Introduction
‘Synodality’ is not a term used in norms or pastoral guidance within the Anglican Communion. For the purposes of this article, the explanation given by the Roman Catholic International Theological Commission is taken as the basis:
‘Synod’ is an ancient and venerable word in the Tradition of the Church … Composed of a preposition συν (with) and the noun όδός (path), it indicates the path along which the People of God walk together …
Since the first centuries, the word ‘synod’ has been applied, with a specific meaning, to the ecclesial assemblies convoked on various levels (diocesan, provincial, regional, patriarchal or universal) to discern, by the light of the Word of God and listening to the Holy Spirit, the doctrinal, liturgical, canonical and pastoral questions that arise as time goes by …
In the theological, canonical and pastoral literature of recent decades, a neologism has appeared, the noun ‘synodality’, a correlate of the adjective ‘synodal’, with both of these deriving from the word ‘synod’. Thus people speak of synodality as a ‘constitutive dimension’ of the Church or tout court of the ‘synodal Church’…Footnote 1
Synod and parish are essential elements of Anglican organisation. The Church of England is frequently described as ‘episcopally led and synodically governed’,Footnote 2 although this phrase is not legally comprehensive.Footnote 3 According to the Principles of Canon Law Common to the Anglican Communion (‘the Principles’), the most local unit of a diocese is the parish or other similar ecclesiastical entity. The formation, alteration or dissolution of a parish is in the keeping of the diocesan assembly, subject to provisions applicable under the general law of a church. A parish is committed by the bishop to the spiritual care of an ordained minister.Footnote 4
Morris observes that, historically:
… there is nothing uniquely Anglican about the parish … The parish is simply the local unit of ecclesiastical administration reflecting the settled condition Western Christianity achieved in the early Middle Ages … In England and Wales the parish system largely came into being almost a thousand years ago … The geography of parishes – their size, distribution and shape – was influenced by many factors, including population density, terrain and the local economy. Village communities defined themselves over time through their parish boundaries. Civic and religious responsibilities overlapped; clergy and parish officers were often the only local government officials people might encounter in person.Footnote 5
This overlap between ecclesiastical and secular local government continued after the Reformation into the nineteenth century, entire separation being achieved only in the 1890s,Footnote 6 long after the notion of a confessional state as envisaged in the Reformation legislative settlements had ceased to be tenable.Footnote 7
The Principles record that an Anglican parish has a representative assembly that consists of clergy and lay persons. Lay members of a parish assembly are selected or appointed by way of election or other lawful process from such classes of qualified persons as are prescribed by law. The parish assembly has such functions as are prescribed by law to promote the whole mission of the church, pastoral, evangelistic, social, and ecumenical.Footnote 8 To that extent, legal principles concerning the Anglican parish can be viewed as expressions of what, in Catholic thought, is termed ‘synodality’, although the term ‘synod’ is reserved for assemblies drawn from wider Church life – in the Church of England, for example, at deanery, diocesan and national levels.
The parish and its assembly are not wholly autonomous because they are, in some respects, answerable to diocesan and other authorities. Accordingly, the Principles state that a parish assembly or its officers may be required to report annually to the diocesan authoritiesFootnote 9 and parishes may be subject to visitation.Footnote 10 Arrangements for financial contributions by parishes to their dioceses and provision by dioceses of stipendiary and non-stipendiary ministers, ordained and lay, are further expressions of interdependence; in the diocese of Chelmsford, for example, this relationship is described in terms of ‘Travelling Well Together’, a concept that resonates with Catholic teaching on synodality.Footnote 11
Examples – parish arrangements in the Church of England and Church in Wales
The Church of England is an established church, whereas the Church in Wales was disestablished in 1920.Footnote 12 Basic legal heritage in relation to the parish is shared but detailed arrangements reflect the different constitutional foundations of the two churches.
English post-Reformation ecclesiastical law was received in Wales in 2020 and, subject to later legislative intervention, is common to the two churches. Case law establishes that a parish is a district committed to the charge of an ordained minister who has the cure of souls in it.Footnote 13 The cure of souls is shared between the bishop and the parish priest, as affirmed in the canonical practice of licensing a new incumbent to a benefice under the Bishop’s seal, typically accompanied by words such as ‘Receive your cure and mine’.Footnote 14
Church of England
The Synodical Government Measure 1969 including the Church Representation Rules (‘CRR’) prescribes the machinery of parish governance.Footnote 15 There are three fundamental instruments of a broadly democratic system: electoral roll, annual parochial church meeting (‘APCM’) and Parochial Church Council (‘PCC’). The CRR also provide for each parish, at its APCM, to elect one lay representative to the deanery synod.Footnote 16 Together with elected clergy members of deanery synod, many of whom are parish priests, these ‘lay electors’ comprise the electorate for the diocesan synod.Footnote 17 As the electoral college for General Synod is drawn from diocesan synods, each parish has the opportunity, in principle, to influence the composition of the Church’s legislative assembly.
