Once more no one is prepared to exercise godly discipline on the Episcopal Church for its blatant defiance of the Windsor Report and a Covenant in the process of being ratified by all the provinces of the Anglican Communion over sexuality issues which has seen TEC defy the communion not once, but twice by electing an avowed homosexual and lesbian to the episcopacy. The open defiance of the communion's requested Moratorium is met with muted outrage as no one is prepared to put their foot down and lay down the law, largely because the communion's Instruments of Unity are stacked with liberals and token orthodox believers who get shot down if they should so much as raise their voices. Witness what happened to Isaacs.

Groaned one English cleric, "Why, oh why, oh why is TEC permitted to retain such influence in a Communion in which it is an insignificant flea on the rump of the orthodox majority?"

Several things can be stated with some clarity and dogmatism. It can't be the money any longer - the ACO is only 40% funded by TEC, and the ACO itself is now very much smaller. TEC is not buying influence in the western provinces, which have never received American subsidies. TEC's money has been rejected by most of the GAFCON primates. A third of the Anglican Communion's bishops refused to attend Lambeth - and they are among the most powerful and largest provinces in the communion.

At home, TEC's membership numbers are in free fall. Its money is slipping away. It is engaging in lawsuits, which are eating up its cash reserves and its reputation.

The proposal from Isaacs, a Malaysian attorney, that The Episcopal Church be separated from the Communion led to a discussion in which Committee members acknowledged the anxieties felt in parts of the Communion about sexuality issues. Nevertheless, the overwhelming opinion was that separation would inhibit dialogue on this and other issues among Communion Provinces, dioceses and individuals and would therefore be unhelpful.

The Continuing Indaba project "brings clergy and laity from dioceses around the Anglican Communion together to have the hard conversations, on a range of issues, that will help them better hear the mind of God," according to the Anglican Communion Office press release. "The aim is for all involved to be more effective in mission and be more accountable to each other through genuine relationship."

Hard conversations perhaps, but no hard answers. "Genuine relationships" died in Alexandria, Egypt, when it became clear to the orthodox primates that there were now two clear understandings of the Christian Faith at work in the communion and they were irreconcilable.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams questioned whether the ACC's committee structure was "appropriate for this new century," according to the release. "He said questions needed asking about whether revised instrument structures were required to better foster the relationship-building parts of the communion's life, 'so when it comes to looking at the complex questions of the communion we have a better foundation upon which to build.'"

A statement like this begs the obvious question, what exactly is Williams arguing for? Is he saying the ACO is now irrelevant having served its purpose, or that its revised structure will be the answer to the Communion's future? It is pretty well known that there is no love lost between the Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, secretary general of the Anglican Communion and Dr. Williams. The ABC would much have preferred to have his old friend Geoffrey Cameron run that office, but he was offered a bishopric in Wales for his sins. Williams and Kearon's predecessor Irish Archbishop Robyn Eames were and remain old friends.

During the five-day Standing Committee meeting, which concluded Tuesday, Kearon acknowledged that the credibility of some of the executive structures was being openly questioned and that criticisms were being directed at the committee itself.

Will anything change? It would appear not. As they say talk is cheap. Kearon got an earful from TEC's liberals in Maryland in June when he unloaded on how bad things are among the ecumenical partners. They are at the point of collapse, he said, and then proffered that the (lesbian) Glasspool decision put the church "out of step with the rest of the [Anglican] Communion on same-gender issues." Kearon also said there were "problems of increased and growing diversity in the Anglican Communion". Really.

Earlier this year, four orthodox Anglican archbishops resigned from the Standing Committee after expressing their discontent and disappointment that they could not influence the outcome of the ACO.

Uganda Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi wrote in a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury that he disapproved of the participation of leaders from The Episcopal Church in the committee, noting that they are "the very ones who have pushed the Anglican Communion into this sustained crisis."

He also opposed the "enhanced responsibility" of the Standing Committee and the "diminished responsibility" of the primates - the chief bishops of the Anglican Communion's 38 provinces. Only five primates are represented in the committee. Bishop Mouneer Anis of the Middle East had resigned in February saying his presence had no value and that his voice was "like a useless cry in the wilderness."

The Bishop of Iran, Azad Marshall, as well as Archbishop Justice Akrofi of West Africa have also resigned in what can only be interpreted as a clear repudiation of liberalism and Western pan-Anglican revisionism.

These high profile resignations from the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion highlight the impotence of the Archbishop of Canterbury in his ability to lead a slowly fragmenting communion.

In addition to Bishop Marshall's vote of "no confidence" was the crisis surrounding the Episcopal Church's representative, Connecticut Bishop Ian Douglas, who doubled the pain on Williams with his insistence on staying thus creating a new crisis over the legitimacy of the Standing Committee. Douglas is in continuing violation of the moratorium against allowing same-sex blessings in his diocese.

Canon Rees advised the Committee that it could seat him, nonetheless. One sees clearly by this decision who controls the "Standing Committee", and just whom Canon Rees is really serving with his "advice," observed Allan Haley, a canon lawyer. By changing the ground rules, Douglas survived and remains on the ACC's Joint Standing Committee. He and Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori will make sure that the communion's liberal influence will be there for years to come.

The one difference between the Anglican Communion Office and The Episcopal Church is that TEC no longer even bothers to practice tokenism - the liberal, pansexual elites are totally in charge. The ACO makes an appearance of fairness, but it is a tokenism that some primates now realize exempts any real understanding of the church's need to preach The Great Commission.

The Standing Committee also confirmed that the next meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council would be held at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Auckland, New Zealand, another bastion of Anglican liberalism. The meeting is due to be held in 2012, but no dates have been announced. The cost to get there will be enormous, the outcomes assuredly minimal.

The Standing Committee usually meets annually, but has met biannually for the past three years. It oversees the day-to-day operations of the Anglican Communion Office and the programs and ministries of the four instruments of communion -- the Archbishop of Canterbury, the ACC, the Primates Meeting, and the Lambeth Conference of bishops.

The full text of the ACO bulletin is available here. http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/news.cfm/2010/7/26/ACNS4717

To read the new AAC Articles of Association from England click here: http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/content/2010/accarticles.pdf

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