SHOCKER!! Anglican Conservatives Reject Global Unity Plan

Nobody saw that coming.

Here's the story from WWRN:

Leaders of conservative Anglicans on Wednesday rejected a proposed covenant to hold their global communion together just as the Church of England gave preliminary approval to the plan.

The covenant, backed by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, is intended to contain deep splits within the Anglican Communion over sexuality, the role of women and the authority of the Bible. The communion represents churches affiliated with the Church of England in more than 160 countries.

The Church of England's governing General Synod voted Wednesday to approve draft legislation that could lead to a final vote in 2012. The covenant will now be referred to dioceses for consideration.

So we'll just kick the can down the road for another couple of years and then drag it back out then for another good beating. Fantastic.

To be fair, the headline is a little misleading, as the article goes on to point out.

The traditionalists dismissed the covenant as "fatally flawed," but the plan also has been attacked by liberals within the church...

Liberals in the Church of England fear the covenant would restrict the freedom of the national church. "It would ... make the Church of England subject to an outside power for the first time since Henry VIII," said a statement by one liberal group, Inclusive Church.

You can read more of the details at the link, but the bottom line is that the only thing we can be sure of at this point is further ecclesial decay across the pond.

Recall Rowan's points at the opening of the synod:

Speaking Tuesday at the opening of the Church of England General Synod, Williams said the covenant "offers the possibility of a voluntary promise to consult." He said it recognizes that disagreement may continue and cause ruptures in the communion.

"Now the risk and reality of such rupture is already there, make no mistake. The question is whether we are able to make an intelligent decision about how we deal with it," Williams said.

Yeah. I'm going to say the answer is no on that one.