Updated
to include business done on Thursday afternoon.
Press reports of Thursday morning’s debate:
BBC Synod backs regret at gay bishop
Press Association Homosexuality Row Leaves Church in ‘Agony’ – Archbishop
Associated Press Archbishop sees ‘no cost-free outcome’ to split over gay bishop
Reuters Anglican Church Deeply Wounded in Gay Row -Williams
Evening Standard Church acts to end split over gay clergy
Agence France-Presse Gay clergy row has damaged Anglican church, archbishop admits
Guardian Stephen Bates Gay clergy debate will hurt us, says archbishop
The Guardian has this editorial: Not of this world
The Times Ruth Gledhill Williams tells liberals they risk damaging the Church
Telegraph Jonathan Petre Archbishop pledges to take tough action in Church gay row
Yorkshire Post Michael Brown Archbishop’s agony as the threat of schism over gay row haunts Synod
Windsor Report debate
Text of Bishop Tom Wright’s opening speech (note this is text as prepared, not a transcript as delivered)
Text of Archbishop of Canterbury’s speech (transcript)
The official report of business done on Thursday morning is here as an RTF file and the section relating to the Windsor Report is copied here below the fold. Details of the amendments proposed (none of which were approved) appear below that. They are taken from the Order Paper for the morning’s business here as an RTF file.
Thursday afternoon
Press coverage:
Telegraph Jonathan Petre Let us bless this recycling bin
Ekklesia Synod sings ‘halle-loo-jah’
Press Association Bishop Flushed with Success over Water Saving Scheme
The official report of business done on Thursday afternoon is here as an RTF file
The Order Paper for the afternoon’s business is here as an RTF file
In summary:
The synod debated the motion concerning Senior Church Appointments
700 The motion (as amended by Items 710 and 711)
‘That this Synod:
(i) consider that the Church should adopt an integrated and consistent method for the making of appointments to senior ecclesiastical office (other than diocesan bishops) to ensure that all appointments are transparent and encourage the confidence of the Church in the procedures that support the final selection; and
(ii) request the Archbishops’ Council to commission a working party (to be chaired by a person independent of the Council and the Synod) to review and make recommendations (without limitation) as to the law and practice regarding appointments to the offices of suffragan bishop, dean, archdeacon and residentiary canon, including:
(A) the role and practice adopted by diocesan bishops in the making of nominations to suffragan sees; and
(B) the role of the Crown in the making of appointments to the other senior Church offices referred to above and how it is discharged, and for the Archbishops’ Council to report back to the Synod within eighteen months of the date of this debate.’
was carried.
The synod then debated SHARING GOD’S PLANET: Report by the Mission and Public Affairs Council (PDF format)
The motion originally proposed was amended in various ways, and the final result was that:
The motion (as amended by Items 38, 39, 46 and 48)
‘That this Synod
(a) commend Sharing God’s Planet as a contribution to Christian thinking and action on environmental issues;
(b) challenge itself and all members of the Church of England to make care for creation, and repentance for its exploitation, fundamental to their faith, practice, and mission;
© lead by example by promoting study on the scale and nature of lifestyle change necessary to achieve sustainability, and initiatives encouraging immediate action towards attaining it;
(d) encourage parishes, diocesan and national Church organizations to carry out environmental audits and adopt specific and targeted measures to reduce consumption of non-renewable resources and ask the Mission and Public Affairs Council to report on outcomes achieved to the July 2008 group of sessions;
(e) welcome Her Majesty’s Government’s prioritising of climate change in its chairing of the G8 and its forthcoming presidency of the European Union;
(f) urge Her Majesty’s Government to provide sustained and adequate funding for research into, and development of, environmentally friendly sources of energy; and
(g) in order to promote responsible use of God’s created resources and to reduce and stabilise global warming, commend to
(i) the consumers of material and energy, the approach of ‘contraction and convergence’; and to
(ii) the producers of material and energy systems, safe, secure and sustainable products and processes based on near-zero-carbon-emitting sources.’
was carried.
THE WINDSOR REPORT: Report by the House of Bishops (GS 1570)
The Synod welcomed the Archbishop of Cape Town (the Most Reverend Njongonkulu Ndungane) who was sitting in the public gallery.
