Thinking Anglicans

Episcopal Patrons for No Anglican Covenant Coalition

Coalition Appoints Episcopal Patrons

NEWS RELEASE
JULY 6, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BISHOPS JOHN SAXBEE, PETER SELBY TO BE PATRONS OF NO ANGLICAN COVENANT COALITION

LONDON – The Right Reverend Dr John Saxbee and the Right Reverend Dr Peter Selby have been appointed Episcopal Patrons of the international No Anglican Covenant Coalition.

“The Anglican Communion doesn’t need a Covenant because Anglicanism is a Covenant, predicated on grace and goodwill,” Dr Saxbee said. “If there is grace and goodwill, a Covenant is unnecessary. If there is no grace or goodwill, a Covenant will be unavailing.” Dr Saxbee was Bishop of Lincoln from 2001 until his retirement in January of this year.

Dr Selby, Bishop of Worcester from 1997 to 2007, has been a supporter of the Coalition since its launch last November. “This proposed Covenant is not the solution to the tensions in the Anglican Communion,” he said. “It will inevitably create a litigious Communion where every serious disagreement will become a possible occasion to seek a province’s exclusion.”

“More and more questions are being raised about the potential pitfalls of the proposed Anglican Covenant,” said the Reverend Dr Lesley Fellows, Moderator of the No Anglican Covenant Coalition. “We have consistently seen that support for the Covenant tends to collapse in the face of full and fair discussion and analysis. We are very pleased to welcome Bishops Selby and Saxbee as our first Episcopal Patrons. They are well respected in the Church of England and throughout the Anglican Communion. We expect that their views on the Covenant will persuade many more people to take a harder look at the risks inherent in this radical proposal.”

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Fr John Harris-White
Fr John Harris-White
13 years ago

Congratulations to the International No Anglican Covenant Coalition in appointing two excellent Episcopal Patrons. Both Bishops in a few words have summarized the reasons to oppose the Covenant. A covenant that will bring more division and heartache, as well as legal wrangling to the Anglican Communion. God’s Grace is the bedrock of our Communion.

Jean Mayland
Jean Mayland
13 years ago

Today is the day devoted to a commemoration of John Fisher and Thomas More. Hernry V111 appointed More as Chancellor as he recognised his integrity-that very integrity that later led him to oppose his king.Before execution he declared he died’the king’s good servant but God’s first’ These 2 retired bishops are men of great integrity, who have been loyal to ++ Rowan. They know however that if passed, the Covenant would be destructive of Anglicanism and harmful to the mission of trhe Church of England and have therefore spoken out. We trust that some serving bishops will soon have the… Read more »

A J Barford
A J Barford
13 years ago

“Thomas More. Hernry V111 appointed More as Chancellor as he recognised his integrity” – Jean Mayland

News International’s address is 3 Thomas More Square, London. How unfortunate for a man of integrity!

Leonardo Ricardo
13 years ago

Finally OTHER points of view can be expressed and heard a dioceses throughout The Church of England without a ¨talking down to¨ from the ¨fixed election¨ campaigners at Lambeth Palace.

Canon Andrew Godsall
Canon Andrew Godsall
13 years ago

This is excellent news. Bishop John Saxbee’s speech at synod last November received very long and loud applause and I sensed that he spoke for many more of the synod than were called to speak for themselves. They do indeed summarise well the reasons that a Covenant is neither Anglican nor Covenantal. I hope the debates in the dioceses will indicate how little support the idea has.

Una Kroll
13 years ago

Oh well done Bishops Saxbee and Selby. Thank you. I agree with every word of your statement. Love and mutuality is what binds us together in our Baptismal identity, not coercion to uniformity. Una

A J Barford
A J Barford
13 years ago

Why aren’t there any executive bishops joining this campaign?

Rev John Smallwood
Rev John Smallwood
13 years ago

Driving back from Orbiston Magna to Orbiston Parva cross country, trying to avoid the M4, we see the most wonderful gentle rolling countryside with fields of wheat, slowly growing taller and riper as the rain falls and the sun shines week by week. What I also see is a strange contrast with some fields of wheat red with poppies, everywhere in the field, and others with just a strip of red as poppies grow where the farmer wasn’t able to spray weed-killer at the edge of the field. Such a strange contrast between the one and the other. I rather… Read more »

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