft, and three proposed accompanying resolutions, will be discussed by the entire Council June 14.

The statement was written by the EC008 Task Group, which was called for by the Council (via Resolution EC008) during its March 2-4 meeting in Portland, Oregon.

Also on June 14, Council will hear the report of a sub-committee of its International Concerns Committee (INC) summarizing comments solicited by a study guide aimed at helping the Episcopal Church respond to the draft version of a proposed Anglican Covenant.

Meetings of the Executive Council's INC, Administration and Finance (A&F), Congregations in Ministry (CIM), and National Concerns (NAC) committees took up most of the day on June 13. Those committees, along with the EC008 Task Group, will bring resolutions for the Council to consider during two plenary sessions on the meeting's last day, June 14. The Council began meeting June 11 in at the Sheraton hotel in Parsippany, New Jersey.

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