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What happened at the General Synod in York?

12 July 2024

Hattie Williams rounds up everything you need to know about the July sessions

Sam Atkins/Church Times

The Central Hall of the University of York campus, in which the General Synod meets each July

The Central Hall of the University of York campus, in which the General Synod meets each July

ANOTHER warm weekend at the General Synod in York, but heads were generally cool as debates on the stickiest issues in the Church of England unfolded.

There were two items on the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) work: a presentation, followed by questions, on Saturday afternoon, and a debate on Monday on a motion to move forward previously agreed proposals on the blessing of same-sex couples.

Although the lead bishop for LLF, the Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Revd Martyn Snow (News, 21 June), acknowledged that “none of us get what we want” in this, the Synod agreed to remove impediments to the use of these blessings (Prayers in Love and Faith) in stand-alone services, and to provide delegated episcopal ministry for opponents of the changes. A decision on whether priests are permitted to be in same-sex civil marriages has been deferred until February.

The debate wrung out the general dissatisfaction from both sides, while the presentation recounted the mostly positive experiences of members of the working groups, including their meeting in Leicester earlier this year.

Another chunk of time was devoted to safeguarding, which featured in three items of business.

A private member’s motion, moved by the Revd Robert Thompson (London) on Sunday, called for a new independent inquiry into abuse in the Soul Survivor network. He argued that neither the investigation by the National Safeguarding Team (NST) (News, 8 September 2023) nor the inquiry currently being undertaken by Fiona Scolding KC (News, 9 February) were “sufficient or right in principle”.

Despite support from Charismatic Evangelical members, however, the meat of the motion was rewritten after a successful amendment from the lead bishop for safeguarding, the Bishop of Stepney, Dr Joanne Grenfell, who argued that the NST’s investigation had been “handled well”. Towards the end, the Archbishop of Canterbury conceded that the debate had raised questions about “how we deal with very powerful leaders. . . You don’t want to quench them, but you do want to make sure that they don’t go bonkers.”

The wider reform of church safeguarding was tackled in an unusually calm and relatively brief discussion on Monday, after which a simple motion brought by Dr Grenfell was comfortably passed. It “welcomed the progress” of the Response Group tasked with proposing a way forward for church safeguarding structures, informed by recent reports from Sarah Wilkinson and Professor Alexis Jay.

Two bishops — Blackburn and Newcastle — who had previously wanted to implement the independent structures recommended in the Jay report changed their minds in support of the route now being taken.

The independent co-chair of the Response Group, the businesswoman and NGO leader Lesley-Anne Ryder, said that she had been “struck by how complex the systems and processes” of the Church are. “Seriously — I cannot easily find out whose job it is to take governance decisions here,” she told members, to an uneasy ripple of laughter in the chamber.

Two years in the making, the National Redress Scheme for victims and survivors of church-related abuse completed its revision stage on Tuesday, with two failed amendments and very little debate.

Clergy well-being was the issue of the day on Saturday, when the Synod carried a Winchester diocesan motion that asked the Archbishops’ Council to amend the Terms of Service regulations, to entitle clergy to 36 hours of rest in every seven-day period, including an uninterrupted rest period of 24 hours.

“You are a precious resource. . . Our priority is to care for you,” the mover, Alison Coulter (Winchester), told the clergy.

During the debate, many examples of “unmanageable workloads and unrealistic job descriptions” were given. An amendment from the Archdeacon of Blackburn, the Ven. Mark Ireland, was passed affirming the sabbath principle.

It was “business as usual” for the planned Archbishops’ Council budget of £64.1 million for 2025, the chair of the Finance Committee, Carl Hughes, said on Saturday. But some members were “uneasy” without the opportunity to scrutinise its apportionment, referring to projects that, they said, had not been budgeted for.

The picture of decline in church attendance, vocations, and parish giving meant that “the primary crisis the Church is facing today is missional,” Mr Hughes said. There was also significant “financial anxiety” among the clergy, which was affecting well-being, and housing prospects for retiring clerics looked bleak.

Concerns about apportionment and transparency were also raised in Sunday’s debate on the annual reports of the Archbishops’ Council and Church Commissioners. Introducing the reports, the First Church Estates Commissioner, Alan Smith, said that “vigilance and discipline” were needed; meeting targets was not guaranteed, as previously well-performing asset classes were delivering negative returns.

