“Each Church commits itself to respect the constitutional autonomy of all the Churches of the Anglican Communion, while upholding our mutual responsibility and interdependence in the Body of Christ, and the responsibility of each to the Communion as a whole.”

These words, from section three of the proposed Anglican Communion Covenant, state in essence the purpose and desire of the proposed action of the covenants adoption.

The proposed Anglican Covenant was sent for formal consideration to the 38 global Anglican provinces in December 2009. The Archbishop of Canterbury stated, “The covenant text sets out the basis on which the Anglican family works and prays and lives and hopes. The bulk of the text identifies what we hold in common.”

The text contains a fourth section regarding disruption in the life of the Communion and dispute resolution. The Covenant drafting working group noted that it “has taken very seriously the representations of a number of Provinces that this section should avoid a punitive or juridic tone, that it should emphasize relational and communion aspects.” Archbishop Rowan Williams added, “It (the fourth section) doesn’t set out … a procedure for punishments and sanctions. It does try and sort out how we will discern the nature of our disagreement, how important is it? ... And so in these sections of the covenant what we’re trying to do is simply to give a practical, sensible and Christian way of dealing with our conflicts, recognizing that they’re always going to be there.”

The secretary general of the Anglican Communion, the Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, released a letter sent to the primates and other leaders of the 38 Anglican Communion provinces regarding the final text of the proposed Anglican Covenant. In it he noted, “I am sending this text only to the member Churches of the Anglican Consultative Council for consideration and decision on acceptance or adoption.” I recommend and encourage you to read it as it offers a concise historical summary of the development of the Anglican Covenant.

This letter and the full text of the Covenant are available on www.anglicancommunion.org.

The Episcopal Church and the other constituent members of the Anglican Communion will now begin their specific legislative processes to discuss, explore, debate and consider the adoption of the Anglican Covenant. This process will, I believe, put consideration of the Covenant before General Convention in 2012.

I encourage members within the Diocese of Southwest Florida as individuals, study groups, vestries, adult forums and congregations to read, study and discuss the proposed Anglican Covenant.

This comes with my prayers and affection for you in this new year.