General Synod – business done Friday
A summary of Friday’s business at General Synod is online.
General Synod – Summary of Business Conducted on Friday 12th February 2010 AM
1 CommentGeneral Synod – business done Thursday
Summaries of Thursday’s business at General Synod are online.
morning General Synod – Summary of Business Conducted on Thursday 11th February 2010 AM
afternoon General Synod – Summary of Business Conducted on Thursday 11th February 2010 PM
0 CommentsGeneral Synod – Thursday's business – press reports
updated Friday morning
Ruth Gledhill in the Times Methodists declare ‘we’re ready to merge’ with CofE
Maria Mackay in Christian Today Methodist Church ‘prepared to go out of existence’ for mission
Martin Beckford in the Telegraph General Synod: Methodists likely to merge with Church of England
Jerome Taylor in The Independent Leader signals end of Methodism
Steve Doughty in the Mail Methodist church ‘prepared to go out of existence’
Note The above items refer to an address by the President and the Vice-President of the Methodist Conference to the General Synod on Thursday morning. The Methodist Church of Great Britain have released this press release.
President and Vice-President address General Synod
The text of the address is available here.
Stephen Bates in The Guardian Church of England General Synod extends pension rights for gay partners
The BBC has Synod votes to give gay clergy equal pension rights
Maria Mackay in Christian Today Church grants full pension rights to gay clergy
Ruth Gledhill in the Times Partners of gay clergy win same pensions as spouses
Martin Beckford in the Telegraph General Synod: Church of England backs equal pension rights for gay clergy partners
Stephen Bates in The Guardian Anglican church calls for tighter regulation of violent computer games
Martin Beckford in the Telegraph General Synod: Church expresses ‘concern’ about effects of computer games on children
7 CommentsGeneral Synod – pensions for surviving civil partners
This afternoon General Synod voted in favour of providing pensions to the surviving civil partners of clergy on the same basis as they are paid to surviving spouses. At present, and in accordance with the minimum requirements of the law, service before 5 December 2005 does not count towards the level of pension for surviving civil partners.
The private member’s motion, text below, was proposed by the Revd Mark Bratton, and was passed without amendment.
That this Synod request the Archbishops’ Council and the Church of England Pensions Board to bring forward changes to the rules governing the clergy pension scheme in order to go beyond the requirements of the Civil Partnership Act 2004 and provide for pension benefits to be paid to the surviving civil partners of deceased clergy on the same basis as they are currently paid to surviving spouses.
The vote was taken by houses and all three houses voted in favour; here are the detailed voting figures.
| for | against | abstentions | |
| bishops |
12
|
2
|
3
|
| clergy |
97
|
23
|
10
|
| laity |
78
|
59
|
9
|
There were two unsuccessful proposed amendments. One, from the bishop of Ripon and Leeds, would have reworded the motion to:
That this Synod recognise that it will be some considerable time before surviving civil partners’ pension rights reach parity with those of spouses, and in the light of that note the helpful confirmation from the Pensions Board that surviving civil partners of deceased clergy are eligible to be considered for hardship grants if they meet the same qualifying conditions as apply to surviving spouses.
This amendment was defeated with 110 votes in favour, 154 against and 15 recorded abstentions.
A second amendment, proposed by Dr Philip Giddings, would have added a long list of dependent relatives, as well as civil partners, to those entitled to pensions; this was defeated on a show of hands.
Background papers
GS 1770A paper prepared by Mark Bratton
GS 1770B paper by the Rt Reverend John Packer, Chair of DRACSC (The Archbishops’ Council Deployment, Remuneration and Conditions of Service Committee)
General Synod – Thursday morning press reports
Reports of Wednesday’s broadcasting debate are linked here and of the ACNA debate here.
On other matters there is this.
Martin Beckford in the Telegraph Church of England warned against thoughtless criticism of Armed Forces by senior padre
4 CommentsGeneral Synod – press reports of the ACNA debate
Updated Thursday morning to include more details of the motion and amendments and further press reports
Stephen Bates in The Guardian Church of England keeps distance from breakaway US conservative Episcopalians
Jerome Taylor in The Independent Church sidesteps gay issue at Synod debate
Avril Ormsby at Reuters UK Church stops short of communion with U.S. conservatives
For the record, the original motion proposed by Lorna Ashworth was
That this Synod express the desire that the Church of England be in communion with the Anglican Church in North America.
Synod amended this to
That this Synod
(a) aware of the distress caused by recent divisions within the Anglican churches of the United States of America and Canada;
(b) recognise and affirm the desire of those who have formed the Anglican Church in North America to remain within the Anglican family;
(c) acknowledge that this aspiration, in respect both of relations with the Church of England and membership of the Anglican Communion, raises issues which the relevant authorities of each need to explore further; and
(d) invite the Archbishops to report further to the Synod in 2011.
