AN ARCHIEPISCOPAL SEE?
The Church in Wales Review had recommended that the Diocese of Llandaff be designated the permanent archiepiscopal see and that the diocese should have an area bishop with a legally designated area of pastoral responsibility. In his presidential address in September, the archbishop recognised that it was a difficult question but one that needed to be faced because of the dual role of archbishop and diocesan bishop, the relentless workload and the need for the archbishop to be located in Cardiff. It had been the subject of several reports and Governing Body motions in the past but with no change to the present situation.
Notwithstanding the workload, he rejected the model of a full-time archbishop on theological and ecclesiological grounds. It would also make the archbishop a remote figure, not involved in the life of a particular place or people or in the lives of parishes and clergy: ‘For my part, it would make for an unhappy and unfulfilled archbishop.’ However, he also rejected the peripatetic model because it made the post too demanding. The archbishop needed to be located permanently in one place so that there was continuity of structure, administration, officers and records.
He proposed that Llandaff should have two or possibly three bishops and might in the future be linked with Monmouth. It would be one diocese with two or three bishops, each being a bishop in the full sense and each having his or her own territorial jurisdiction, but with the bishops administering the diocese collegially. It would make sense for the archbishop to have immediate jurisdiction over the Llandaff and Cardiff deaneries and he would be elected to that post as archbishop. Another bishop or bishops, again with the status of present diocesans, would be elected to other areas and together they would form a college to administer and oversee the diocese as an administrative body, with one of the other bishops, not the archbishop, having a presiding role in the diocese. It was a problem testified to by five archbishops of the twelve since disestablishment; he therefore commended the proposal to the Governing Body for reflection.
It was agreed that feelings in the Church – and in particular in the dioceses – needed to be tested to find out whether views had changed since 2009, when the issue was last discussed. The matter would be referred back to the dioceses and discussed by the Standing Committee.
PAROCHIAL FEES
One of the recommendations of the Church in Wales Review had been that, because weddings and funerals were an integral part of a parish priest's ministry, no fee should be retained in addition to the stipend. In April, the Representative Body proposed that, from 2018, stipendiary clergy would be invited to surrender fees voluntarily in return for a fee allowance (£1,600 at 2014 levels) in addition to stipend and that, after further consultation, a Bill be prepared to implement the proposed changes. Speakers expressed concerns about the proposal even though they might agree with the theory; the motion was lost by 48 votes to 34, with 27 abstentions.
LAY REPRESENTATION
In April the Governing Body approved amendments to the Constitution so that the criteria for elected lay membership of the Governing Body, the Representative Body and the Electoral College would be uniform and so that eligibility for election to lay membership of the Governing Body should be based either on residence in a parish in the diocese which was considering that person's election or on being on the electoral roll in such a parish or holding diocesan office in the diocese concerned. Paid employees of the Representative Body or the diocesan board of finance would continue to be excluded; but the change would permit, for example, the election of the diocesan chancellor or the diocesan registrar.
PROPERTY ISSUES
The Representative Body had endorsed various proposals arising as part of the recommendations of the Church in Wales Review in relation to knowledge-sharing and restructuring across dioceses and to review the workload of the provincial property department. However, three proposals required changes to the Constitution: a network of self-employed specialists to help parishes manage and plan the treatment of contents when a church was closing; widening the Church Sales Regulations to permit proceeds of sale to be used for works to churchyards (owned by the Representative Body) that addressed a substantial physical danger to property or persons; and widening use of the Parsonage Improvement Fund to permit the creation of parish offices in other buildings owned by the Representative Body where the parsonage was unsuitable to provide such facilities. The Governing Body agreed the changes.
RENEWED PATTERN OF INITIATION
In September the Governing Body had before it three papers from the Bench of Bishops and from the Doctrinal Commission on the history and theology of initiation which advocated a renewed pattern of initiation: baptism administered in infancy or adulthood; communion of all the baptised from the earliest appropriate occasion thereafter; and confirmation in later adolescence or at the point of adult commitment to active Christian discipleship within the Church. The Governing Body met in groups to discuss the question ‘How can participation in baptism, confirmation and communion be best ordered in the life of the Church to encourage the growth of committed, active disciples of Jesus Christ in the Church in Wales?’ and the discussions would inform future work by the Bench of Bishops on the topic.
REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN THE CHURCH
In 2006 the Governing Body had decided to acknowledge the UN Millennium Development Goal of equal representation of women in decision-making at all levels within organisations. A working group was set up to review the situation in the Church and its 2011 review of progress noted the Church's apparent commitment to implementing the recommendations. By 2013, however, it appeared that the early impetus had not been maintained and a reconstituted working group was asked to review the situation. Its report and recommendations were presented to the Governing Body; after a long debate, the recommendations were accepted for further discussion without being formally endorsed by the Governing Body.
SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
At the April 2014 meeting of the Governing Body, groups had discussed same-sex partnerships; those discussions had been followed by consultation at diocesan level. Dioceses were invited to consider three options:
i. No change to the current teaching and practice on marriage and partnerships;
ii. To allow same-sex unions to be blessed in the Church in Wales; or
iii. To enable same-sex couples to marry in the Church in Wales.
At the September meeting the Governing Body debated the three options and a report by the Standing Doctrinal Commission, The Church in Wales and Same-Sex Partnerships, was circulated as background to the debate.
The purpose of the vote was purely indicative – a means of informing future consideration of how the Church might respond to recent changes in marriage law – because to change the canon law itself would necessitate a Bill that would require a two-thirds vote in favour in all three houses. Though there was a majority in favour of change, the first- and second-preference votes did not reveal anything like the necessary two-thirds majority for departing from the status quo.Footnote 2 The archbishop was reported as saying that, ‘speaking purely personally’, he did not think that it would be ‘profitable’ to bring a Bill on the matter at present.Footnote 3
The bishops are to consider the matter and report on their deliberations to the Governing Body's meeting in Llandudno in April 2016.
ST MICHAEL'S COLLEGE, LLANDAFF AND ST PADARN'S INSTITUTE
The annual report of St Michael's College was presented to the April meeting. It was hoped that the new theological education institution (TEI) – to be called St Padarn's Institute – would start work in September 2016; but before that there would be wide consultation with all parties concerned and a comprehensive budget would be assessed by the Representative Body. A shadow TEI Council was to begin work in September 2015, with the appointment of a principal for the TEI as its first task. It is intended that residential training for stipendiary ordinands will be based at St Michael's.
