Some, perhaps, hoped that official communion recognition could be bypassed altogether in favor of recognition by the GAFCON council. But the GAFCON primates themselves, in Egypt, have apparently decided that this route is premature. Instead, the primates at Egypt proposed that a professionally mediated discussion be initiated among all the concerned parties, with the goal of finding some sort of \u201cprovisional holding arrangement\u201d\u009d that could have the blessing of the communion at large.<\/p>\n
What of the \u201cfederal liberals,\u201d\u009d particularly in the Episcopal Church? As has long been clear, it is unlikely that it will sign on for the sort of robust covenant and institutional reform that the emerging consensus is envisioning. The church\u2019s Executive Council recently published its response to the proposed Anglican Covenant, more or less saying that it is not interested in any sort of covenant with consequences. Bonnie Anderson, the president of the church\u2019s House of Deputies, has for her part signaled that at this summer\u2019s General Convention she will push to move away from an earlier resolution that called for restraint on further consecration of gay bishops. Although the American church does not plan on taking up the covenant at its convention this summer, the arrows thus far point towards an effectual rejection of its terms.<\/p>\n
Tellingly and worryingly, the Executive Council\u2019s response also asserted that the proposed Covenant may only be adopted or rejected at the provincial level, rather than the diocesan. For many \u201ccommunion conservatives\u201d\u009d who still remain within the Episcopal Church, this will amount to a deep crisis of conscience, since in effect their church seems bent upon forcing them to choose between the Anglican communion and the Episcopal Church.<\/p>\n