14 The motion
‘That this Synod
(a) welcome the report from the House (GS 1570) accepting the principles set out in the Windsor Report;
(b) urge the Primates of the Anglican Communion to take action, in the light of the Windsor Report’s recommendations, to secure unity within the constraints of truth and charity and to seek reconciliation with the Communion; and
(c) assure the Archbishop of Canterbury of its prayerful support at the forthcoming Primates’ Meeting.’
was moved.
30 The amendment (Item 30 Order Paper VI) was lost.
31 The amendment (Item 31 Order Paper VI) was lost.
32 The amendment (Item 32 Order Paper VI) was lost.
33 The amendment (Item 33 Order Paper VI) was lost.
34 The amendment (Item 34 Order Paper VI) fell.
35 The amendment (Item 35 Order Paper VI) was lost.
36 The amendment (Item 36 Order Paper VI) was lost after a count of the whole Synod. The voting was as follows:
AYES 140
NOES 209
37 The amendment (Item 37 Order Paper VI) was not moved.
14 The motion (unamended)
‘That this Synod
(a) welcome the report from the House (GS 1570) accepting the principles set out in the Windsor Report;
(b) urge the Primates of the Anglican Communion to take action, in the light of the Windsor Report’s recommendations, to secure unity within the constraints of truth and charity and to seek reconciliation with the Communion; and
(c) assure the Archbishop of Canterbury of its prayerful support at the forthcoming Primates’ Meeting.’
was carried.
Text of the various amendments
Mr Tom Sutcliffe (Southwark) to move as an amendment:
30. ‘Leave out paragraph (a) and insert:
“(a) thank the members of the Lambeth Commission for their work on the Windsor Report, but regret that their Mandate did not include consideration of ECUSA’s more democratic model of “the bishop in synod” as the expression of ecclesiastical authority;”.’
Mr Tom Sutcliffe (Southwark) to move as an amendment:
31. ‘Leave out paragraph (b) and insert:
“(b) urge the Primates of the Anglican Communion to seek reconciliation within the Communion, and to acknowledge that the character of Anglicanism as an unintended imperial relic akin to the British Commonwealth should be influenced by local circumstances, which may be very different from those applying in the context of the historic Establishment of the Church of England;”.’
Whether or not item 31 is carried, the Revd Andrew Watson (London) to move as an amendment:
32. ‘In paragraph (b) after the words “to seek reconciliation” insert the words “and radical holiness”.’
Whether or not either item 31 is carried, if item 32 is not carried the Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe to move as an amendment:
33. ‘In paragraph (b) after the words “within the Communion” insert the words “and with other churches”.’
Whether or not either item 31 is carried, if item 32 is carried the Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe to move as an amendment:
34. ‘In paragraph (b) after the words “within the Communion” insert the words “and reconciliation with other churches”.’
Mr Tom Sutcliffe (Southwark) to move as an amendment:
35. ‘After paragraph (b) insert as a new paragraph:
“ (c) celebrate Anglicanism’s traditional emphasis on provincial and congregational responsibility, its rejection of pretensions to universality, and its commitment to theological inclusiveness and human reason; and”.
and re-letter the remaining paragraph accordingly’
The Revd Paul Collier (Southwark) to move as an amendment:
36. ‘After paragraph (b) (or (c) as the case may be) insert as a new paragraph
“ (c) (or (d)) in the light of paragraph 3.7.2 of the FOAG response to the Windsor report annexed to GS 1570, which refers to the requirement of Lambeth 1.10 that Anglicans should listen to the experiences of gay and lesbian people, urge the Primates to take practical steps to create a climate of safety within the Churches of the Communion in which lesbian and gay people can speak of their experience and theology without fear of reprisal within those Churches and that will allow voices to be heard across national and provincial boundaries in the Communion, especially in countries where homosexuality is punishable by imprisonment;”
and re-letter the remaining paragraph accordingly.’
Mr Tom Sutcliffe (Southwark) to move as an amendment:
37. ‘At the end of paragraph (c) (or (d) or (e)) as the case may be) insert the words “but recommend him not to proceed with endorsement of the Windsor Report’s proposed Covenant”.’