A majority of dioceses in the Church of England have voted down the proposed Anglican Covenant, a set of principles intended to bind the Anglican Communion provinces despite theological differences and cultural disputes.

The six diocesan synods meeting and voting on the covenant this past weekend brought the current figures to 23 against and 15 in favor, out of a total of 44 dioceses throughout the Church of England.

The church’s General Synod, in November 2010, voted in favor of continuing the process towards adopting the Anglican Covenant and asked the church’s dioceses for their input.

Following the recent news, the Rev Canon Kenneth Kearon, Secretary-General of the Anglican Communion, was quick to issue a statement “to clarify the current situation across the Anglican Communion.” He noted that seven out of 38 provinces have “approved or subscribed” to the Covenant, with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa having adopted the document pending ratification at its synod later this year.

The seven provinces, Canon Kearon said, are the Anglican churches of Ireland, Mexico, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, South East Asia, Southern Cone of America, and the West Indies.

Meanwhile, the Episcopal Church in the Philippines has formally rejected the covenant and Maori action in the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia last November means that it will be voted down when it comes before the province’s General Synod in July.

In the U.S.-based Episcopal Church, the Executive Council agreed at its October 2011 meeting to submit a resolution to General Convention that would have it state that the church is “unable to adopt the Anglican Covenant in its present form.”

The resolution also promises that the church will “recommit itself to dialogue with the several provinces when adopting innovations which may be seen as threatening the unity of the communion” and commits to “continued participation in the wider councils of the Anglican Communion” and dialogue “with our brothers and sisters in other provinces to deepen understanding and to insure the continued integrity of the Anglican Communion.”

The 77th meeting of General Convention will decide in July whether to pass, amend and pass, or reject the resolution.

2004 Windsor Report

The Anglican Covenant first was proposed in the 2004 Windsor Report as a way that the Communion and its 38 autonomous provinces might maintain unity despite differences, especially relating to biblical interpretation and human sexuality issues.

The report came in the wake of the 2003 election of Gene Robinson, an openly gay priest, as Bishop of New Hampshire, a development that caused some provinces to declare broken or impaired communion with the Episcopal Church.

Following years of discussion and several draft versions, the final text of the Covenant was sent in December 2009 to the Communion’s 38 provinces for formal consideration.

Some Episcopalians and Anglicans have raised concerns about the Covenant being used as an instrument of control, questioning in particular its section 4, which outlines a method for resolving disputes in the Communion. Some critics have warned that adopting the Covenant could result in a two-tier Communion.

Many conservative Anglicans also have rejected the Covenant, saying that it does not go far enough to bring into line provinces that have taken steps towards the full inclusion of gays and lesbians in the life of the church.

“While we acknowledge that the efforts to heal our brokenness through the introduction of an Anglican Covenant were well intentioned we have come to the conclusion the current text is fatally flawed and so support for this initiative is no longer appropriate,” a group of conservative Anglican archbishops have said.

– Matthew Davies is an editor/reporter for the Episcopal News Service.