“The Windsor Process”

The Anglican Communion web site's Windsor Process pages note that the Windsor Process has "four main elements: an Anglican Covenant, the Listening Process, the Panel of Reference and the Windsor Report 2004." Each element has its own web page and links to relevant materials.

While these pages are a tremendous resource to the Communion at large, the Windsor Process pages at etdiocese.net are meant to assemble the major resources and news reports to assist East Tennessee Episcopalians as they follow and interpret the controversies.

Supplemental resources list includes books, study guides, links to downloadable materials and more.

Four "Instruments of Communion" guide relationships among the Anglican Communion's member provinces. They are the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Anglican Consultative Council, the Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops and the Primates' Meeting. Information about each is available through links from the main Web page of the Anglican Communion.

Membership in the Anglican Communion is a matter determined by each province's direct formal relationship with the See of Canterbury. The Episcopal Church is among 38 member provinces of the Anglican Communion, which has 77 million members in 164 countries.

At its General Convention in 2003, the Episcopal Church gave its consent to the election of the Rev. V. Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire. Robinson is an openly gay man in a long-term committed relationship with another man. The General Convention also recognized "that local faith communities are operating within the bounds of our common life as they explore and experience liturgies celebrating and blessing same-sex unions," and it committed the church to continued study and discernment on the issue, including the compilation of existing resources by a special commission.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, in response to uproar in other Provinces over these actions and decisions of other Provincial members on similar matters, appointed a Lambeth Commission on Communion. This 17-member international panel was to explore the nature of communion and look specifically at how interrelationships are maintained amid differing views and practices among Anglicans, including varied understandings of human sexuality. The Commission released the final report of its work, the Windsor Report, on Oct. 18, 2004.

At its General Convention in 2006, the Episcopal Church House of Bishops elected the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, bishop of Nevada, as presiding bishop. Many Anglican provinces do not ordain women, and TEC is the first to elect one as a Primate. Also controversial in some circles are the presiding bishop's viewpoints, such as her support of full inclusion.

The Anglican Communion's member churches continue the process of receiving and responding to the Windsor Report; considering whether they can support an Anglican Covenant, and if so, in what form; and evaluating to what degree their differences should have impact on the Communion as a whole.

Discernment and Response
Reverse Chronological Highlights

The Covenant Design Group, Apr. 8: The international team appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, releases a revision of the proposed Anglican Covenant, the third (Ridley Cambridge) draft text, along with introductory text and a commentary.

Primates Meeting, Feb. 5: "Deeper Communion; Gracious Restraint - A Letter from Alexandria to the Churches of the Anglican Communion" is the heading of the Primates' Communique, issued at meeting's end. A Press Briefing, was issued following the meeting, in which the Archbishop of Canterbury outlined the main items from the meeting including the Windsor Continuation Group Report. The primates affirmed the report's recommendation for the appointment of a pastoral forum and pastoral visitors who can act as consultants in situations of stress and conflict.

Sources: Episcopal News Service, the Episcopal Church, Anglican Communion News Service, the Anglican Communion

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