The official report of today’s business can be found here. Audio recordings of the proceedings have been posted. (The .wax files can be heard using Windows Media Player.)
As the report shows, synod declined to extend the session beyond 7 pm, and this meant that the last item of scheduled business was not completed by the time of adjournment. Therefore no debate yet occurred on the motion from the Bishop of Southwark relating to investments in land and real estate, which would give an opportunity for a substantive discussion of the Octavia Hill Estates matter.
2 CommentsThe Questions to be asked have now been published, as noted in our Synod Papers item (which contains links to all documents for this group of sessions bar one item, GS 1601, which has still not been made available electronically).
The original .rtf Questions file is on the CofE website here. An html version of this page is available here. The construction of the html version took me approximately 90 seconds and required no technical skill.
Question 62 is a Question about the November Answers. I have been asking the same question of the synod office ever since November and I have never had any reply to my queries, so I will be really interested in the answer.
The Answers session is at the end of Thursday next week.
1 CommentLast week, the Church Times had extensive coverage of the report of the Women Bishops Group.
Guildford report proposes TEA and sympathy Glyn Paflin
Contemplating a woman at Canterbury (an extract from the report)
This is how the plans could work by Christopher Hill Bishop of Guildford
Surprise, surprise: a middle way editorial comment
General Synod meets from 6 to 9 February 2006. Links to the online agenda follow together with a list of papers mentioned in the agenda. Links are made to available online copies. This list will be updated.
The Business Committee’s forecast of future business is copied below the fold.
The Church of England’s own list of papers is here and here is a press release on the agenda.
Agenda
Monday 6 February
Tuesday 7 February
Wednesday 8 February
Thursday 9 February
Questions
Papers
GS 1596A Admission of Baptised Children to Holy Communion Regualtions
GS 1596Y Report by the House of Bishops (included in GS 1596A)
GS 1601 Mutual Expectations: The Church Of England And Church Colleges/Universities Report By The Board Of Education
GS 1603 Report By The Business Committee
GS 1604 Ethical Investment: Report By The Ethical Investment Advisory Group
GS 1605 House Of Bishops’ Women Bishops Group: Report To The General Synod From A Working Group Chaired By The Bishop Of Guildford.
GS 1605A Note by the Presidents
GS 1606 Seeds In Holy Ground: A Future For The Rural Church?
GS 1607 Into The New Quinquennium
GS 1609 Hospital And Health Care Chaplaincy
GS 1610 The Church’s Built Heritage Annex 1 Annex 3
GS Misc 801 Pushing At The Boundaries Of Unity: Anglicans And Baptists In Conversation
GS Misc 807 Ecumenical Responses To Women Bishops In The Church Of England?
GS Misc 808 Bicentenary of the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade
GS Misc 812A Private Member’s Motion – Readers – A background note by Nigel Holmes
GS Misc 812B Background Paper from the Ministry Division Annex
GS Misc 813 The Human Genome: Background note from the Diocese of Guildford
Other papers circulated to Synod members
Summary decisions of the most recent meeting of the House of Bishops (January 2006)
0 CommentsThe outline agenda for the February 2006 group of sessions of the General Synod is now online here and is copied below.
Sitting times: 9.30 am to 1 pm and 2.30 pm (3.00 p.m Monday) to 7 pm (5.30 p.m. Thursday)
Monday, 6 February
Afternoon
Prayers, welcomes, progress of Measures
The appointment of the Chairs of the Business Committee and the Appointments Committee
Business Committee Report
Dates of Groups of Sessions: July/November 2008
Presentation on ecumenical responses to the Rochester Report
Presentation on Pensions Issues
Ethical Investment
Tuesday, 7 February
Morning
Holy Communion
Women in the Episcopate: report of the Guildford Group
Afternoon
Rural Affairs and the Church of England
Anglican/Baptist Conversations
Church Colleges/Universities and the Church of England: Mutual Expectations
Wednesday, 8 February
Morning
Prayers
Legislative Business
Reader Ministry: Private Member’s Motion
Into the New Quinquennium
Afternoon
Human Genome: Guildford Diocesan Synod Motion
Bicentenary of the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade: Southwark Diocesan Synod Motion
Hospital and Health Care Chaplaincy
Thursday, 9 February
Morning
Prayers
Women in the Episcopate
Afternoon
The Church’s Built Heritage
Questions
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 several houses that constitute the General Synod recently held elections for the filling of various vacancies, including many of the seats on the Archbishops’ Council.
See details of these election results here.
Two documents have been published summarising what business occurred last week:
Day by day summary of November 2005 synod
Decisions made by the Synod at the Group of Sessions
Updated Thursday thrice
Press reports
Telegraph Jonathan Petre Dioceses face axe in financial crisis
Guardian Stephen Bates Give prayer a chance to heal church rifts, says Williams
The Times Ruth Gledhill England head for World Cup with God on their side
and Ruth’s blog has Church Times praised blog (synod diary 2)
Times Online Ruth Gledhill Archbishop wants less Groundhog Day, more God
BBC Williams calls for Church harmony and Church plans for World Cup final
Documents
Archbishop speech moving the Loyal Address
Presidential Address by Rowan Williams
Official report of morning session
Official report of afternoon session
Rowan Williams remarks during the debate on The Review of Clergy Terms of Service
Rowan Williams farewell tribute to the Bishop of Oxford
0 CommentsWednesday 16th November 2005
9.15 a.m. to 1.00 p.m.
Prayers
6. LOYAL ADDRESS
The Archbishop of Canterbury to move:
That a Loyal Address be presented to Her Majesty the Queen.
7. PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
The Archbishop of Canterbury will give a Presidential Address
SPECIAL AGENDA I
LEGISLATIVE BUSINESS
The items in Special Agenda I will be taken – these are listed below the fold.
