DRAFT DIOCESES, PASTORAL AND MISSION MEASURE
In February, the Synod gave Final Approval to the draft Dioceses, Pastoral and Mission Measure and related legislation. The package gives effect to the recommendations of the group under the chairmanship of Professor Peter Toyne that reviewed the Dioceses and Pastoral Measures, and seeks to improve the Church's structures and processes in order to further its mission. In particular, it will alter the arrangements for diocesan reorganisation (currently contained in the Dioceses Measure 1978) to enable the Dioceses Commission to take a more proactive role and to improve the prospects of bringing to a successful conclusion projects that are in the Church's interest. The draft Measure will also simplify, devolve and make more flexible the procedures in the Pastoral Measure 1983 for pastoral reorganisation and for closure of churches for regular public worship. Lastly, it will provide a framework for the new concept of the ‘mission initiative’: that is, an initiative that would be likely, through fostering or developing a form of Christian community, to promote or further the mission of the Church or any aspect of it, and which the bishop endorses and makes provision for in a ‘bishop's mission order’.
DRAFT ECCLESIASTICAL OFFICES LEGISLATION
The principal items of new draft legislation introduced in February were the Ecclesiastical Offices (Terms of Service) Measure, the Ecclesiastical Offices (Terms of Service) Regulations and an associated draft Amending Canon, together giving effect to recommendations of the review of Clergy Terms of Service: recommendations that have been approved by the Synod in a series of debates going back to February 2004. Its aim is to introduce, in the form of ‘common tenure’, a new framework of rights and responsibilities under which both freehold and licensed clergy will hold office within the Church, as well as making significant changes in relation to clergy housing. The differing rules regarding security of tenure and housing between parochial and other clergy, and the sharp disparity between the security enjoyed by those who have the freehold and the very insecure position of others are no longer thought acceptable. Conversely, it is thought right that, whilst they should not be employees, clergy should have a number of rights corresponding to those of employees, including rights in connection with stipend and annual leave.
The draft Measure introduces the concepts of common tenure for:
i. All licensed clergy, stipendiary lay workers and the Archbishops holding office at the date when the Measure comes into force;
ii. Clergy in freehold posts who opt into it at that point; and
iii. All clergy and stipendiary lay workers appointed after the Measure comes into force.
It then deals with other issues such as the duration of appointments and the provision of housing. In relation to housing, it will give effect to the revised approach agreed by the Synod in February 2005, under which clergy on common tenure will have a right to be provided by a specified body with suitable housing, which they will occupy on the basis of a statutory licence for the better performance of their duties. Parsonages of clergy on common tenure will be transferred to the ownership of the Diocesan Parsonages Board.
The Regulations set out the terms of common tenure in considerable detail, dealing with the sorts of issues which, in the case of an employee, would be contained in his or her contract. They allow the Archbishops’ Council to make provision for the ministerial review of clergy and for grievance and capability procedures – the latter providing for an office-holder who consistently fails to perform to a satisfactory standard to be removed from office, subject to the right to appeal to a secular employment tribunal.
The Synod also gave First Consideration in February to draft Amending Canon No 28. It gives effect to a motion passed by the Synod by a narrow majority in February 2005 calling for legislation to amend the Canon dealing with Local Ecumenical Projects (Canon B 44) so as to remove the requirement that an ‘Anglican Eucharist’ be celebrated in every parish in an LEP on certain specified days. The draft Amending Canon was referred to a Revision Committee by an overwhelming majority, in spite of its potentially contentious nature.
DRAFT CHURCH OF ENGLAND MARRIAGE MEASURE
The February group of sessions also saw what turned out to be the first Revision Stage for the draft Church of England Marriage Measure, intended to allow couples, neither of whom is resident in a parish or on its electoral roll, to have a Church of England wedding without the need for an Archbishop's Special Licence, provided they have a ‘qualifying connection’ with the parish concerned. The Revision Committee had made a number of amendments to the draft Measure, including several that narrowed the definition of a ‘qualifying connection’, so as to remove the possibility of a merely historical or tenuous connection with a parish giving rise to a right to marry there.
Previously, concerns had been expressed that the Measure as originally drafted had gone too far and could impose a considerable burden on the clergy of parishes that were popular for weddings. However, considerable disquiet was expressed about the restrictive and complex nature of the draft Measure in its revised form. Most unusually, the Synod decided to commit the draft Measure for a further Revision Committee Stage. The Revision Committee accordingly looked again at the whole draft Measure and the draft continued to proceed on the basis of ‘qualifying connection’ but in an amended and simplified form. In July, the draft Measure completed its Revision Stage and was given Final Approval with only a few votes against it.
COVENANT FOR THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION
The July group of sessions also saw debates on several contentious matters, including a motion on behalf of the House of Bishops, affirming the Synod's willingness to engage positively with the production of a Covenant for the Anglican Communion and inviting the Archbishops, having consulted the House of Bishops and the Archbishops’ Council, to agree a considered response to the draft prepared by the Covenant Design Group, for submission to the Anglican Communion Office by the end of the year. A number of amendments were rejected and the motion was passed in its original form.
SENIOR CHURCH APPOINTMENTS REVIEW GROUP
The Synod debated a motion relating to the report of the Senior Church Appointments Review Group on appointments of suffragan bishops, deans and residentiary canons. The motion broadly endorsed the report's recommendations and addressed the proposal in the Government's Green Paper, issued just before the Synod met, that the Prime Minister should no longer exercise any choice in recommending appointments to senior ecclesiastical posts (including diocesan bishops).Footnote 1 The motion welcomed the Green Paper's proposals, confirmed Synod's willingness for the Church to have the decisive voice in the selection of cathedral deans and canons appointed by the Crown, and invited the Archbishops, in consultation with the Archbishops’ Council and the House of Bishops, to oversee the necessary consequential discussions with the Government and to report back to the February 2008 group of sessions.
