As promised in the previous post, my first one, I present my draft resolution asking that The Episcopal Church make a voluntary withdrawal from the Anglican Communion. I envision presenting this at the diocesan convention of North Carolina in January of 2011. If it passes, it would then go on to the General Convention in 2012. Do I think it will pass? Probably only if things heat up more and get even uglier. Time will tell.


Whereas in response to disagreements and controversies in the worldwide Anglican Communion an Anglican Covenant has been drawn up and is being presented to the various provinces of the Anglican Communion for adoption as a basis for unity and intercommunion;

And Whereas the covenant proposes a more centralized structure for the unity of the Anglican Communion which gives the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Primates power to interfere in the internal affairs of the autonomous provinces of the communion, including punitive sanctions in section 4;

And whereas this violates the autonomy by which the provinces of the communion have historically governed themselves in the light of the needs and mission imperatives of their own region and culture;

And Whereas the Archbishop of Canterbury, in advance of the adoption of the Anglican Covenant, has begun to exercise punitive sanctions against the Episcopal Church for decisions made in accordance with the Constitution and Canons of said church,

Be it resolved that the Diocese of North Carolina gathered in convention asks the Seventy-Sixth General Convention of the Episcopal Church, meeting in 2012, to reject the Anglican Covenant in its current draft;

Be it further resolved that the Diocese of North Carolina respectfully requests that the General Convention of the Episcopal Church voluntarily withdraw The Episcopal Church from the Anglican Communion should the Anglican Covenant be adopted by a majority of the provinces of the Anglican Communion or should the Archbishop of Canterbury continue to impose sanctions against the Episcopal Church;

And finally be it resolved that this Episcopal Church, valuing its historic relationships with the various provinces of the Anglican Communion, negotiate individual intercommunion agreements with those provinces of the said communion which are willing to do so based up a common commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord of the Church and the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral as the only necessary and sufficient basis for intercommunion.