Canons, Statute Commission releases final report on proposed Statute revision
The Orthodox Church in America’s Commission on Canons and Statutes has issued a detailed final report on the proposed Statute revision in anticipation of its consideration for adoption at the 18th All-American Council in Atlanta, GA July 20-24, 2015.
The text of the report in PDF format, released on Wednesday, July 8, may be downloaded here. AAC delegates are asked to print copies and bring them to the AAC, as hard copies of the report will not be available at the Council.
“A major principle is that the Statute is always a work in progress and requires constant attention and appropriate adjustments,” the report notes. “The many intermittent amendments to the 1971 Statute have left us with a document which is not well organized or integrated in its various parts; the clarity and style problems of the existing Statute are self-evident and these need to be fixed; the parochial focus of the existing statute reflects its origin as a governance document of what was functionally an archdiocese and not an autocephalous Church; and the use of secular, non-religious language in some areas of the Statute is necessary in order to make ourselves understood by civil governments, including the courts. The Statute will always be partly a work in progress and should be updated at regular and frequent intervals. This proposed Statute revision is an improvement over the old one, and not necessarily because it is perfect in its own terms. By the Grace of God, the next version will be even better.”
Discussion on the proposed revised Statute is slated to take place during Plenary Session 2 on Tuesday morning, July 21.
The Delegate Handbook includes detailed instructions on the procedures for consideration of and voting on the proposed revised Statute.