The Old British Car and the Anglican Communion

The whole back and forth about  Who can expel The Episcopal Church from the Anglican Communion reminds me of the old British car, i.e., those products of that rickety chandelier called British Leyland (MG, Triumph, Rover, Jaguar, Austin, Morris and Wolseley) in the 1960’s and 1970’s.  When these cars ran, they were the best, but when you needed them the most, they broke down.

As I understand it, the Anglican Communion has four instruments of unity:

• Archbishop of Canterbury
• Lambeth Conferences
• Primates’ Meeting
• Anglican Consultative Council

There are two logical conclusions from this:

1. To be a member of the Anglican Communion, one must be a part of all four of these.
2. If a province is expelled from one of these by any means, it’s out of the Anglican Communion.

Canon Brooks’ contention only makes sense if one assumes that expulsion from the ACC reduces a province’s affiliation from four to three.  But this would also work if, for example, the CofE decided to formally break communion with one of the provinces.  Given the current leadership of the CofE, this is unlikely.

Is this any way to run a Communion?  It’s almost as silly as the old Polish parliament, which required unanimous vote to do anything.  But the Anglican Communion again is like the old British car, designed for the cool climes of Albion but overheats when sent to places like Texas and Florida.

One thing’s for sure: the Anglican Communion is the ricketiest chandelier in Christianity right at the moment.