Wow, that’s big news.  Looks like the ideological reappraisers carried the day after all.  Do we know a vote total, or was it just a voice vote?

This is a superb outcome, if I may say so in Christ. 45 bishops said No. CP bishops said No. RDW asked that HoB would say No. He knows now who is prepared to say No. The new TEC is a battle between idealogues and institutionalists. 99 Bishops are declaring their chief priority to be autonomy in the cause of SSBs and US denominationalism. But 45 are unsure this is a cost worth paying. Lambeth has had an effect many did not measure. I believe we are seeing a new demographic in all this, and hope the General Synod realises that a goodly portion of the HoB is prepared to honour the Communion over ‘justice’ rhetoric. New lines may be emerging.

Does Rowan Williams’ assertion regarding the diocese as the essential building block of the Communion take on new meaning here, Dr. Seitz?

Dr Seitz, can you explain a bit more?  I like what you are suggesting but given Robinson’s anxiety a couple of days ago, I would have expected a closer vote than this.  My take has been that the deputies have won influence by telling the Bishops that they must affirm what the majority (e.g. the deputies) want.  Any thoughts?

Seitz-ACI, this is a - what the - what did you say?  Superb?  A superb outcome?

Is one of us drinking?

Your church has abandoned any kind of Christian morality, officially this time, and you’re happy why?  Cause you only got outvoted 2-1?  Cause you know the names of the 99?  Good grief, man, I think most of us could have given you a pretty close guess on those before the vote.

What would have been a bad outcome?  A 3-1 vote in favor of incest?

There may have been 45, but probably 40 of them would have voted for the resolution except for their timidity.

Let me begin with a moment of silent weeping for the Church which I served and sought to renew for over three decades. “How deserted lies the city, once so full of people! How like a widow is she, who once was great among the nations! She who was queen among the provinces has now become a slave.” Lord, have mercy on all those who have been led astray over the years.

Secondly, let me give thanks for those bishops and deputies who stood firm for the truth during the Convention. Each of us has had a witness to make for Christ, and surely they have done so in the fiery furnace.

Thirdly, let me urge those biblically faithful Anglicans in North America to work together to build up Christ’s Church, recognizing the inside-outside approaches to the crisis as part of God’s providential ordering of history.

In particular, it seems to me that ratification of the Ridley Cambridge Covenant should be a top priority for faithful Anglicans. It is not perfect, but it does provide an adequate doctrinal foundation and adequate disciplinary provisions to form a new alignment for the worldwide Communion. Those who passed D025 are they very ones who sought desperately to prevent is approval in Jamaica and in so doing demonstrated that one of the so-called Instruments is a sham and another is compromised. It is time to move on and adopt the Covenant as it stands, as well as to work together on the greater mission of the Church to proclaim the Gospel to all nations.

TEC is moving forward with the vision it has embraced and promoted for many years. A vision crafted in late modernity, that has come to fruition in the post-modern, post-Christian, age of pluralism, relativism, and tolerance. The overwhelming majority is, and has been, committed to this new religious movement, which, at its heart, effectively abandons traditional Christian understanding of God, Jesus Christ, the authority of scripture, the nature of mankind, and the purpose of the church.

While faithful believers remain in TEC, the ground beneath them has shifted, indeed it shifted long ago. The orthodox who remain will undoubtedly face increasing pressure to capitulate, all in the name of love. Watch for canons with teeth!

Slightly edited.

Dear Dr. Noll, the Covenant is in the hands of late term abortionists (plus one who is a token and he is there only to provide some semblance of legitimacy). The are preparing to deliver the head, crush the cranium (section four) and deliver it stillborn.

The call to ratify the unborn (RCD) covenant would only divide to conservatives. Some will. Others will wait for aborted child.

The good Archbishop Orombi stated that there is only one Instrument of Unity left, Rowan Williams. Well, he has taken a huge hit politically by sticking his neck out for the moratoria which the TEC has now taken a whack at. He has lost further(!) credibility with both the liberals and the conservatives - an incredible feat, to make a bad pun.

The two power structures left are the TEC and the FCA.

Don’t write the CofE off so quickly, robroy.  Williams has a situation on his hands and he knows it.  He may not be able to evade it.

Dr. Seitz, your comment really astounds me.  I will do the comparative analysis in a little while.  I have a spreadsheet with key roll call votes of bishops since 2003.  But this is NOT a new demographic.  The fact that there are 45 bishops is because the vote counts assisting bishops. suffragans, retired bishops.  It is not 45 diocesan bishops.  And it is only the diocesan bishops who vote for consents of other bishops. 

I am pretty sure this is fewer diocesans than voted against VGR, but I don’t know how many fewer yet. One of the obvious differences are that the “rump” dioceses of FW, San Joaquin and Quincy all voted YES.  But mostly apart from that it looks like exactly the same demographic as 2003.

I’m glad the Communion Partners bishops took a stand.  I praise God for their faithful witness. What many of them said (as best I can glean from the live blogs that are available) is true and important.  I’m glad they voted NO, but to hail this as some kind of victory seems to “blink at reality” as Judge Bellows famously wrote in Virginia of TEC.