Archdeacon Ireland (Blackburn), then brought a following motion that regretted the omission of the National Burial Grounds Survey. Parishes should be told not to sign up to it because of the risks, including the possible sale of data to the Mormon Church, the motion said. It was carried.

One of the more contentious debates over the weekend was again on finances, this time a proposed 25-per-cent rise in diocesan registrars’ retainers. This caused some astonishment among members, and suggestions that the rise was “excessive”, “ridiculous”, and “unacceptable”, given the already “squeezed middle budget” for many dioceses.

The accompanying paper records that hourly rates increased more than usual in 2023: the average for non-London clerks was £149, up from £126 in 2022 (an 18 per cent increase), and for non-London solicitors, £287 up from £236 in 2022 (a 22 per cent increase). “In order for the total cost of the retainer to remain the same in 2025 as in 2024 the charitable discount would need to be increased to 28 per cent,” which was not possible, it says.

Projected annual fees for each diocese in 2025 would range from between £100,000 and £200,000. During the debate, the Dean of the Arches, the Rt Worshipful Morag Ellis KC, said that, compared with commercial rates, the proposed rates were low.

None the less, a procedural motion from Aiden Hargreaves-Smith (London), a registrar himself, to move to next business was carried. He was concerned that the increase could cause difficulties in relationships between dioceses and registrars, which, he said, were fundamental.

Also on Monday was a debate about foodbanks and the inadequacy of social security, informed by direct experience. The Archdeacon of Sheffield, the Ven. Malcolm Chamberlain, introduced a motion from Sheffield diocese which called on the House of Bishops urgently to engage with the new Government to review the adequacy of current social-security provision. Mass dependence on food emergency parcels was “a moral scar on our society”, he said. Speakers agreed, many of whom were involved in church-run foodbanks.

Issues surrounding mental and physical well-being, stigma, and inequality were raised, as well as endorsements of the Essentials Guarantee and calls to scrap the two-child benefits cap. Penny Allen (Lichfield) summarised the consensus: “If we all work together in civil society, we will have more effect.”

The Revd Jonathan Macy (Southwark) said that more than half of the households with a disabled person in them were below the poverty line. He spoke of “a vortex where people with disabilities are over-concentrated in areas of poverty. Churches with the lowest resources are working with the highest and most complex needs. What they do on a shoestring is staggering.”

The God-given dignity of disabled people had been affirmed during a debate on Sunday afternoon on a motion from the diocese of Liverpool, which challenged a culture of presuming that a prenatal diagnosis of disability was a “tragedy”. It also urged both the NHS and the C of E to improve their offering to parents.

The debate was led by the Archdeacon of Knowsley and Sefton, the Ven. Pete Spiers, who was born disabled, owing to Thalidomide. He said: “With the right support at the right time, it is possible to help pregnant mothers and their unborn children to carry on with their lives and be happy.” Whether a pregnancy proceeded or was ended, “love, compassion, and grace are needed more than anything.”

On the final day, Tuesday, the Synod endorsed a day of prayer and action for the persecuted Church, after a debate filled with stories about how, around the world, believers continued to suffer for their faith. While just one abstention was recorded in an otherwise unanimous vote of 230 members, Nadine Daniel (Liverpool), though in support, pointed out that there was already an International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, an ecumenical initiative in which the C of E took part. She asked members to give some thought to the implementation of the new one.

The last item of business — which,one member suggested, should have been the first — was a confident presentation from pupils from Archbishop Holgate School, in York, and the Archway Learning Trust, in Nottingham. It was an “obvious” reminder to the Synod that young people were the future of mission and ministry, one member said. Others suggested that the accompanying survey and overly optimistic report had been “over-managed” by adults and were not inclusive of young people outside the Church.

The item was led by the Bishop of Portsmouth, the Rt Revd Jonathan Frost, who chairs the National Society. He said to the pupils: “We hear you. We value.”

Before prorogation, the Archbishop of Canterbury led a farewell to the Bishop of Worcester, Dr John Inge, who is retiring (News, 3 May). He described Dr Inge as a man of “enormous generosity of heart”, who, tellingly, would be missed most in his diocese, where he has been Bishop since 2008.

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