Anglican Head Encourages Provinces to Approve New Covenant

Sun, Dec. 20 2009
By Joshua A. Goldberg
Christian Post Reporter

LONDON – Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams has advised the Anglican Communion's 34 provinces to approve a document aimed at preventing a split in the global church body.

While the draft Anglican Covenant sent out to provinces for consideration this past week sets out a framework for dealing with conflicts among the provinces, it is not, as the archbishop put it, a "penal code" by which to punish provinces that do not tow the line.

"It's not going to solve all our problems, it's not going to be a constitution, and it's certainly not going to be a penal code for punishing people who don't comply," stated Williams, who stands as the spiritual head of the 77-million-large Anglican Communion.

Instead, the covenant offers a way of discerning the nature of any disagreements and whether they were a "Communion-breaking issue." the rest