Detailed provisions concerning the electoral roll, APCM and PCC are set out in Model Rules within the CRR.Footnote 18 There are variants for different forms of local arrangements;Footnote 19 this summary focuses on the basic parish model. Each parish may, within constraints, modify the scheme at its APCM or a special meeting of the PCC, subject to approval by the diocesan bishop’s council. Before approving a parochial scheme, the bishop’s council must be satisfied that it makes due provision for representation of the laity of the parish, ensures effective parish governance, entitles the minister to chair the APCM and PCC and makes due provision for allocation of property, rights, liabilities and functions to the PCC where joint parish arrangements are altered.Footnote 20 These criteria elucidate the legislative intent of the CRR and thus articulate the objectives and hallmarks of parish governance in the Church of England.
Under the Model Rules, the minister must convene and chair the APCM save in specified exceptional circumstances.Footnote 21 The PCC must provide an annual report to the APCM. Elections to the PCC and deanery synod and appointments to the positions of independent examiner or auditor of the PCC are to take place at the meeting.Footnote 22 The right to attend and participate is vested in all lay persons on the electoral roll of the ecclesiastical parish, together with clerks in holy orders who are licensed to minister in or resident in the parish or benefice or are resident or habitual worshippers in the parish.Footnote 23
The electoral roll must be kept and revised by the PCC or an electoral roll officer under their direction.Footnote 24 A lay person is entitled to have his or her name on the roll if s/he is baptised, aged 16 or over, has duly applied and made a declaration of affiliation. This broad approach to electoral entitlement reflects the concept of a comprehensive national church.Footnote 25
The PCC consists of all clergy beneficed in or licensed to the parish and, amongst others, the churchwardens, readers, lay members of the deanery, diocesan and general synods, parochial representatives elected at the annual parochial church meeting and, if the PCC wishes, a limited number of co-opted members. The CRR make detailed provision for commencement and termination of office and the filling of casual vacancies.Footnote 26 The minister is to chair the PCC, with an elected vice-chair and an appointed secretary, whose must have charge of documents relating to current business, keep the minutes and record all resolutions passed by the PCC.Footnote 27 The PCC must appoint a treasurer and an electoral roll officer.Footnote 28
The Synodical Government Measure 1969 prescribes the general functions of the PCC which include: consulting with the incumbent on matters of general concern and importance to the parish; co-operating with the incumbent in promoting in the parish the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical; making known and putting into effect any provision made by the diocesan or deanery synods; giving advice to the diocesan and deanery synods on any matter referred to the council; and raising such matters as the council consider appropriate with the diocesan or deanery synod.
By Canon, decisions as to which of the authorised forms of service, other than occasional offices, are to be used in a parish church shall be taken jointly by the minister and PCC.Footnote 29 No minister shall change the form of vesture specified by Canon which is in use in the church or chapel where he officiates unless s/he has ascertained by consultation with the PCC that such changes will be acceptable.Footnote 30
PCCs are charitable corporations and their members are subject to the duties of charitable trustees. Church of England Trusteeship guidance,Footnote 31 reflecting that of the Charity Commission, sets out seven ‘marks of good governance’. PCCs with an income over £100,000 per annum are obliged to register with the Charity Commission.Footnote 32 The Trusteeship guidance articulates the legal and spiritual understanding of the PCC’s role as follows:
God gives to all of us the responsibilities of stewardship for that which he has entrusted to us. This is true individually, but it is also true collectively. As a local church community, and as a PCC, we are stewards both of the mission of the church in that place, and of the resources available to the church.Footnote 33
Churchwardens
The office of churchwarden is an ancient one, pre-dating the introduction of synodical government to the Church of England. The Churchwardens Measure 2001 provides for there to be two churchwardens of every parish.Footnote 34 They are to be chosen from persons who have been baptised and whose names are on the church electoral roll of the parish, are actual communicants, are 21 years of age or upwards and not subject to statutory disqualification.Footnote 35
Churchwardens are officers of the bishop,Footnote 36 although they take no oath of canonical obedience.Footnote 37
The duties of churchwardens are derived partly from case law and custom, partly from statute and canon. Canon E1 summarises:
they shall be foremost in representing the laity and in co-operating with the incumbent; they shall use their best endeavours by example and precept to encourage the parishioners in the practice of true religion and to promote unity and peace among them. They shall also maintain order and decency in the church and churchyard, especially during the time of divine service.
