Transcripts of Proceedings are now available for the November meeting of General Synod.
The last of these contains the answers to all questions reached before close of business. The answers to the questions not reached are here.
The July 2005 Report of Proceedings (in PDF format) has recently become available online here.
2 CommentsThe questions to be asked (and answered) at next week’s General Synod are now online here.
The questions are now also available as a web page here.
Question time is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon (16 November).
13 CommentsThe final papers for next month’s meeting of General Synod are now online and linked in my earlier posting here.
Also circulated to Synod members and now online is a summary of the decisions of the most recent meeting (4/5 October) of the House of Bishops.
0 CommentsThe newly elected General Synod will meet in London on Tuesday 15 and Wednesday 16 November. Papers for this meeting, listed below, are now appearing online. GS 1593 and 1595 are scheduled for dispatch to members on Friday this week.
Agenda
Tuesday
Wednesday
Legislative Business
GS 1592 Report by the Business Committee
GS 1593 Review of Clergy Terms of Service: Property Issues and Progress Report
GS 1595 Facing the Challenge of Terrorism
Papers for Legislative Business
GS 1348B Amending Canon No 24
GS 1594 Payments to the Churches Conservation Trust Order 2005
GS 1594X Report and Explanatory Memorandum
GS 1596 Admission of Baptised Children to Holy Communion Regulations
GS 1596X Report and Explanatory Memorandum
GS 1597 Draft Dioceses, Pastoral and Mission Measure [large file: 5 MB]
GS 1598 Draft Amending Canon No 27
GS 1599 Draft Vacancy in See Committees (Amendment) Regulation
GS 1597-9X Report and Explanatory Memorandum
GS 1600 Clergy Discipline Appeals Rules
GS 1600X Explanatory Memorandum
The following statistics were supplied at the press briefing for the November 2005 meeting of the General Synod, held on 21 October.
New General Synod. Figures as at October 2005
Age profile of elected diocesan representatives
|
20s
|
30s
|
40s
|
50s
|
60s
|
70s
|
Average
|
Average in 2000
|
||
| Laity |
189
|
9
|
14
|
22
|
62
|
70
|
12
|
56
|
53
|
|
Clergy
|
182
|
2
|
8
|
74
|
79
|
19
|
0
|
50
|
51
|
Clergy average age reflects the clergy population as a whole.
Gender balance by Houses
|
Female
|
Male
|
Total | |||
| Laity |
84
|
41%
|
120
|
59%
|
204
|
| Clergy |
46
|
23%
|
154
|
77%
|
200
|
| Bishops |
0
|
0%
|
53
|
100%
|
53
|
| Total |
130
|
28%
|
327
|
72%
|
457
|
These figures exclude 9 voting places not currently filled – 6 Bath and Wells laity, 1 religious community laity, Third Estates Commissioner and one appointed Archbishops’ Council place occupied by a diocesan bishop. They also exclude the 10 places available, but rarely filled, for co-opted voting members, and the 13 observer places for deaf, ecumenical and youth representatives.
Gender balance by Houses January 2001
|
Female
|
Male
|
Total | |||
| Laity |
117
|
45%
|
145
|
55%
|
262
|
| Clergy |
27
|
11%
|
227
|
89%
|
254
|
| Bishops |
0
|
0%
|
54
|
100%
|
54
|
| Total |
144
|
25%
|
426
|
75%
|
570
|
(These figures exclude 1 voting place not filled – one appointed Archbishops’ Council place occupied by a diocesan bishop. They also exclude 10 places available, but rarely filled, for co-opted voting members and 8 observer places for ecumenical representatives.)
3 CommentsThere was a splendid interview of Dr John Sentamu, the new Archbishop of York, on the BBC Today programme this morning. Listen to it here.
Friday afternoon update
A number of online reports of the interview have now appeared.
Telegraph Archbishop of York reveals his anger at racist letters
Times Racists sent excrement-filled letters to black Archbishop
BBC Hate mail sent to new archbishop
Anglican Mainstream has published this fragment of a transcript.
2 CommentsHidden away on the Liverpool Diocesan website is the Bishop of Liverpool’s presidential address to his diocesan synod last month. He writes about his current position on the issue of human sexuality. His conciliatory views may surprise some.
21 CommentsThe Church Times has published today the dates of birth of newly elected members of General Synod. From these data I have calculated some statistics for the elected diocesan representatives of the clergy and laity.
| ages |
clergy
|
laity
|
| mean age |
50
|
56
|
| standard deviation |
7
|
11
|
| oldest |
68
|
78
|
| youngest |
27
|
21
|
For comparison the mean ages in 2000 were 51 (clergy) and 53 (laity).
I have put a histogram of the age distributions here.
[Note: The laity figures exclude Bath & Wells (election postponed), Winchester (figures not available) and two members of unknown age.]
