INTRODUCTION
This year's programme looked, at first sight, to be a little daunting: 10 Bills and 26 motions to be dealt with in less than three days. However, on closer inspection the situation was not as bad as it seemed. Most of the Bills were of a technical or administrative nature: provision for the Cathedrals and Dignities of the Diocese of Tuam, Killala and Achonry, some tidying up of the Constitution and internal administration, and the abolition of the existing practice whereby members of General Synod are automatically proposed for re-election – an attempt, no doubt, to encourage greater turnover and variety among Synod members. It will be interesting to see how successful this will be.
There was also a Bill to exclude deacons who are serving an internship from ‘the beneficed and licensed clergy’ for the purposes of election to General Synod (though not to diocesan synods) and of exercising certain rights and privileges regarding parochial organisations and the management of burial grounds.
CLERGY PENSIONS
The most important piece of legislation passed related to the Clergy Pension Fund. It was reported in 2012 that there was an expectation that proposals might be brought forward in 2013 to close the Scheme to new members. During the year, tighter requirements were imposed by the Irish Pensions Regulator and the problems of having a large deficit and more beneficiaries than contributors were in no way mitigated. It was proposed, therefore, that not only should the Scheme be closed to new members but that there would be no future accruals for existing members. A new defined contribution scheme was proposed to deal with new members and the future service of existing members. There was also to be a levy on dioceses – with inevitable consequences for parishes – to help fund the deficit in the existing scheme. Prior to Synod there had been some talk of opposition to these proposals but, in the event, it was hard to argue with the figures and the Bill was passed.
HUMAN SEXUALITY
The subject of human sexuality in the context of Christian belief continued to claim some of Synod's attention. A select committee was appointed to enable the listening, dialogue and learning process on all such issues to continue. It is to have a two-year lifespan, with provision for extension, and is to report to Standing Committee twice a year. It is empowered to bring to Synod via the Standing Committee whatever motions it deems appropriate and is to consult as widely as possible. If the process surrounding the Synod's consideration of another thorny problem – that of remarriage after divorce – is anything to go by, the provision for extension will frequently be called into play.
THE COVENANT COUNCIL AND INTERCHANGEABILITY OF MINISTRY
Interchangeability of ministry between the Church of Ireland and the Methodist Church in Ireland was the subject of a statement of agreed principles brought to the Synod in 2010; since then, subsequent developments have been flagged up in these pages, culminating in permission being sought to bring in a Bill to enable interchangeability.
As has previously been reported, the Covenant Council, which is taking the discussions forward, considered that there was a sufficiency of consonance to justify the step and put forward the proposal as a confirmation of convergence and a celebration of what could be discerned in what the two Churches already do. A new Canon is proposed which
i. recognises all three expressions of personal, communal and collegial episkope in the polity of the Methodist Church in Ireland in the person of the President and his/her predecessors and successors, the Methodist congregations and the Methodist Conference respectively;
ii. discerns consonance between the office and function of a bishop and in the office and function of a president and a past president;
iii. requires that at least two bishops of the Church of Ireland participate in all future installations and consecrations of the President; and
iv. recognises past presidents who are in full Connexion with the Conference as being entitled to participate in the laying on of hands in the ordination of bishops and priests in the Church of Ireland.
Once the events in (iii) and (iv) have occurred, presbyters in the Methodist Church would be regarded as equivalent to priests in the Church of Ireland for the purposes of being considered for or appointed to any role which necessitates being in priest's orders. A similar arrangement would apply to bishops and presidents. It is also proposed that there would be a period of anomaly during which no distinction should be made between presidents installed before or after the new arrangements come into operation, provided they are in full Connexion.
This clearly does not go as far as union but it would be a significant and necessary step on the way. The motion, which is the equivalent of the first reading of a Bill, was passed with only one dissenting lay vote, overwhelmingly achieving the required two-thirds majority in each order. The step was taken – as one speaker put it – in the spirit of creative ecumenism, considering not so much what one can bring to a relationship as what one may receive. The legislation itself will appear in 2014.
