THE NEW ARCHBISHOP
The Governing Body of the Church in Wales met at the International Conference Centre, Newport on 27–28 April 2022 and 6–7 September 2022. The April session began with the formal notification to the Governing Body of the election of the Most Reverend Andrew John, Bishop of Bangor, as Archbishop of Wales and therefore President of the Governing Body. His inaugural Presidential address called for the Russian Orthodox Church to condemn the killing of civilians in Ukraine and press for an immediate ceasefire to hostilities. He praised the actions of churches across the Province in their continued response to the COVID-19 pandemic in their respective communities.
AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION
Three sets of minor legislative amendments to the Constitution of the Church in Wales were approved. The first amended the Constitutional provisions for clergy housing to make it clear that the regulations apply to resident non-stipendiary ministers (sometimes colloquially known as ‘house for duty’ clergy). The second clarified the ex officio membership of church committees (a committee sitting underneath a parochial church council or a ministry area council in ministry areas with multiple places of worship, roughly akin to a district church council in the Church of England). The final amendment shortened certain time limits in the early part of the introduction of legislation to Governing Body concerning matters of doctrine, faith, worship and discipline. The intention is that this change would allow any piece of legislation to pass through Governing Body within 12 months from its first introduction.
MINOR LITURGICAL VARIATIONS
A canon permitting and regulating minor variations to the authorised liturgy of the Church in Wales was passed and promulgated at this session. The Canon, for the first time, formally permits minor variations from the authorised and published liturgies of the Province. The Canon has similarities with the Church of England's Canon B5 but includes specific restrictions on variations to certain parts of liturgy (for example, eucharistic prayers).
OTHER MATTERS
The Bench of Bishops gave a formal report on their work over the past year and, for the first time, took questions from the floor on their report. The Standing Committee report included an outline of the Church in Wales's ongoing response to the Enquiry and Review into the Diocese of Monmouth, published in December 2021.
The Governing Body formally adopted a Framework on working towards Net Zero Carbon, further to its previous resolutions to achieve Net Zero by 2030 or as soon as possible thereafter. An emergency motion calling on the World Council of Churches to take clear and appropriate action to distance the Council from the actions of churches, including the Russian Orthodox Church, who had given support to the invasion of Ukraine was passed unanimously.
THE SEPTEMBER SESSION
The September session of the Governing Body will likely be of more future interest to historians than ecclesiastical lawyers. The legislative business had been scheduled for the final afternoon's session, but by lunchtime news of the rapidly declining health of Her Late Majesty had broken. The President adjourned the Governing Body immediately after lunch to allow the clergy to get back to their parishes as quickly as possible. The Governing Body's Standing Committee has since adjourned the legislative business until the scheduled session in April 2023.
Prior to the adjournment, the Archbishop announced in his Presidential Address the intention of the Representative Body to draw down £100m of reserves over the next 10 years as additional funding for mission and evangelism across the Province. The Governing Body received a report from the Bench of Bishops on the Lambeth Conference and a presentation from some of the projects funded by the Representative Body's £10 million ‘Evangelism Fund’ established in 2018.
