The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, as Presidents of the General Synod, have submitted a Church of England Response to the draft Anglican Covenant published last year for discussion around the Anglican Communion.

All Anglican Provinces were invited to comment on the text prepared by the Covenant Design Group chaired by the Archbishop of the West Indies, the Most Revd Drexel Gomez. The Church of England's response follows a General Synod debate on the principle of an Anglican Covenant in July 2007, when the following motion was carried.

‘That this Synod:

(a)     affirm its willingness to engage positively with the unanimous recommendation of the Primates in February 2007 for a process designed to produce a covenant for the Anglican Communion;

(b)     note that such a process will only be concluded when any definitive text has been duly considered through the synodical processes of the provinces of the Communion; and

(c)     invite the Presidents, having consulted the House of Bishops and the Archbishops’ Council, to agree the terms of a considered response to the draft from the Covenant Design Group for submission to the Anglican Communion Office by the end of the year.’

The text of the response has been overseen by the House of Bishops’ Theological Group and builds on the earlier work of the Faith and Order Advisory Group. The draft response was discussed by the House of Bishops in October and by the Archbishops' Council in November.

The Covenant Design Group will be meeting at the end of January to consider all Provincial responses. A 'take note' debate on the Church of England response to the Anglican Covenant is planned for the General Synod in February 2008.

Editor’s note

The Church of England Response to the draft Anglican Covenant can be read on the web at: http://www.cofe.anglican.org/info/papers/angcommresp.rtf

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