The amended motion was largely the proposal of the bishop of Bristol, on behalf of the House of Bishops, but paragraph (a) was added on a proposal from the Revd Andrew Dow (diocese of Gloucester).
The amended motion was carried by 309 votes in favour to 69 against, with 17 recorded abstentions.
There was an attempt to amend the motion to read:
That this Synod
(a) express the desire that the Church of England be in communion with the Anglican Church in North America;
(b) recognise and affirm the desire of those who have formed the Anglican Church in North America to remain within the Anglican family;
(c) acknowledge these aspirations, in respect both of relations with the Church of England and membership of the Anglican Communion, raise issues which the relevant authorities of each need to explore further; and
(d) invite the Archbishops to report further to the Synod in 2011.
This was defeated by 166 votes in favour to 223 against with 2 recorded abstentions.
During the debate there were two procedural motions, one to move to next business and one to adjourn the debate, but both were defeated. If carried either would have brought the debate to an immediate end without a vote.
11 CommentsGeneral Synod – business done Wednesday
Summaries of Wednesday’s business at General Synod are online.
morning General Synod – Summary of Business Conducted on Wednesday 10th February 2010 AM
afternoon General Synod – Summary of Business Conducted on Wednesday 10th February 2010 PM
The second of these will not be complete until after the close of business at 7.00 pm.
9 CommentsGeneral Synod – Wednesday's Broadcasting debate
Synod debated this private member’s motion on religious broadcasting, proposed by Nigel Holmes, this (Wednesday) morning:
That this Synod call upon the BBC and Ofcom to explain why British television, which was once exemplary in its coverage of religious and ethical issues, now marginalizes the few such programmes which remain and completely ignored the Christian significance of Good Friday 2009.
An amendment was moved by the Bishop of Manchester, and carried by Synod, which reworded the motion to read:
That this Synod
(a) express its appreciation of the vital role played by those engaged in communicating religious belief and practice through the media, at a time of changes within the industry; and
(b) express its deep concern about the overall reduction in religious broadcasting across British television in recent years, and call upon mainstream broadcasters to nurture and develop the expertise to create and commission high quality religious content across the full range of their output, particularly material that imaginatively marks major festivals and portrays acts of worship.
The amended motion was carried by 267 votes in favour with 4 against and 2 recorded abstentions.
Here are some press reports.
Stephen Bates in The Guardian Synod rejects motion attacking broadcasters over lack of religious programmes
Martha Linden of the Press Association in the Independent Church concern over religious broadcast hours
Avril Ormsby of Reuters UK Church of England laments drop in religious TV programmes
The BBC has Church of England concerned by ‘religious TV cuts’
1 CommentGeneral Synod – Wednesday morning press reports
updated Wednesday lunchtime
We covered most of these last night, but here are a couple looking forward to some of today’s business.
Ruth Gledhill in the Times Anglican Church in North America ‘should be in communion with C of E’
The BBC has BBC accused over a lack of religious broadcasts
The Guardian has BBC religious coverage to come under fire at Church of England debate
7 CommentsGeneral Synod – press reports of Archbishop of Canterbury's presidential address
updated Thursday morning
We link to the text of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s presidential address here. Here are some early press reports of what he said.
Stephen Bates in The Guardian Archbishop of Canterbury appeals for unity over gay clergy and women bishops
update The Guardian has issued a correction to the above article. The online version appears to be correct.
A story reported Rowan Williams’s appeal for Anglicans to show mutual tolerance over issues of gay equality and female bishops. The story also noted a statement put out by the head of the church in Uganda, Henry Orombi, supporting his country’s proposed anti-gay legislation. Contrary to our headline – Archbishop’s plea for tolerance undermined by attack on gay people at General Synod, 10 February, page 4 – the Orombi statement was issued in Kampala. The statement also insisted: “The church is a safe place for individuals to seek help and healing.” This was changed in editing to “Williams’s church”, when the Ugandan archbishop was referring to his own.
Martin Beckford in the Telegraph Relaxing assisted suicide laws a ‘moral mistake’ – Archbishop of Canterbury
Ruth Gledhill in the Times Rowan Williams issues ‘profound apology’ to gay Christians
Steve Doughty in the Mail Archbishop of Canterbury says changes to assisted dying laws will ‘cross a moral boundary’
Avril Ormsby at Reuters UK Archbishop warns over restricting religious freedoms
27 CommentsGeneral Synod – business done Tuesday
updated Tuesday evening
Summaries of Tuesday’s business at General Synod are online.
morning General Synod – Summary of Business Conducted on Tuesday 9th February 2010 AM
afternoon General Synod – Summary of Business Conducted on Tuesday 9th February 2010 PM
2 CommentsGeneral Synod – Archbishop of Canterbury's presidential address
The Archbishop of Canterbury gave his presidential address to General Synod this afternoon. A press release is online, followed by the text of the speech.
