In a recent posting entitled "Unam, sanctam, cathólicam - to be church is to be in communion," More Than a Via Media expresses pain and sadness over the following declaration in favor of autonomy over communion by Fr. Mark Harris on his blog Preludium:
Should The Episcopal Church find itself without cognate churches, close relatives, sister churches, etc, in various parts of the world so be it. If TEC withdraws and no new affirmation of connection takes place, and the Anglican Communion goes on without us, so be it. Short term autonomy is not the end of the story, for it is in Christ that we are united, not in the broken churches of Christendom.
As a catholic-minded Anglican, I find More Than a Via Media's brief response persuasive. You can read it here.
I think More Than a Via Media is right to note that Fr. Mark's willingness to privilege autonomy over communion departs from the Nicene Creed's affirmation "We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church" in favor of an ecclesiology in which the "we" of the Creed becomes a "we" that purportedly receives Christ outside of "the koinonia of the ecclesia" and "apart from the proclamation and sacraments of the ecclesia." And I think this pushes us in the direction of violating one of the vows we routinely make in the Baptismal Covenant: the promise to "continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers" (The Book of Common Prayer, p. 304).
The language of "apostles' teaching" primarily refers back to the first full half of the Baptismal Covenant: the Apostles' Creed. Reciting the Apostles' Creed, each baptized Christian affirms belief in "the holy catholic Church." In his book The Creed: What Christians Believe and Why It Matters, Luke Timothy Johnson notes that the word "catholic" "means both a universality of extent and an inclusiveness that embraces differences within a larger unity." This means that "the catholic church is the one that exists everywhere, rather than simply in one place." And as an ecclesial principle, "catholicity asserts the general over the particular in any argument about the nature of the church."
Rather than affirming the general over the particular, Fr. Mark's willingness to privilege autonomy over communion amounts to asserting the perspective of a particular faction currently in the legislative majority within the Episcopal Church over the general perspective of the larger whole of the Church, thereby departing from the Creed's understanding of what it means to be "catholic." But departure from what the Creed means by "catholic" means violating one's Baptismal Covenant vow to continue in the apostles' teaching insofar as this teaching entails embracing the meaning of "catholic."
In addition to violating the promise to continue in the apostles' teaching, privileging autonomy over communion also violates the promise to continue in the apostles' fellowship. By "apostles' fellowship," the Baptismal Covenant refers to "historical continuity with the lives of the apostles - above all in teaching and morals" (Luke Timothy Johnson, The Creed). The language also signals communion by intimate participation (koinonia). Faithfulness to living more deeply into such intimate fellowship requires accepting shared norms and clearly articulated boundaries as the conditions that make such a common life possible. Privileging autonomy at the expense of communion undermines koinonia by setting aside the diversity, interdependence, mutual responsibility, and mutual accountability of such a common life in favor of an increasingly isolated, like-minded "church."
By promising to continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, we promise to live our identity as members of the Body of Christ. This means not only serving God's people within the Episcopal Church, but also serving and fostering relationship with the larger whole that transcends the Episcopal Church. Faithfulness to the Baptismal Covenant requires every Episcopalian to work for deeper and more intimate communion with all Christians, and especially with Anglicans worldwide. That's true even when we disagree with our brother and sister Anglicans, and even when we don't like them.
If this is what it means to be faithful to the Baptismal Covenant and to mean what we say when we recite the creeds, then privileging autonomy over communion renders the promise to continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship and the affirmation of the Church as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic disingenuous.
NOTE: Due to technical problems, the owner of More Than a Via Media had to terminate that blog, so the links to that site no longer work. His new blog is called Catholicity and Covenant.