Thinking Anglicans

General Synod – Monday's business

Updated Tuesday morning and afternoon

order paper for the day

Cost of Applying for Citizenship

The final day’s business started with a debate on this diocesan synod motion from Birmingham.

That this Synod:
(a) request the Archbishops’ Council’s Mission and Public Affairs Council to investigate the issues around the cost of applying for citizenship and to make recommendations to HM Government;
(b) encourage the Lords Spiritual actively to seek opportunities to address the level of citizenship fees in debate;
(c) urge parishes to raise the issue with their MP; and
(d) encourage parishes to continue to support those known to them who are struggling with the cost of citizenship fees without incurring debt and to signpost responsible lenders or local credit unions for advice.

The motion was carried by 310 votes to nil, with no recorded abstentions.

Official press release: Synod debates cost of applying for citizenship

Final approval of Amending Canon No 36
(Of the vesture of ordained and authorized ministers during the time of divine service)

This amending canon basically permits clergy to dispense with traditional vestments. It was given final approval. For this a two-thirds majority in each house was required.

bishops: 18 for, 3 against, 0 recorded abstentions
clergy: 104 for, 5 against, 4 recorded abstentions
laity: 116 for, 8 against, 7 recorded abstentions

The canon now requires the royal assent before it can come into effect.

Draft Amending Canon No 37
(Of the burial of the dead)

This amending canon allows clergy to use the standard funeral service for those who have taken their own life. It was given final approval. For this a two-thirds majority in each house was required.

bishops: 21 for, 0 against; 0 recorded abstentions
clergy: 125 for, 0 against, 1 recorded abstentions
laity: 132 for, 1 againts, 0 recorded abstentions

The canon now requires the royal assent before it can come into effect.

In the afternoon there was a presentation on the annual report of the Archbishops’ Council (GS 2058). This was followed by the Council’s budget and proposals for apportionment for 2018 (GS 2076), which were approved.

And finally Synod said farewell to the Bishop of Bristol and the Bishop at Lambeth, who are both retiring later in the year.

Press reports etc

Madeleine Davies and Hattie Williams Church Times Synod voices dismay at high cost of citizenship

Harriet Sherwood The Guardian Clergy to ditch their robes in further sign of dress-down Britain

Olivia Rudgard The Telegraph Clergy can dress down after church votes to let them ditch vestments

Stephen Lynas files his last report from Synod: bathwellschap Good times, better times
This ends with an overview of the whole four days. casino utbetalning 15 min

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Lavinia Nelder
Lavinia Nelder
7 years ago

Re – clergy dress. A liturgically coloured hoodie would be just as appropriate in many circumstances. You get the proper nod to the tradition of the church with the colour and a more relevant style of dress for the younger generation. You could always keep the hood up for the monastic reference.

Stanley Monkhouse
7 years ago

Lavinia’s hoodies, I’m almost ashamed to say, appeal to me. There could be slogans and images of saints on back and front. But in truth, this development signifies another manifestation of the look at me, look at me, look at me culture which grows like cancer in the church. Master manipulator Peter Ball wore a hoodie.

FrDavidH
FrDavidH
7 years ago

I hope that when Her Majesty finally passes to glory the hoodied Archbishop of Canterbury ‘crowns’ Prince Charles with a baseball cap to match his trainers. This will extend the Monarch’s appeal to young people who laugh at crowns and mitres.

peter kettle
peter kettle
7 years ago

Now that Synod is over – what happened to the promised appearance of the Bishop of Edinburgh and the threatened walk-out?

Peter Owen
7 years ago

The Bishop of Edinburgh was welcomed to Synod on Friday and stayed to the end. There was no sign of a walkout and some of those who threatened this spoke in debates.

Jane Charman
Jane Charman
7 years ago

The Bishop of Edinburgh was there among the Anglican and Ecumenical guests as planned. There were a number of references to his presence, including one from me. As far as I’m aware, no one walked out.

Fr Andrew
Fr Andrew
7 years ago

“this development signifies another manifestation of the look at me, look at me, look at me culture”

Well said Stanley Monkhouse!

The whole point of vestments, (black) clerical shirts etc. is that they are a uniform and not (in theory) an expression of the ‘individuality’ of the person wearing them. Unlike clerical hoodies, or whatever will be your choice from our wardrobe that morning.

What was Synod thinking? Repeal Amending Canon 36 I say!

Tim Chesterton
7 years ago

I’m glad to see move flexibility on vestments. There is nothing to stop those who want to wear them from wearing them (and I’m sure that the majority will still do so, as they do in Canada where we have no national canon on clergy robes), but freedom and flexibility will also be helpful. As for those who say that robes emphasize the office where ‘civvies’ emphasize individualism and ‘me, me, me’ – well, that can work both ways. I’m sure for some robes do provide a level of humility, but for others it seems to me (but what do… Read more »

Malcolm Gray
Malcolm Gray
7 years ago

If you water the cofe down anymore it will be pointless.
when I first started to attend it was eastward face changed to nave altar people left didnt like it, was 1928 changed to modern people left didnt like it, un robed chalice administrators people left didnt like it, etc etc etc.. point is the faithful few who bore bravely are getting sick

Perry Butler
Perry Butler
7 years ago

Of course there are occasions when ” dressing down” is appropriate and my preference liturgically is for simple Catholic worship.But I wonder what is in the mind of some of my former ordinands officiating at weddings in suit and tie when the groom is in top hat and tails.

Tim Chesterton
7 years ago

‘If you water the cofe down anymore it will be pointless.’

I think if people come to faith in Christ, grow as disciples of Jesus and worship God together, it can’t possibly be pointless, whether robes are worn or not. If the absence of robes is really the straw that breaks the camel’s back, I guess we’d have to conclude that the early church was pointless too.

Kurt Hill
Kurt Hill
7 years ago

“I’m glad to see more flexibility on vestments. There is nothing to stop those who want to wear them from wearing them…”—Tim Chesterton I may be a High Churchman, Tim, but I have no problem with such flexibility, either. In fact the American Episcopal Church has never had an “Ornaments Rubric” mandating vesture. This Rubric was one of the directives that was dropped (along with others, such as the so-called “Black Rubric”) when we became independent of the CofE in the eighteenth century. No, what upsets me—and others, I think—are these old folktales spread by some Anglo Catholics as well… Read more »

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