Archbishop’s Presidential Address
In addition there is Word document of the speech linked from here.
The Archbishop delivering his address.
13 CommentsGeneral Synod – Tuesday morning press reports
Stephen Bates in The Guardian New split in Church of England over women bishops
Martin Beckford in the Telegraph General Synod: Church of England exodus feared unless women bishops plans changed
Andrew Hough in the Telegraph General Synod: Church of England suffering from ‘testosterone deficit’
George Pitcher in the Telegraph The Church is full of women – so obviously what we don’t need is women bishops
Jonathan Wynne-Jones in the Telegraph Church of England is ‘living in the past’, says BBC’s head of religion
Ruth Gledhill in the Times Dr Rowan Williams to challenge infighting over gays and women bishops
Steve Doughty in the Mail Where have all the men gone? asks the Church of England
Jerome Taylor in the Independent Evangelicals in warning over women bishops
Many of these articles refer to this press release from Reform Reform highlights ‘huge practical problems’ with women bishops and an attached letter sent to Synod members.
6 CommentsGeneral Synod – business done Monday
A summary of Monday’s business at General Synod is online.
General Synod – Summary of Business Conducted on Monday 8th February 2010 PM
There are links to audio of the proceedings.
1 CommentGeneral Synod Questions
The questions to be asked at General Synod next week are now online.
General Synod February 2010 Questions
The answers will be given in the last item of business on Monday 8 February.
1 CommentOpinions before Synod
Alan Wilson looks forward to next week’s meeting of General Synod in a Face to face column in The Guardian: How the General Synod works is more important than anything it decides.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times that Football needs some humility.
Rowan Williams has written in Newsweek about God and Wall Street. The article is also available on the Archbishop’s website.
John Shepherd writes in a Times Credo column that We all have faith, whether or not we recognise it.
2 Commentslate January opinion
Nicholas Sagovsky writes in The Guardian The City of God and the City and asks “Where are the reminders of the City of God in today’s market-driven developments?”
Andrew Brown, also in The Guardian, writes The historical Jesus and asks “Just what, if anything, does the earliest source tell us about Jesus as he appeared to non-Christians?”
Giles Fraser in the Church Times writes Go back to controls for casino banks.
Looking forward to Candlemas Geoffrey Rowell has a Credo column in the Times: Simeon’s triumphal cry heralds the coming of the light. “The feast of Candlemas is the encounter of human longing and brokenness with the healing love of God.”
John Packer, the bishop of Ripon and Leeds, writes in the Yorkshire Post Don’t stop the many migrants who have enriched Britain.
8 CommentsInclusive Church Lent Course
Inclusive Church has a new course for new and established Christians: Living Christianity – Everyday Bread.
We are pleased to launch LIVING CHRISTIANITY, a five part programme (ideal for a Lent Course) that takes the shape of the Eucharist to introduce Christian faith in the Inclusive tradition. “Living Christianity is a course to nurture new Christians, to refresh old ones and to catch up with people asking questions about the Christian faith. It has been written by leaders in parish ministry in the Church of England who are concerned to celebrate the breadth and diversity of traditional Anglicanism.”
Available as a book or Digital Download from stores.lulu.com/inclusivechurch.
Participants’ notes cost £3.99 each, and the Leaders’ notes are £9.99 (or £5.99 to download in .pdf format.
There is an extract from one of the sessions on the web page.
The latest Inclusive Church newsletter is available here.
3 CommentsOpinion this week
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times Repent of a theology of blame
Harriet Baber has a Face to Faith article in The Guardian Evangelical US megachurches like Saddleback are market-driven, with transcendence not on the menu
Ruth Gledhill writes in the Times about preachers Spreading the word of preaching, from the transcendent to the bumbling
and about cathedrals in MPs want crumbling cathedrals to get Government cash
Alan Wilson wrote on Cif belief about The media’s trouble with religion
3 CommentsChurch of England statistics
updated Friday evening and Saturday morning to include more press reports
The Church of England has released provisional attendance figures for 2008: Provisional attendance figures for 2008.
There is a press release summarising and commenting on the figures. The full text of the press release is reproduced below the fold.
The think-tank Ekklesia has published its views on the figures: Church of England sees greater decline in church attendance.
Andrew Brown writes in his blog in The Guardian Church statistics: not many dead.
Riazat Butt writes in The Guardian Church of England attendance falls for fifth year in row.
Andy Bloxham and Martin Beckford in the Telegraph write Average age of churchgoers now 61, Church of England report finds.
Ruth Gledhill writes in the Times Church of England congregations fall again, and half are pensioners.
Also published today is research surveying of the diversity of Church of England congregations: Celebrating Diversity in the Church of England.
13 Comments