General Synod papers
As well as the remaining papers for debate at next month’s meeting of General Synod (already listed by me here) the following papers have now been sent to members.
None of the papers below appears to be online.
Getting the Message: A resource pack for communicating the General Synod
GS Misc 780 Bodies Answerable to Synod
GS Misc 781 Children in the Midst
GS Misc 783 Membership of the Archbishops’ Council, its Committees, Boards and Councils and details of their meetings in 2004
GS Misc 786 Clergy Discipline Commission: Annual Report for 2004
GS Misc 787 Review of Marriage Law update
GS Misc 790 Activities of the Archbishops’ Council
GS Misc 792 Implementation of the Church of England’s Strategy for Children
and a covering note from the Bishops of Liverpool and Portsmouth
GS Misc 793 Parish Mission Fund
GS Misc 794 Review of Senior Church Appointments [see below for the text of this paper]
HB(05)2 Summary of decisions of the most recent meeting of the House of Bishops (25-26 May 2005)
GS Misc 794
REVIEW OF SENIOR CHURCH APPOINTMENTS
1. As members will recall, at the last Group of Sessions the Synod passed a resolution requesting 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’
2. A review group has now been appointed. It will be chaired by Sir Joseph Pilling, who is due to retire as Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office this autumn. The other members of the group are:
Canon Dr Christina Baxter (Southwell)
Canon Professor Michael Clarke (Worcester)
Mr Aiden Hargreaves-Smith (London)
The Rt Revd Jack Nicholls, Bishop of Sheffield
The Revd Rod Thomas (Exeter)
The Very Revd Robert Willis, Dean of Canterbury
The Revd Canon Lucy Winkett
3. David Williams (Clerk to the Synod) will serve as an Assessor to the Group and Dr Colin Podmore will be its Secretary. The Archbishops’ Secretary for Appointments, Caroline Boddington, will be available to support the Group throughout its work. The Group will also be able to call on legal and theological advice from relevant Church House staff, and others, as required.
4. The Group will be meeting immediately before the July Group of Sessions and it is expected that invitations to submit evidence will be issued later in July. A further notice about this will be circulated in due course.
2 CommentsJuly General Synod – papers
The main bulk of the papers for next months meeting of General Synod arrived in the post this morning, and are listed below. I’ve also included papers due to be circulated next week (marked with an asterisk).
I’ll add links to online copies as they become available.
GS 1571 Agenda
Friday 8 July Saturday 9 July Sunday 10 July Monday 11 July Tuesday 12 July
GS 1572 Report of the Business Committee
GS 1574 Formation for Ministry within a Learning Church: Reviewing Progress
GS 1575 Assisted Suicide and Voluntary Euthanasia: Report by the Mission and Public Affairs Council *
GS 1576 Children and Holy Communion *
Annex 1
Annex 2
GS 1577 Presence and Engagement [This is a 20 MB (sic) document.]
GS Misc 788 Covering Note from the Mission and Public Affairs Council
GS 1578 Thirty-Ninth Report of the Standing Orders Committee
First Notice Paper (listing proposed amendments to standing orders)
GS 1579 Church Urban Fund: A New Future
GS Misc 789 Covering Note from the Mission and Public Affairs Council
GS 1580 Strategic Spending Review
GS 1580A Accountability and Transparency
GS 1580B Resourcing Mission
Annex A Annex B Annex C Annex D Annex E
GS Misc 782 Review of Administrative Costs *
GS 1583 Annual Report of the Archbishops’ Council’s Audit Committee
GS 1582 Archbishops’ Council’s Annual Report *
In the Spirit of the Covenant: Report of the Joint Implementation Commission
GS Misc 784 Covering Note by the CCU
Listing continues below the fold.
0 CommentsAnglican-Methodist Covenant
The interim Report of the Joint Implementation Commission under the covenant between the Methodist Church and the Church of England – In the Spirit of the Covenant – has just been published. It is online here. It’s quite substantial – 112 A5 pages plus appendices.
