ARCHBISHOP'S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

In the year that saw the tenth anniversary of the ordination of women to the priesthood in Wales, the Archbishop noted that institutional Christianity had for the most part been patriarchal. The Church in Wales had taken the step of ordaining women to the priesthood, and he was totally convinced by the theological arguments for their consecration as bishops. In September 2006, the Governing Body had called for a review of the representation of women in the structures of the Church. The majority of worshippers were women and there was something drastically wrong with their current low level of representation in the Church's governance.

STANDING COMMITTEE

A revised handbook for new members had been produced to explain the procedures and principles of Governing Body meetings. As a result of the resolution passed at the September 2006 Governing Body, a Group had been commissioned to look at the issue of the status of women in the work and structure of the Church and to make recommendations to the Standing Committee by December 2007.

WELSH LANGUAGE SCHEME

Although not under any statutory obligation to do so, from the time of Disestablishment, the Church had recognised the equality of Welsh and English. In 2000, the Standing Committee had adopted Guidelines for Good Practice in the use of language by the Church's provincial bodies; subsequently, the Bench of Bishops had asked the Provincial Language Officer to develop a scheme for the Church as a whole.

The Bench of Bishops and the Standing Committee commended the draft Welsh Language Scheme, which had the approval of the Welsh Language Board. Its provisions were in accordance with section 5(1) of the Welsh Language Act 1993 (c 38), which stipulated that English and Welsh should be treated equally ‘so far as is both appropriate in the circumstances and reasonably practicable’.

GOVERNMENT OF WALES

The Government of Wales Act 2006 (c 32) would come into force on 9 May, empowering the National Assembly to make laws within various ‘Fields’ that would make the same provision as Acts of the United Kingdom Parliament. Enabling powers – called ‘Matters’ – would be granted by the Westminster Parliament. David Lambert (Llandaff), Research Fellow in Public Law at Cardiff Law School, advised the Governing Body on the implications of the new Act and urged the Church to set up processes for influencing the Assembly and opposing laws that it thought unacceptable and unreasonable.

TRAINING FOR MINISTRY

In April 2005, the Governing Body had approved a block-grant funding arrangement for dioceses, including ministerial training costs. Since then, the Bench of Bishops had suggested that it would be fairer for the costs to be shared across the Church through the Representative Body, since ordinands were being trained for ministry in the whole Church. The Governing Body had therefore agreed to take the cost of ministerial training out of the block grant from January 2009 onwards and revert to payment of 75 per cent by the Representative Body and 25 per cent by the dioceses, reducing the block grant accordingly.

ORDINATION OF WOMEN TO THE EPISCOPATE

As part of the process of discernment on the consecration of women to the episcopate, the Governing Body held a wide-ranging discussion with no motion nor vote. It was expected that a Bill would be brought to Governing Body in April 2008.

THE COVENANT

Addressing the Governing Body in September 2007 on the eve of attending a meeting of the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church in New Orleans, the Archbishop expressed misgivings about the proposed Covenant. The traditional Lambeth Quadrilateral no longer seemed to provide sufficient credentials for being an Anglican: in addition, it seemed that a particular view of human sexuality was also required.

There was little in canon law on how Anglican provinces should relate to one another when trust had broken down. His fear was that the Communion might become confessional instead of conciliar. The original intention of a Covenant had been good: to clarify the identity and mission of the churches of the Communion, and to articulate the Communion's ecclesiological identity and help self-understanding as a basis for trust and co-operation. But many now seemed to see the Covenant as a contract: a means of ensuring a uniform view on human sexuality, with the threat of exclusion for those who did not conform. He did not want that kind of Covenant. He asked the Governing Body merely to note the process taking place to produce a Covenant and to invite the Welsh bishops to finalise a response.

After debate, the Archbishop's proposal was agreed to.

RE-ORDERING THE CONSTITUTION

The original Constitution, drawn up at the time of Disestablishment in 1920, had been so heavily amended piecemeal over the years that a number of inconsistencies had crept in. A Working Group had now produced a re-ordered Constitution, having formulated a procedure for making and amending Regulations, re-ordered the existing provisions into a more logical sequence, and eliminated inconsistencies.

The Report was welcomed; in due course, the amended Constitution will be brought to the Governing Body as a Bill, with matters of detail and principle being dealt with by Select Committee.

CLERGY TRAINING

All those associated with the Cardiff LLM course will welcome the Governing Body's decision ‘to retain and develop St Michael's College as a training institution for the Church in Wales’. St Michael's is to expand its facilities and be developed into a centre of excellence for chaplaincy studies.Footnote ¹