Q: The bishops would be asked to affirm the code of practice? Is it your mind that the provinces would make a promise to follow these principles?
A: This is, again, a descriptive exercise
Q: Then there are no teeth? It is a pretty picture
A: It is not at all, it is incredibly significant
Q: It is a VERY pretty picture?
A: It is exploring what we can deduce about our life together as we look at the way the material presents law around the word. This is not the covenant
Q: How does this feed into the covenant then?
A: It will be illustrative of some of the material that will be encapsulated in other ways in the covenant but the covenant process and this one are two distinct processes
Q I am trying to glean what this is. Could you say this is a tool to use by the AC in order to make the covenant work? I cannot believe that you do not hope it will have some effect on the communion?
A: Yes I speak about this having “persuasive authority” which is a legal concept. And very often you would do that when something is not written in a particular code or constitution. You must understand that the laws, the COE laws, are thick. The US TEC law is of a significant size. There are provinces where very little is written and you have bear bones. Part of this is to help provinces like that. If you are trying to figure out what the law could be in your province this could help you to find your way through.