Former Primate Andrew Hutchison has agreed to chair a workshop for clergy and Diocesan Synod delegates to explore and discuss the proposed international Anglican Covenant at St. Catherine’s, North Vancouver, on September 22.

Archbishop Andrew Hutchison

The idea for an Anglican Covenant was first mooted in the Windsor Report (paragraphs 113-120). The Joint Standing Committee of the Primates and of the Anglican Consultative Council commissioned a study paper on the idea in March 2005, Towards an Anglican Covenant.

At its meeting in May 2006, the Joint Standing Committee asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to establish a Covenant Design Group to further the project. This group gave a preliminary report to the Primates Meeting at Dar es Salaam in February 2007. The report included a draft for the covenant on which consultation is now being taken.

The Covenant Design Group hopes to receive comments and criticisms on the current text by the end of the year, and to meet early next year to produce a revised text which will be submitted for discussion at the 2008 Lambeth Conference, before submission to the Provinces (national Anglican Churches) for further consideration.

The workshop will begin at 10 am, with coffee and tea available at 9:30, and wrap up by 2:30 pm. People attending are asked to bring a bag lunch. At draft of the ANGLICAN COVENANT is available on the Anglican Communion website.