A not so dull view from General Synod
Justin Brett is a teacher at Roedean School in Brighton and one of our General Synod elected representatives. Justin, who was recently involved in the consultation for the new diocesan bishop, shares his personal summary of the recent February proceedings at General Synod in London.
My school is thankfully very relaxed about my habit of disappearing for most of a week at the beginning of February. I make sure the cover work is all set up on the Monday morning, head for the station, and they don’t see me again until Friday, when in a sociable fashion I get asked a variation on the question “How was Synod?” In my more cynical moments, I sometimes suspect that the answer my colleagues expect to hear is ‘dull’. Below is the answer I ought to give.
This time around we spent a long time debating the Big Issue. Again. At the end of it, the constitutional situation was unchanged. We accepted the report on the reference to the dioceses and sent the Measure on to the House of Bishops in preparation for its return (probably) in July. Motions to steer the bishops in one direction or other ended up being amended out of existence, and nothing really changed. However, that’s not to say that nothing happened. Synod demonstrated once again that it supports women bishops, that it wants some provision for dissent and that the only such mechanism for that purpose that has enough support in Synod to be viable is the Code of Practice. Nobody likes it much, but a majority of us like anything else less.
Also on the legislative side we have finally established the Ecclesiastical Fees (aka Hatch, Match and Dispatch) for
the next few years, and various amendments have been made to Clergy Terms of Service – most notably that clergy are now banned from membership or support of any racist political party. We also came a step closer to approving the much awaited new Eucharistic Prayers for children. However, that’s not all that happened at Synod. There were a number of debates on issues rather than legislation, prompted by national and international events: Health Care, Higher Education Reform, Assisted Suicide and an Emergency Debate on the situation in Nigeria all figured.
Chichester took its share of the limelight as well. First, our Diocesan Synod motion – that permanent deacons should be able to become Archdeacons – was debated, and unfortunately lost. However, it did point out that we are long overdue for a re-assessment of the role of permanent deacons, and it is to be hoped that the powers that be have taken note of that fact, at least. Finally, last but not least, the Archbishop of Canterbury said farewell to Bishop John on his retirement. His speech was delightful – the sort of address he could only have given about someone for whom he had great love and respect.
Anyway. That’s the answer I ought to give. What I usually say, though, is “It was fine. The Church of England is still in one piece, and there’s no sign of the Inquisition. Yet.”
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Images courtesy of Peter Owen
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