The report will be debated at the Methodist Conference later this month and at General Synod In July.
The Methodist Church website carries a news item on the report here.
0 CommentsResourcing Mission Group
Hidden away at the bottom of the Church of England’s papers webpage is this item.
Resourcing Mission Group
The Resourcing Mission Group was one of the groups created by the Archbishops in 2004 following the adjournment by General Synod of the consultation document GS1529: “Future use of the Church Commissioners Funds”. This is the Group’s interim report, on which the Church’s views are being invited. Its final report will be prepared in the autumn after the consultation process has finished.
Main report 179kb
Annex A 26kb
Annex B 72kb
Annex C 27kb
Annex D 36kb (Excel document)
Additional Annex 49kb
The terms of reference of the group were “to identify achievable ways in which the financial and other resources of the Church of England might be best deployed (a) to secure their equitable distribution across the Church and (b) to facilitate local mission objectives and plans”.
Nothing about the consultation process has appeared on the CofE news page or on the rather obscure Church Commissioners’ own news page so it is unclear where comments should be sent. I suggest “Resourcing Mission Group Secretariat” at Church House Westminster.
0 CommentsGeneral Synod: July 2005 Timetable
General Synod members have been sent a timetable for July’s meeting. It does not appear to be available online, so I have reproduced it below.
GENERAL SYNOD: JULY 2005 GROUP OF SESSIONS
Timetable
The times of sessions are as follows (unless otherwise indicated):
9.15 am to 1 pm; 2.30 — 6.15 pm; 8.30 pm — 10 pm
Friday, 8 July
3.00 pm
Prayers, introductions, welcome to and reply on behalf of the ecumenical guests
Report by the Business Committee
Ordinal: Second Revision Stage
Evening
Questions
Saturday, 9 July
Morning
Group work
Legislative Business
i. Further Miscellaneous Provisions Measure: Final Drafting and Final Approval
ii. Clergy Discipline Measure Code of Practice
iii. Clergy Discipline Measure Rules
iv. Fees Orders
v. Approval of petition renaming the See of Southwell
Afternoon
Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill: Report by the Mission and Public Affairs Council
Communion before Confirmation: Report by the Board of Education
Evening
Formation for Ministry in a Learning Church: Follow-up to the Hind Report
Sunday, 10 July
Afternoon
Inter-Faith Relations: Report by the Mission and Public Affairs Council
Parochial Fees: Oxford Diocesan Synod Motion
Standing Orders Committee Report
Evening
Church Urban Fund: Report by the Archbishops’ Council
Monday, 11 July
Morning
Prayers
Presidential Address
Strategic Financial Review: Progress Report
Budget
Afternoon
Women in the Episcopate
Evening
Ordinal: Final Approval
Audit Committee Report
Archbishops’ Council Annual Report
Tuesday, 12 July
Morning
Prayers
Anglican Methodist Covenant: Interim Report from the Joint Implementation Commission
Holy Communion and closing ceremonies
Dissolution
General Synod Elections 2005
There will be a general election for the Church of England’s General Synod in September. Church House Westminster held a consultation for returning officers on Tuesday of this week. In connection with this a lot of guidance material has been placed online. Although intended primarily for the returning officers much of it will be of more general interest.
The provisional timetable is:
1 Notification to electors of the election timetable to be followed in the diocese and issue of nomination papers:
Not later than Tuesday 19th July2 Notification of the validity of any nomination:
As soon as any nomination is received3 Closing date for nominations:
Friday 2nd September4 Issue of voting papers:
Friday 9th September5 Closing date for return of voting papers:
Friday 30th September6 Day of the Count:
Monday 3rd, Tuesday 4th, Wednesday 5th, or Thursday 6th October
The final timetable may differ slightly from diocese to diocese.
There have been a number of changes since 2000. Some of the more significant are:
1 Synod has been reduced in size by 105 members.
2 There will no longer be a representative archdeacon from each diocese. Instead the archdeacons will be eligible to stand for election in their diocesan proctorial election although at most one can be elected in any diocese or electoral area.