In common with other members of the PCC, churchwardens are required to undertake safeguarding training. The Churchwardens Measure was amended in 2016 and 2021 to expand disqualification to include being on a barred list within the meaning of secular legislation and to give the bishop power to suspend a churchwarden who fails to comply with the Church’s statutory safeguarding code of guidance. These changes reflect the recognition that safeguarding is ‘part of our core faith and an integral feature of Christian life in our parish churches’.Footnote 38
In the churchwardens is vested the property in the plate, ornaments, and other movable goods of the church, and they are required to keep an inventory of these items. They must deliver to their successors any goods of the church together with the inventory, which is to be checked by their successors.Footnote 39
Finance
Parish ministry is financed by each diocese. Diocesan resources vary considerably, depending upon historic endowments and demographic patterns. There is no absolute legal requirement for parishes to contribute to ministry stipends and housing or diocesan costs, but the diocese calculates annually an amount which each parish is asked to contribute. Each PCC then decides whether or not to pay the requested sum in whole or in part or, indeed, whether to contribute more. Parish share is usually explained by dioceses in terms of contributing to the mission of the wider church, as in this example from Leeds Diocese:
As a tool which supports the mission of the church, Parish Share is grounded in our calling to share together a life shaped in response to God’s abundant generosity, and the hope we have in Him.Footnote 40
Other groups within the Church of England see parish share more tactically, in ways which could be seen as the opposite of synodality. Save the Parish, a loose grouping of clergy and laity who campaign in General Synod and generally on an agenda in support of traditional parish arrangements, suggest withholding parish share if parishes are dissatisfied with diocesan plans for them. Footnote 41
Others withhold parish share and/or pay it into a separate fund on doctrinal grounds. For example, in response to votes in General Synod to move forward with prayers of Love and Faith for the blessing of same-sex unions, the traditionalist Church of England Evangelical Council has launched a fund to which:
PCCs will … be able to pay part or all of their voluntary parish share … thus enabling their share to be used to support only local churches who stand with them in the historic Anglican and biblical position on sexual ethics.Footnote 42
Pastoral reorganisation
Until the 1830s, changing a parish boundary could only be achieved by Act of Parliament, reflecting its status, at that time, as a political unit of government. Gradually, nineteenth century legislation gave the Church more control of its own affairs but, until 2006, all schemes for reorganisation had to be approved by Order in Council. The current arrangements are contained in the Mission and Pastoral Measure 2011 although there is a review underway.Footnote 43
In summary, the 2011 Measure provides an administrative framework enabling bishops to organise certain aspects of ministry and mission in their dioceses. The purpose of the Measure is set out in its long title as being ‘to make better provision for the cure of souls’ and all persons or bodies carrying out functions under it must have due regard to ‘the furtherance of the mission of the Church of England’, defined as ‘the whole mission of the Church of England, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical’.Footnote 44 Recommendations for change are made to the diocesan bishop by a diocesan committee. The Church Commissioners have a limited supervisory function in uncontroversial cases. Where representations are made in relation to a draft scheme, however, the decision whether or not it should proceed is made by the Church Commissioners. There is a qualified right of appeal from the Commissioners’ decision to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.Footnote 45
Wales
The disestablished Church in Wales is independent of the Church of England. Church of England Measures, secondary legislation and Canons have no legal force in Wales.Footnote 46 Some secular legislation, such as that relating to charities, does apply in Wales and affects the Church, in principle, like any other organisation. However, ‘the Constitution is the legal instrument made by the Church in Wales to facilitate and order its public life’.Footnote 47 It is therefore the Constitution, together with norms – Canons, rules, regulations and ‘soft law’Footnote 48 promulgated under it – which regulate parish life. General arrangements are similar in the disestablished Church of Ireland.Footnote 49 Other non-established churches in the Communion, including the Scottish Episcopal Church, regulate themselves via a variety of norms such as canons and guidance.