3 CommentsA new General Synod is elected every five years and meets two or three times a year. It comprises three Houses: Bishops, Clergy and Laity. The number of members given below is for the 2005-2010 Synod.
Members vote according to their own conscience; nobody can instruct them how to vote.
Members vote as individuals; there is no voting by diocese as in the USA. The results of votes are decided by counting the numbers of members voting for and against a motion. In most cases the count is of the whole Synod and a simple majority is required for a motion to be passed. Sometimes each House votes separately (and then each House must vote in favour) and in some of these cases a two-thirds majority is required in each House.
A simplified account of how Synod is elected follows below the fold.
1 CommentI’ve now collected most of the Synod election results. The missing results are
Armed Services
Bath and Wells (clergy)
Carlisle
Chester (Chester archdeaconry laity)
Exeter
Gloucester
Newcastle
Norwich
Ripon and Leeds (laity)
Salisbury (laity)
Sodor & Man
Truro
Winchester (laity)
Channel Islands
London University
Other Universities (Southern)
Other Universities (Northern)
If you have any of the missing results please email them to me here.
People will be trying to analyze the new Synod. Here is an attempt by Church Society to do this for the diocesan bishops and an analysis by their general secretary David Phillips.
19 CommentsSo far I have about 40% of the General Synod election results; you can see them here. If you have any of the missing results please email them to me here.
0 CommentsThe counts of the elections to General Synod will be taking place over the next few days and I shall be listing the names of successful candidates here.
If anyone can help me by supplying these names for the laity or clergy of any diocese or for any of the special constituencies please let me know by emailing me here.
I’ll post updates as the results come in.
3 CommentsIn The Guardian
Mark Rudall Face to faith
Highly motivated prison chaplains and dedicated visitors are helping to bring faith to those behind bars.
In the Church Times
Giles Fraser Nature, red in tooth and claw
In the Telegraph
Melanie McDonagh There is more to religion than sexuality
Christopher Howse, in his Sacred mysteries column, writes about the new Pope’s coat of arms.
In the Times
Mark Vernon Friendship provides a foretaste of the everlasting love of heaven
Jack Shamash A modern, greener way of death takes root
Where is the Church’s doctrine to be found? As far as the Church of England is concerned, the answer is at first glance simple. Canon A5 states that:
The doctrine of the Church of England is grounded in the Holy Scriptures, and in such teachings of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Church as are agreeable to the said Scriptures.
In particular such doctrine is to be found in the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, The Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordinal.
Furthermore the Worship and Doctrine Measure 1974 notes that “references in the Measure to the doctrine of the Church of England shall be construed in accordance with the statement concerning that doctrine contained in the Canons of the Church of England.”
But it’s not as simple as that, and there is a good section on “Doctrine in the Church of England in an Historical Perspective” in GS 1554. This document contains the proposals for updating the procedures for clergy discipline in matters of doctrine, ritual and ceremonial that were defeated at General Synod in July 2004. I think that one of the reasons for this defeat was the difficulty of saying just what the CofE’s doctrine is.
Article 7 of the General Synod’s constitution requires any “provision touching doctrinal formulae or the services or ceremonies of the Church of England or the administration of the sacraments or sacred rites thereof” to be voted on at final approval in a form submitted by the House of Bishops. Voting must be by houses so bishops, clergy and laity must each approve. As GS 1554 puts it:
All doctrinal and liturgical matters are brought to the General Synod by the House of Bishops in virtue of their role as guardians of the Church’s faith and teaching. The Synod as a whole determines whether or not to give assent. This reflects the relationship between bishops and laity which was clearly set out by Richard Hooker four hundred years ago.
In particular this means that, unless the Article 7 procedure has been followed, a motion passed by General Synod supporting, for example, a resolution of a Lambeth Conference, is no more that a statement of opinion by those present.
9 CommentsI wrote a report of the July 2005 General Synod for Anglicans Online a little while ago; you can read it here. I have done one of these for every Synod meeting for the last quinquennium; they are all linked from here (near the bottom of the page). There are also a few earlier ones here.
0 CommentsThe Church of England website now includes the answers to questions and transcripts of some of the debates from last month’s meeting of General Synod.
Links to the transcripts can be found here.
0 CommentsAs expected the Church of England bishops issued their pastoral statement on civil partnerships this morning. You can read it here.
Another copy is here
The official record of the business done at this month’s General Synod is now online here.
0 CommentsQuestions to be answered at this weekend’s General Synod are now online. The answers will be given tonight starting at 8.30pm.
0 CommentsA few more Synod papers have appeared since my earlier lists here and here.
GS 1582 Archbishops’ Council’s Annual Report 2004
Report of Proceedings – February 2005
And there’s now a zipped version of one file which reduces its size from 20 to 2.6 MB.
GS 1577 Presence and Engagement
0 Comments