THE NON-JURIDICAL COVENANT: The Triumph of Symbol Over Substance, by Gary L'Hommedieu

http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=8713

[VirtueOnline] 26 Jul 2008--Bishop John W. Howe has been diligent in reporting to his clergy in Central Florida on the day to day events at Lambeth, sometimes detached and dispassionate, sometimes scarcely restraining his own sarcasm at the overtly political nature of this "conference".

Bishop Howe has lived up to his commitment to be fair in his own positions and administrative actions, in marked contrast to many of his episcopal peers who use "fairness" as an ideological weapon. In one of his recent reports he commented on a hearing of the "Windsor Continuation Group" and its "effort to produce an 'Anglican Covenant.'" He offered the following personal reflection on the proceedings: "If anyone thought we might be close to completing that task at this Lambeth Conference, I think s/he was quickly disabused of the notion."

No surprise there. While Bishop Howe didn't say it, it seems pretty obvious that the Lambeth Conference, along with the various Covenant task force meetings before and after, is designed to fix the Anglican Covenant in the limbo of unending "conversation".

One of the Bishop's comments was striking to say the least, in spite of the matter-of-fact tone of his reporting: "One of the predominant themes [of the Covenant hearing] from many (both TEC and others) was that we do not want a Covenant that can be used 'juridically' to expel, discipline, or exclude."

This sentiment of the "many" comes as no surprise. Many of us on the sidelines have assumed the Covenant was dead in the water, that it would never become anything more than a pro forma exercise, and that "signing" would never take place in a setting that was other than purely ceremonial, should such a Covenant even be completed. Certainly no Covenant would see the light of day that would challenge the Windsor non-compliant Provinces to adjust their behaviors and policies, even though precisely this challenge is the sole reason for both Windsor and the Covenant.

Windsor has been successfully domesticated. It cannot be permitted to offend the offending Provinces that made Windsor necessary to begin with.

The notion of an Anglican "covenant" has been laden with irony, if not outright absurdity, from the beginning. Only now do we come to see that absurdity is its sole function.