3 Clergy with permission to officiate are now eligible to be candidates. Only those who are also a member of a deanery synod are electors.
4 Candidates will only have to provide one copy of their election address. Dioceses will be responsible for making copies and sending them to all electors.
Full details of who are eligible to be candidates, who the electors are, the number of clergy and laity to be elected by each diocese and a full set of rules are included in the online material.
6 CommentsGeneral Synod – July 2005 – preliminary agenda
Synod meets in York from Friday 8 July to Tuesday 12 July. There is now a (very) preliminary agenda on the CofE website. It’s an rtf file, so for convenience I have reproduced its contents below.
General
Business Committee report (¾ hours)
Presidential Address (½ hour)
Eucharist and closing ceremonies (1¼ hours)
[Group work (1¼ hours)]
Legislation
Further Miscellaneous Provisions Measure: Final Drafting and Final Approval (25 minutes)
?Amending Canon No 24 (Clergy Discipline): Promulgation (5 minutes)
Fees Orders (½ hour)
Clergy Discipline Measure Rules
?Clergy Discipline Appeal Rules
Clergy Discipline Measure Code of Practice
(1 hour for the three)
Approval of petition renaming Diocese of Southwell (?deemed approval – allow ½ hour)
Liturgy
Ordinal: Second Revision Stage (2 hours) and Final Approval (1 hour)
Reports
Women in the Episcopate (2¾ hours)
Strategic Financial Review: progress report (2 hours)
2006 budget (1 hour)
Church Urban Fund (1½ hours)
Anglican/Methodist Covenant: interim report from Joint Implementation Commission (2 hours)
Standing Orders Committee report (¾ hours)
Constitutions report: Liturgical Commission and other Commissions (½ hour)
?Review of Diocesan Practice on Communion before Confirmation (1½ hours)
Hind follow-up (2¼ hours)
Inter-faith relations: MPA report (2 hours)
Trade Justice: presentation and questions (1 hour)
Archbishops’ Council annual report (deemed approval – allow ½ hour)
?Audit Committee: annual report (¾ hours)
??Euthanasia: MPA report (1½ hours)
Diocesan Synod Motion
Parochial Fees (Oxford) (1¼ hours)
[See below the fold for the text]
Private Member’s Motion
None
Contingency Business
Human Genome (Guildford DSM)
General Synod: Brian Lewis speech
This is the prepared text for the maiden speech given by Brian Lewis in the General Synod debate on the Windsor Report last Thursday. Brian is Rector of St Michael & All Angels, Little Ilford (Manor Park)in the Diocese of Chelmsford.
I felt very disappointed when I read the House of Bishops report on the Windsor Report. In his Advent Pastoral letter the Archbishop had written that one of the deepest challenges of the Windsor Report is about repentance. And in the Church we can never call on others to repent without ourselves acknowledging that we too in all sorts of ways are sinners in need of grace. We all need to be involved in this repentance, and it seems to me that this recognition that we all need to repent is missing from the Bishops’ report.
The current crisis in the Anglican Communion and the need for the Windsor report is apparently because of the different ways that different parts of the Communion approach the subject of homosexuality. For nearly thirty years now, successive Lambeth Conferences have addressed the question of homosexuality and called on us as the Anglican Communion to engage in a process of dialogue, study and listening. For nearly thirty years we have largely ignored that call, and we have totally ignored the way that other parts of the communion, specifically those parts of the Communion who have had most difficulty coming to terms with what has happened in New Hampshire, have refused to engage in that process. We do need to be repentant of how we have handled that. We have failed the wider communion when we have not used opportunities to share the dialogues we have been able to have in this country simply because it is legal to have those dialogues. You may have heard about a radio station in Nigeria broadcasting a programme which had three gay Nigerians talking about their lives. That programme was against the law. The radio station was fined for simply allowing gay people, in a secular context, to talk about their lives. We need to take account of how difficult it is for people to share their experiences in other parts of the communion and we might have done much more to help.
