This motion has been much misquoted - it was heavily amended and what actually passed is a typical Anglican "something but not really anything" sort of answer. What the amended motion says is that the Church of England understands that ACNA is upset and that they want to
remain within the Anglican Communion (want to, note) but without thinking about it a bit more the C of E cannot commit to either recognizing ACNA or her clergy.
The Archbishops will report next year. This could spell doom and gloom for TEC, of course, or it could be a simply English was of saying no to ACNA politely - we'll think about it does not mean yes - it can mean go away and prepare for the bad news.
I do not know what will happen - I do know that even liberals in England are bemused by TEC's behavior. The Church of England works on a basic assumption of authority and hierarchy. The Episcopal Church has a similar but only similar structure which can be derailed by committees
and threats of financial stricture. Currently the systems seem incompatible and the Gene Robinson issue has only served to highlight this.
Whilst we are all confused by the highly charged smokescreen of gay clergy there is a more fundamental issue at stake, at least in terms of Communion relationships. TEC does not yield any real authority to Canterbury and sooner or later that was going to cause problems because
it is out of character with the Communion. For many the general uneasiness with a province which is seen as renegade might have consequences further down the line. The damage which TEC has done itself in the Anglican Communion is huge - the fact that so many people within
TEC do not care about this just serves to highlight why there might just be something to worry about.
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