CURRENT TEXT

Resolution C027

Title:   Reaffirm Membership in Anglican Communion

Topic:   Anglican Communion

Committee:   Special Legislative Committee

House of Initial Action:   Bishops

Proposer:   Province VII

Resolved, the House of _____ concurring, That this synod of the dioceses comprising Province VII of the Episcopal Church, meeting in Dallas, Texas, on October 1, 2005, memorializes the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church to reaffirm its constitutional obligation to be a constituent member of the Anglican Communion, in communion with the See of Canterbury, and to respond positively to the findings and recommendation of the 2004 Windsor Report.
 


EXPLANATION

Three of the four Instruments of Unity in the Anglican Communion (the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primates, and the Anglican Consultative Counsel) have counseled the Episcopal Church to accept the responsibilities of communion as spelled out in the Windsor Report.  There is every reason to expect that the fourth Instrument, the Lambeth Conference, will insist on its implementation as a condition of communion.  The Episcopal Church's place within the Anglican Communion and its relationship with the See of Canterbury is essential to its own existence:  the Preamble to the Constitution and Canons of E.C.U.S.A. declares that we are a "constituent member" of the worldwide Anglican Communion, an intention that has been a foundation of our life from the beginning (see the Preface of the 1789 Book of Common Prayer and restated in the 1892, 1928, and 1979 Books of Common Prayer [quoted in 1979 BCP, p. 11].  The member dioceses of Province VII urge the General Convention to recognize the very real possibility and danger of "Walking Apart" (Windsor Report, p. 157).