Lunch break
2.30 p.m. to 6.00 p.m.
8. REVIEW OF CLERGY TERMS OF SERVICE: Property Issues and Progress Report (GS 1593)
The Revd Preb David Houlding (London) to move:
That this Synod welcome the recommendations in the report and request the Implementation Group to reflect them in the draft legislation which it is preparing.
9. QUESTIONS
See list of Questions.
Updated Wednesday morning
Frances Young’s sermon is available in full
Rowan Williams:
Archbishop’s remarks at opening session
Archbishop’s contribution in debate on terrorism
Archbishop’s contribution during the presentation on ‘Episcopacy in the Church of England’
Guardian Stephen Bates Queen opens church synod
Telegraph
Jonathan Petre
Queen extols the ‘unique’ power of Christianity
‘We must forgive suicide bombers’
Bishops’ wives ‘need help running palaces’
and an editorial opinion, The Queen reminds us of lasting values
Times Online carries Ruth Gledhill’s report, now under the headline Bishop backs ‘shoot-to-kill’ police for suicide bombers, but earlier in the day, before the afternoon write-through it was headlined York Archbishop attacks ‘scandalous’ divisions in Church.
Ruth’s blog has Christian church ‘unique’ says Queen.
The press release about the morning tells us what The Queen said.
What the Archbishop of York said to The Queen is published in full. This was certainly the best speech of the day.
ACNS has photographs here (click on individual photos for large versions).
Another picture taken inside the synod chamber is here (warning this is 470K in size).
And also this one.
The official bulletin of the afternoon’s events is here.
There was one attempt to amend the terrorism motion, by substituting “while condemning” for “without excusing” in paragraph (b). This failed.
Earlier the BBC Today radio programme had interviewed Bp Tom Butler: listen here (Real Audio, 5 m 40 s)
0 CommentsTuesday 15 November
There will be a service of Holy Communion in Westminster Abbey at 10.30 am, at which Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh will be present. Following the service, at about 12.15 pm, Her Majesty will address the Synod at a brief ceremony in the Assembly Hall of Church House, Westminster. After the Inauguration ceremony, the Synod will adjourn for lunch.
The first Business Session starts at 2.30 pm and runs until 7.00 pm. Here is the Agenda:
1. WELCOMES
2. PROGRESS OF MEASURES AND STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS
3. REPORT BY THE BUSINESS COMMITTEE (GS 1592)
The Chairman of the Business Committee (the Revd Dr Richard Turnbull (Winchester)) to move: “That the Synod do take note of this Report.”
“This will provide the customary opportunity for members to raise points about content and shape of the Agenda for this Group of Sessions, or about the Synod’s business generally.”
The following item will start not later than 3.15 p.m.
4. FACING THE CHALLENGE OF TERRORISM (GS 1595)
The Bishop of Southwark to move:
That this Synod
a) condemn the 7 July terrorist atrocities, express its sympathy to the victims and families of all who suffered as a result of those and subsequent events, record its appreciation for the work of the emergency services and acknowledge the daunting responsibility of the Government, police and security services for safeguarding the lives of all our people in these times;
b) nevertheless affirm that a successful counter-terrorism policy must, without excusing violence, understand and address its underlying causes;
c) urge all political parties, in considering draft legislation to heed the clear warnings from history about the progressive erosion of fundamental rights in relation to habeas corpus, free speech and religious liberty; and
d) call upon members of the Church of England to set an example in the promotion of greater understanding, reconciliation and respect within their local communities, especially where there are significant numbers from other faith traditions.
5 EPISCOPACY IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND
Presentation under Standing Order 97. Extract from the Business Committee report:
In his contribution to the July Synod debate on women in the episcopate, the Archbishop of Canterbury suggested that the General Synod agenda might include a theological seminar on the episcopate. This would enable Synod members to reflect further on some of the wider theological issues in preparation for later debates on the specific question of women bishops. The Archbishop’s remarks were made in the light of earlier exchanges at the July Synod, during debates on the Ordinal, on the meaning of episcopacy in the Church.
The Business Committee has agreed (in the light of discussion at the House of Bishops) that there will accordingly be a seminar at this Group of Sessions, in the form of a presentation, under Standing Order 97. The Bishop of Rochester will open the seminar; his contribution will focus on theological issues concerning the episcopate and will be based on Chapter 2 of the Rochester Report, which will accordingly be circulated to Synod members to help resource the session (GS 1568). The Bishop’s contribution will be followed by other theological contributions. This first phase (lasting no more than 45 minutes) will then be followed by an hour for questions and comments, with a panel consisting of the initial contributors responding at intervals, prior to some closing comments from each of the initial speakers. There will be neither a debate nor any vote at the end of the session.
Wednesday’s agenda will be posted tomorrow.
0 CommentsThe Church Times today carries an article headlined General Synod faces unpredictable future which is accompanied by a detailed review of the election results, diocese by diocese (scroll down for this).
0 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 figures for diocesan voting turnout published by the Church Times last week have been analysed.
In summary, less than 61% of the eligible clergy, and less than 49% of the eligible laity bothered to vote at all. There is a wide variation between dioceses but there is no significant correlation between the clergy turnout and the lay turnout in the same diocese.
The highest clergy turnout was in Derby (77.2%), and the lowest was in Oxford (48.4%).
The highest laity turnout was in Rochester (63.9%) and the lowest was in Worcester (37.4%).
These figures exclude results not made available to the Church Times, namely Europe, Guildford, and Winchester. Also the Bath & Wells laity election was declared void and will be rerun, and the Clergy election in Sodor & Man was uncontested.
The total number of eligible voters included in this analysis was: Clergy 12,264; Laity 25,333.
The full table of figures is now available here.
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 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.
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