General Synod questions
on Monday, 25 November 2019 at 12.24 pm by Peter Owen
categorised as Church of England, General Synod
Last month General Synod members were invited to submit questions for written answer. The 56 questions and their answers are now available for download.
Currently the same link is repeated, and the still-unnavigable C of E website has so far defeated my attempts to find this document!
I think the download link is wrong?
I think you have the wrong link for the download I think you should have this https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2019-11/Questions%20Notice%20Paper%20November%202019.pdf
Sorry about the bad link, which I have now corrected.
The Bishop of Ely: “The Living in Love and Faith (LLF) resources will include material relating to identity, gender and human sexuality, including the concerns of transgender and gender diverse children, that will help the Church of England provide further guidance to Church of England schools in due course.” Are these resources going to be published first in draft form, so that people can make observations or offer advice or improvements. Since this is guidance being offered about LGBT people it seems appropriate that there is adequate scope for LGBT people themselves to contribute to the drafting of documents about… Read more »
Question 50 asked about ordination figures by age and gender. What is the explanation for there being around twice as many male as female ordinands in their 20’s, and significantly more male ordinands in their 30’s too? Is childbirth and childcare the reason? Is it greater encouragement given by some types of churches to young men? And is this imbalance good for the Church? Is it just ‘more natural’ for more women to feel called to ordination after bearing children first?
I’m not criticising. I’m just intrigued.
We think it is that con evo churches are good at nurturing young male vocations to ordination. Most of my female students were in those kind of churches in their 20s and have only thought of ordination (or Reader ministry) in their 30s or 40s when they have moved churches.
I wonder how many of the young males nurtured by con evo churches stick parochial ministry. I suspect a fair few bottle out to desk jobs within less than a decade. At a recent diocesan conference a third year curate from this constituency told me he was looking for an incumbency where he could spend his time telling people how awesome Jesus was. I hope he’s found it and has time to do that. I note that it’s not unusual for con evo incumbents to have served only one church as curate then incumbent. If I ruled the world, I… Read more »
Yes – entirely agree, Stanley. We try to do that with placements in both pre-ordination training and curate training. But the students who relish being challenged in this way are often the one who least need it….
Given the large number of older people who attend, or would like to attend, church services and functions; and given that it is well-known that incontinence or urgency can be an issue for more people as they grow older, Question 45 gives pause for thought. It asks about disabled toilets, but in response – and not discounting the important issues around disabilities and access – I note that 36% of churches do not have a toilet at all, let alone a disabled one. I realise that this is a very complicated issue over planning in listed buildings, and expense. Nevertheless,… Read more »
Just to note that some rural churches near me do not have a water supply.
Waterless composting toilets ( for example those supplied by NatSol ) are possible for precisely those locations without a water supply
Q 31 Mr David Lamming (St Edmundsbury & Ipswich) to ask the Chair of the House of Bishops: Q. “General Synod has not yet been given the opportunity to debate the independent review by Lord Carlile of Berriew QC, published nearly two years ago on 15 December 2017, into the way the Church of England dealt with a complaint of sexual abuse made by a woman known as ‘Carol’ against the late Bishop George Bell (“the Carlile Review”). Having regard to (i) the circumstances in which the Review was commissioned, (ii) the conclusions of Lord Carlile, (iii) the public responses… Read more »
I was interested in the answers to Qs 9-11, about the ministry of the Bishop of Maidstone. The Bishop’s own website states that as of Sept. 1st, 142 conservative evangelical parishes had passed resolutions, some of which ‘have formal arrangements to receive extended episcopal oversight from Bishop Rod while the others retain their previously existing episcopal arrangements’. This might explain the difference between 142 and the figure of 69 given in the answer to Q9, but it also suggests that there is more of the obfuscation and plain deception to which Qs 10 and 11 are clearly alluding, but which… Read more »
Thank you Malcolm, as the person who posed Qs 9 and 10 I wasn’t surprised at the non answers to both 10 and 11. But these non answers pave the way for more Qs at the February Synod and hopefully they will be framed in a way that the HOB can’t respond by simply saying they haven’t addressed the matter!.