The Diocese of Western Louisiana’s 30th annual convention has affirmed the Ridley Cambridge Draft of the Anglican Covenant. The convention met Oct. 9-10 in Alexandria, La.
 
The Rt. Rev. D. Bruce MacPherson, the diocese’s bishop since 2002, is among the founding bishops of Communion Partners.
 
Convention tabled one pro-covenant resolution that was proposed by the diocese’s standing committee, but it then considered a similar resolution proposed by St. Mark’s Cathedral, Shreveport. The cathedral’s dean, the Very Rev. Jacob W. Owensby, is a member of Communion Partner Rectors.
 
In his annual address [PDF available here], Bishop MacPherson urged convention to support the covenant draft.
 
“This will bring further recognition of our diocese as a part of the Episcopal Church, as a constituent member of the Anglican Communion, and in communion with the See of Canterbury. When I shared with the Archbishop of Canterbury last month the plans for a resolution of this nature, he responded favorably,” the bishop said.
 
The bishop also spoke of why he believes the diocese needs to remain within the Episcopal Church.
 
“We need to stay where we are because our Lord needs the faithfulness of the ministry this diocese has to offer, and does offer, through the commitment of those who make this their spiritual home, and in turn are striving to build up the kingdom of God in this place and the life of Christ’s Church,” he said. “We stay also because our historic identity with the Anglican Communion demands it of us. Without ordered processes there is no catholicity, no claim to the ancient Christian unity, which we claim is at the very heart of whom we are as members of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.”
 
The bishop also said, however, that the same catholic order eventually may require the diocese become less provincially oriented and more Communion oriented.
 
“This is why we stay where we are at this time, but in the months ahead, and depending upon the direction taken by the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion, we could well be faced with making a choice of being either provincially oriented or Communion oriented — for it is clear we cannot be both,” he said. “We know who we are, and we cannot claim to be part of a catholic body and then seek to exercise ‘local option’ over crucial issues.”
 
Get the next 52 weeks of The Living Church Online, plus convenient access to more than a year of archived issues, all for just $25! Click here to start your subscription to the TLC Online Edition today!