Working in East London odd opportunities arise. One Sunday morning, unannounced, five Kenyan priests arrived in church for the Sunday Eucharist – they were travelling through on the way back from a conference. It was just before the Archbishop’s enthronement, they had heard that he had ordained a gay man, so we talked about what that meant in our culture. About the place of gay people in our society, about what it means to be gay in our culture. I talked about my pastoral experience, about a bereavement visit where the widow quite naturally introduced her son and his partner as her second son. My visitors were astounded, it was a revelation to them that such a thing could happen. As I talked about the place gay people have in our culture, they talked about Kenyan society, about marriage and what it is to be unmarried in Kenyan culture. They learnt from me, and I learnt from them, we learnt from each other. An isolated story – but it needn’t have been, how often might we have learnt from each other if we had used, for example, link diocesan visits and exchanges to really learn what each others cultures are about and what it is to minister in them. Perhaps we need to repent of being too frightened, or just not caring enough, to talk about the difficult issues, the things we would disagree about.
You may have heard about a retired bishop in Uganda who has tried to begin the process of dialogue and pastoral support for gay Ugandan Christians. He faced tremendous opposition from his church. He was forbidden to preach and officiate, and even told at one point he would be refused a Christian burial. Perhaps we should have more visibly offered support and encouragement, after all he is doing what successive Lambeth conferences have been asking for. When he was suspended by the Ugandan church perhaps we should have been more overt and public in our support of him and our bishops might have intervened on his behalf. Calling one another to account is part of what the Archbishop was talking about in his pastoral letter when he spoke of living in the full interdependence of love.
The Bishop of Durham has spoken to us being in a desperate state of emergency, but that ignores the fact things are still happening, our communion is still functioning – things may not be as dire as he would have us believe. On the feast of Epiphany in the Diocese of Kajo Keji in the Sudan, there was a great occasion, an ordination of thirty-four deacons and three priests. Bishop Paul Marshall of ECUSA had been due to visit the diocese but in the light of the Windsor Report had offered to cancel his visit not wanting his presence to be a cause for embarrassment. But with the support of his Primate the Diocesan Bishop not only renewed his invitation, he rescheduled the ordinations so that Bishop Marshall could ordain the thirty-four deacons and with him the three priests. It also seems to me that we are too ready to hear the stories of broken relationships and not where the communion is strong.
And a story from me, I was born in New Zealand and ordained priest there twenty five years ago, and even longer ago than that I remember a debate in my diocesan synod on the subject of homosexuality. The synod resolved not to discriminate in employment on the grounds of sexual orientation. The debate was certainly about clergy and presumably that included bishops. The sky did not fall in, no African prelates imploded. It may have been because we were all concerned about something that seemed much more controversial – rugby. Should the Allblacks play the Springboks? We were engaged with supporting the Church in South Africa’s battle with apartheid. Throughout New Zealand society and the churches were deeply divided about the sporting boycott of South Africa. Rugby is what threatened to split the church not homosexuality. How have we come to this point today?
If the Anglican Communion falls apart in the next few months, might – just might – it not be because of something that happened in New Hampshire but because for twenty five years we have ignored the call of three Lambeth conferences to talk, to listen, to study, to learn.
4 CommentsMore Answers to Questions
Three more answers, this group relating to discrimination on grounds of gender.
Q5 The Revd Canon Penny Driver (Ripon & Leeds) to ask the Secretary General:
In the House of Bishops’ paper HB(05)M1 (“Summary of Decisions”), item no.14 refers to the House giving its approval in principle to a way of amending the law to address a legal difficulty which would otherwise arise when a new EU directive comes into force in October. Please could we know what this amendment is, how it will be done and why?