The Constitution provides for the continuation of territorial arrangements of dioceses and parishes in Wales at the date of disestablishment.Footnote 50 Each parish ‘is required to comply with the Constitution of the Church in Wales’; it must keep an electoral roll, hold an Annual Vestry, appoint two churchwardens, appoint a PCC by election at the Annual Vestry and appoint sidesmen (men or women).Footnote 51 These requirements are clearly modelled on pre-disestablishment English parochial arrangements and aligned with modern ideas of lay participation in parish governance. Interestingly though, unlike England, in the Welsh scheme, no cleric shall vote in the election of a lay person at the Annual Vestry Meeting.Footnote 52
Diocesan Conference or its standing committee has power to require any parish or parish grouping to contribute towards the actual and/or anticipated expenditure of the diocese and in the exercise of such power shall consider any representations made to it, in default of which, the members and electors of that district shall not be admitted to the Conference or return representatives.Footnote 53 There is, therefore, an element of compulsion that does not feature in English parish share arrangements.
The diocesan bishop may, with the consent of the Diocesan Conference, make any change to the existing arrangement of parishes as the bishop may think fit.Footnote 54 Subject to the consent of the Diocesan Conference, the diocesan bishop, with whom the Diocesan Conference must cooperate, may by decree: alter any of the boundaries of a parish; group, unite, merge, disunite, or sever benefices or parishes; rearrange or dissolve groups of parishes and make related changes in parochial arrangements. The Church Commissioners have no role in the Church in Wales and these matters are dealt with entirely at diocesan level.
Parish governance in the wider Anglican Communion
It is beyond the scope of this paper to report on parish arrangements over the entire Communion; that task was comprehensively undertaken by Professor Norman Doe KC (Hon) at the 2016 Colloquium.Footnote 55 The summary of arrangements in England and Wales demonstrates the extent to which basic features such as the PCC and connection to the wider church via diocesan bishop, council and assemblies are similar, although in the non-established context, these principles are, essentially, voluntary rather than based on the law of the land. There follows a non-exhaustive summary of the position in the wider Communion, to illustrate these points.
According to the Principles, each parish is governed by an assembly which consists of clergy and representatives of the laity elected at an annual meeting of the ecclesiastical unit; the assembly (variously styled Council, Vestry or Committee) is usually under the presidency of the minister in charge of the unit and rules cover meetings, quorum and decision making.Footnote 56
The local assembly and minister must cooperate in the governance of the parish (or other unit) in the exercise of its spiritual, governmental and administrative functions. The functions of these assemblies may be classified broadly as spiritual, governmental, liturgical and proprietorial. A fundamental principle which is shared by the majority of churches is that the minister in charge of the ecclesiastical unit and its assembly must co-operate in the life of that unit.Footnote 57
Conclusions
From the above discussion, we can draw the following conclusions:
i. The parish in Anglican polity occupies a vital position as the place where the Church’s mission to all people is exercised.
ii. Historically in England and Wales, the parish was a unit of both ecclesiastical and secular government; this link survived the Reformation until the late nineteenth century. Unsurprisingly, ecclesiastical parish arrangements share some similarities with local governance: electoral roll, APCM and PCC. These features are normative. Most of these principles have been carried into arrangements in the Anglican Communion.
iii. Across the Communion, the roles and responsibilities of the PCC/Vestry and churchwardens are similar, embracing proprietorial duties and participation in spiritual leadership, in collaboration with the ordained incumbent. Churchwardens are elected locally, but are officers of the diocesan bishop. Ministry is shared between clergy and laity and parish clergy and assemblies are required to co-operate.
iv. Parishes are answerable to the diocesan bishop and other authorities.
v. Parishes contribute to and draw from the wider life of the Church via deanery, diocesan and national synods or assemblies.
vi. Financial arrangements differ between the Church of England and the wider Communion but parishes are expected to contribute towards the costs of ministry and diocesan resources.
vii. Arrangements for reorganising parishes vary as between the Church of England and the wider Communion. Generally, reorganisation is for the diocesan bishop. In England, the Church Commissioners also have a role, subject to a right of appeal to the Privy Council.
Acknowledgements
This article is based on a paper delivered to the Twenty-Third Colloquium of Anglican and Roman Catholic Canon Lawyers, ‘Canon Law and Synodality’, meeting at the Pontifical University of St Thomas of Aquinas, The Angelicum, Rome, 24–27 September 2024. A version of this article was originally published in edition 206 of the Newsletter of the Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland and is published here with the permission of the Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
