The Decisions of the Church of England and the Consequences for Other Anglican Churches

Yes, the Church of England is not the only Anglican church. It is the <<elder sister>> of the other Anglican churches around the world. As the <<elder sister>>, it is a reference for the others, but not a normative reference.

While in the Roman Catholic Church canon law is verticalized and universal the same does not happen among Anglican churches. The Anglican Communion is an instance that offers principles of canon law to sister churches, but these are responsible for developing their own law, always, of course, in the light of these principles of canon law, the second edition (2022) of which you can access by clicking here.

There is a lot of noise, especially in the global south, about the decisions made in the general synods of the Church of England. However, there is no reason for this, unless you are a member of that church. Otherwise, you can at most admit that such decisions point to a trend for sister churches, but nothing more than that. The General Synod of the Church of England is the general assembly of the church, therefore, its deliberations and votes are binding only on that church.

The deliberations that  really affect the churches of the Anglican Communion are those made at the Lambeth Conference, Meeting of the Primates, and Anglican Consultative Council. The direct link with the Church of England is through communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury or membership in the same, but this link is an affective connection, of a fraternal nature whose core is the historical faith manifested in the Book of Common Prayer of 1662, which is essential to claim Anglican identity, as it contains the record of Apostolic faith within the Anglican tradition. Therefore, the decisions of the Church of England have relative consequences in the other Anglican churches and do not oblige them to follow their lead, whatever it may be.

Revd. Moacir Gabriel