Answer by the Secretary General [William Fittall]
0 CommentsIn the next few weeks the Department for Trade and Industry will be publishing draft regulations to bring UK law into line with the amended Equal Treatment Directive adopted by the EC in 2002. One amendment to Westminster legislation would involve a consequential amendment to the Priests (Ordination of Women) Measure 1993 in relation to the law on discrimination. As a result the DTI has, under the normal constitutional convention, consulted the Church. The House of Bishops and Archbishops’ Council have both given their approval to the Government’s proposed approach, which will enable the Church to maintain its present arrangements in a way consistent with European law.
I shall circulate a more detailed explanation to Synod members once the Government’s consultation document has been published.
General Synod debate : the rerun
The BBC Parliament channel will be rebroadcasting its coverage of the General Synod debate held last Thursday morning about the Windsor Report.
The retransmission starts at 3.00 p.m. GMT on Sunday, and lasts 195 minutes. Details here.
0 CommentsSynod day four
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.
0 CommentsSynod day three
BBC Radio reports from the Today programme this morning, before the debates. Listen with Real Audio.
Robert Pigott reports. The General Synod, the Church of England’s Parliament, is debating women bishops again today. Listen 2 minutes
Campaigners in favour of women bishops are protesting at the Synod building of the Church of England. Jane Little is there. Listen 4 minutes
Archbishop of Canterbury’s Sermon at Holy Communion before the session
Archbishop’s speeches in the debates
Speech in Take Note debate on the theology of Women in the Episcopate
Speech moving motion on Women in the Episcopate
Speech summing up the debate on Women in the Episcopate
Reports after the debates:
Press Association Synod has Lively Debate on Issue of Women Bishops
BBC First step towards woman bishops which has links to two video clips, a report by Robert Pigott and an interview with Vivienne Faull.
Reuters Church moves towards women bishops
Telegraph ‘A thousand parishes’ oppose women bishops
Associated Press (via Beliefnet) Church of England to Consider Allowing Women Bishops
The Times Ruth Gledhill Synod paves the way towards first women bishops by 2010
Guardian Stephen Bates Welcomes and warnings in women bishops debate
Telegraph Jonathan Petre Synod overcomes dissent to pave way for women bishops
and editorial comment: A broad Church has room for women bishops
Independent Synod closer to women bishops after bitter debate
Yorkshire Post Michael Brown Women a step closer to being bishops after Synod debate
Answers to Questions
A number of questions were asked about matters relating to the Civil Partnership Act 2004 and other Employment Equality legislation. The full text of these Questions and Answers is below the fold.
Only the first of these questions was answered in tonight’s session, and no supplementary question was put. The other answers are available only in written form.
News reports specifically about this matter:
Yorkshire Post Bishop signals church pensions for gay clergy’s partners
Telegraph Gay priests’ lovers to get pensions
Synod day two
The BBC discusses the forthcoming debate this afternoon Clergy face end to ‘job for life’
Financial Times Church review threat to clergy ‘jobs for life’
Reports of this afternoon:
Press Association Call to End Church ‘Jobs for Life’ Welcomed
Guardian Stephen Bates Synod votes to remove vicars’ freehold rights at churches
The Times Ruth Gledhill Anglican clergy to lose the right to a job for life
Yorkshire Post Michael Brown Here endeth your job for life, the nation’s vicars told
Financial Times Synod backs curbs on right to housing
Telegraph Jonathan Petre Synod backs move to end clergy ‘jobs for life’
Telegraph editorial against this decision House of prayer to let
The official report of business concerning the motion and vote on the Clergy Terms of Service report can be found in this RTF document and the key paragraphs are reproduced below the fold here.
0 CommentsSynod day one
entry revised Tuesday evening
The General Synod February sessions began on Monday evening.
The Church Times reports are now in the subscription-only part of that website.
Official record of business on day one are posted as an RTF file here. To understand that summary you also need to read Order Paper I which contains the wording of the amendment. The relevant texts are reproduced below the fold.
