The General Synod of the Church of Ireland 2011 | ||
General Synod, which is a meeting of representatives of all dioceses in
the Church of Ireland, meets annually over a three day period to enact
legislation for the Church through a formal three stage reading of
Bills, which if passed become Acts or Statutes. Less formal proposals if
accepted become resolutions. It also receives reports from various
Committees and Boards.
On 5 March a special meeting was called in Dublin to vote on a proposal
by the House of Bishops to delay the appointment of a Bishop to the
small diocese of Tuam, Killala and Achonry. Democracy in the Church was
proven when after much passionate debate the Bishops’ proposal was
defeated by a large majority.
General Synod met in Armagh last month. In his
Presidential Address Archbishop Alan Harper referred to the passion
of the debate at the Special Meeting, a “passion that has been lacking
in successive meetings of General Synods for many years. Many of our
debates seem bloodless and to lack sustained engagement.” He referred to
a three page report entitled “The Future of the Church of Ireland” by
the Archdeacon of Tuam, enclosed as an appendix to the Commission on
Ministry Report, which sounded the death knell of the Church. The
intention was to identify challenges which the Church must address.
Archbishop Harper said it was a “wake up and smell the coffee moment”,
and change needed to start with the General Synod itself. Certainly the
legislative process, as we experienced on the first day of synod, was
unlikely to arouse passion, but he said “discussion of the mission of
the Church in society surely should”. He went on to propose ways in
which more time could be devoted at future meetings to discuss our
mission.
At the Synod Service in Armagh Cathedral that evening the Bishop of
Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh, Ken Clarke,
preached about priorities for the Church as seen by Haggai in the
Old Testament reading. God’s temple is no longer a building but, as St
Paul says, is the body of people. God’s temple is in ruins when people
say
"we cannot trust
even the church to tell the truth any more". It is in ruins when people
fight rather than love one another,
when our own selfish needs become more important
than those of the church and the community and we resist any
inconveniencing of ourselves for the sake of the Gospel. It
is in ruins when people do not see in the Church, Christ the friend
of sinners ... when we hear phrases like, "oh they may be here but they
are not
ours or one of us." It is in ruins when we are selfishly selective about
whom we
really
welcome in our parishes.
The
Presidential Address and the
Bishop of Kilmore’s sermon certainly identify the challenge to us as
the Church today. The Bishop of Connor said that for many parishes so
much time and energy were spent in maintaining churches, halls and
rectories and other parochial needs that little is left for mission. He
said an initiative is planned in our Diocese to address this issue.
The other main event of the synod was the approval of synod to
“subscribe” to the Anglican Covenant. This is a document arising from
the disagreements in the Anglican Communion, and Provinces of the
Anglican Communion have been asked to “adopt” the Covenant. There was a
lot of discussion with some disagreement mainly related to Section Four.
The first three sections define “Our Inheritance of Faith”(what we
believe), “The Life We Share with Others: Our Anglican Vocation” and
“Our Unity and Common Life”. The fourth section relates to “Our
Covenanted Life Together” dealing with how the Covenant is to be adopted
by Provinces, and more controversially with dispute resolution through a
Standing Committee with possible “relational consequences” (possibly
excommunication). After passionate debate the Archbishop allowed a time
of silent reflection and prayer before voting took place. The Church of
Ireland agreed to “subscribe to” rather than “adopt” the Covenant
recognising that “the Anglican Covenant is consonant with the doctrine
and formularies of the Church of Ireland” but would not affect the
independence of the Church of Ireland, it would not become part of its
formularies nor would it change its self-understanding.
Three days – tiring, but challenging as to the future of the Church of
Ireland. |
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