Press coverage of this evening’s synod session:
Press Association 6.40 pm Church of England Rejects Call for Royal Wedding Debate
BBC ‘No church debate’ over wedding
Sky News Church Rejects Debate On Charles’ Wedding
Guardian Stephen Bates Synod is refused a royal debate
Telegraph Jonathan Petre Synod rejects royal engagement debate
Yorkshire Post Archbishop leads prayers for couple – Synod will not debate Royal marriage issue
Associated Press Royal Wedding Highlights Divorceee Roles
Press coverage of the earlier House of Laity meeting:
The Times Ruth Gledhill Church aims to put clergy in the dock with modern heresy trials
Telegraph Jonathan Petre Clergy who deny doctrine may face trial for heresy
Earlier press coverage today:
Reuters Anglicans debate women bishops
Press Association Women Bishops on Synod Agenda
BBC A suitable job for a woman
Telegraph General Synod refuses to discuss royal wedding
The Times Royal wedding plans spark Church row
Guardian Tough talks on synod agenda
Earlier BBC reports were linked from here.
2 CommentsGeneral Synod Questions
The questions to be asked at General Synod on Tuesday are online as an RTF file here.
An html copy is accessible here.
0 CommentsThe BBC and the Synod
Update Monday
Also Synod debates women bishops issue
and this 8 minute segment from the Today radio programme: Listen here to David Houlding and David Phillips:
The General Synod of the Church of England is split over the marriage of Charles and Camilla.
And also, from earlier in the morning, this 4 minute discussion with Robert Piggott, covering the whole synod agenda.
——-
First, Alex Kirby has published a review of the General Synod meeting next week, titled Anglicans fret over divisive issues.
Second, Jane Little has written about The Church, Charles and Camilla.
Third, the Sunday radio programme had three items relevant to all this. Real Audio required.
Charles & Camilla Listen (6m 57s)
We begin with the story that has dominated the secular press this week and seems likely to dominate next week’s Church of England Synod in London next week too; the news that the man destined to be the Church’s Supreme Govenor is to marry a divorcee – the deed of course being done in a civil ceremony and not before the altar. The Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, as she will then be known, will have their union blessed by the Archbishop of Canterbury. But the conservative evangelical group the Church Society is far from happy – the group’s general Secretary David Philips is on the line. The Right Reverend Anthony Priddis, the Bishop of Hereford, chairs the church of England’s committee on such matters – FLAME, which stands for Family Life and Marriage Education.
Cathedral Deans Disco Listen (6m 58s)
There is a proposal before the General Synod of the Church of England this week which would have taken a lot of the fun out of Anthony Trollope’s account of office politics in the Cathedral Close at Barchester but is, in the view of the man behind it, necessary if the Church is to meet the challenges of the modern world. Anthony Archer – who is involved in high level appointments both in his professional life and within the church bureaucracy – says the way senior jobs are awarded in the Church is “shrouded in secrecy” and needs to be changed. Anthony Archer joins us as does Colin Slee the dean of Southwark Cathedral.
Gay Blessings Listen (7m 3s)
0 CommentsAnother of the big debates at the General Synod next week will concern the Windsor Report – the Anglican Communion’s study into how to preserve church unity in the face of the divisions over homosexuality – the BBC’s Parliament Channel will be broadcasting the debate live from nine o’clock on Thursday morning.. One of the main triggers which brought those divisions to a head was the decision of a Canadian diocese to authorise a service of Blessing for same sex unions. Such services are forbidden in the Church of England at the moment – and gay clergy aren’t allowed to be homosexually active. But both of those rules are often flouted in reality, and when the Civil Partnership Act comes into force later this year the questions about the Church’s position in this area will become even more pressing. – Christopher Landau reports.
General Synod: debates on women bishops
These debates will occur on Wednesday, following a service of Holy Communion at which Rowan Williams will preside and preach. The starting time of the debate will therefore be around 10.15 a.m.
Glyn Paflin reported on this in the Church Times last week:
About two and three-quarter hours have been set aside on the Wednesday morning for a take-note motion on the Rochester report.
The motion will be moved by the Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, who chaired the House of Bishops’ working party on women in the episcopate, which produced the report that bears his name, Women Bishops in the Church of England?
In the afternoon, at 2.30, the Synod has until 3.45 to debate a motion in the name of the Archbishop of Canterbury, which says: “That the Synod welcome the report from the House of Bishops (GS 1568) and invite the business committee to make sufficient time available at the July group of sessions for Synod to determine whether it wishes to set in train the process for removing the legal obstacles to the ordination of women to the episcopate.”
The paper issued to synod members explaining how the debates will be structured is GS 1568 published only as an RTF file, but reproduced here below the fold.
The basic document under consideration is GS 1557, the Rochester report Women Bishops in the Church of England? This can be downloaded as an 800K PDF file here, or as three separate smaller ones from here.
Annex 1 of this report details the varied status of women’s ordination across all 38 provinces of the commmunion (and beyond, in other churches with whom we are in communion). An html copy of part of this annex (including the footnotes which are essential for deciphering it) is accessible here.
An earlier brief note on the Rochester report can be found here.
National press coverage from November was listed here and here.
Also church press coverage including a number of excellent articles is listed here and here.
0 CommentsWR: debate at the General Synod
Next Thursday, the General Synod of the Church of England will debate a motion relating to the Windsor Report. The event will be covered live by the BBC Parliament TV channel from 8.50 am GMT. See report confusingly headlined Gay bishops on BBC Parliament.
The exact wording of the motion to be debated is below. For further documentation relating to this debate, read this earlier report.
The motion to be moved by the Bishop of Durham and debated by Synod (starting at 9am on Thursday 17 February) is:
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 within the Communion; and
(c) assure the Archbishop of Canterbury of its prayerful support at the forthcoming Primates’ Meeting.
My own analysis of this is below the fold.
1 Commentsenior church appointments
Update 11 February
Anthony Archer has an article in the Church of England Newspaper
Bringing the appointments system home
Update 4 February
The Church Times has a report on this subject Let us vet new bishops, says Synod member
The General Synod is scheduled to debate this private member’s motion sometime after 2.30 pm on Thursday 17 February. It has been given some prominence in the official press release about the forthcoming session, which says:
Senior Church Appointments
This private member’s motion from Mr Anthony Archer seeks to ask the Archbishops’ Council to set up a working party to undertake a wide-ranging review of the offices of suffragan bishop, deacon, archdeacon and residentiary canon, and the law and practice regarding appointments to these offices. In doing so, the motion proposes that the Church should adopt an integrated, consistent and transparent method of making appointments to senior ecclesiastical offices.
The wording of the motion has been published here.
The briefing note numbered GS Misc 765A prepared by the member concerned, Mr Anthony Archer, is available here in RTF, but is more accessible here as a web page.
The background note numbered GS Misc 765B prepared by William Fittall Secretary-General, is similarly available here and accessible here.
The printed version of this also reprints the text of GS Misc 455 Code of Practice for Senior Church Appointments issued in 1995 which is not available electronically from the CofE website, but is accessible here.
Other documents have been issued by the Secretary General in connection with this motion:
GS 1405 Working with the Spirit: Choosing Diocesan Bishops – the Perry Report published in 2001 (as a PDF file about 0.5 Mb)
(no number) Briefing for members of Vacancy-in-See Committees (RTF format) – accessible copy here
GS Misc 770 CHOOSING DIOCESAN BISHOPS A report on progress on the implementation of the Report of the Steering Group appointed to follow up the recommendations of “Working with the Spirit” – this is not yet on the CofE website, but is accessible here.
We are also promised, in GS Misc 770, an electronic copy of GS 1465 “Choosing Diocesan Bishops. The Report of the Steering Group appointed to follow up the recommendations of Working with the Spirit”, but neither this, nor new paper copies of it have appeared yet.
Last July questions were asked about appointment of deans and the BBC carried an interview with Anthony Archer and others.
And finally, for the moment, Mr Archer has prepared a note for his colleagues on EGGS, which he has given TA permission to publish. It can be found here.
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