REPORT ON TUESDAY'S BUSINESS

Click HERE for Reports from the Revd Gregg Ryan, Irish Correspondent of the Church Times

The Church of Ireland General Synod 2001 began on Tuesday in the O'Reilly Hall of University College Dublin. There was an attendance of approximately 450 out of a total membership of 648.

WELCOME

The Archbishop of Armagh, Dr Robin Eames, is President of the Synod and welcomed members from all the dioceses of the Church of Ireland. Also present were Visitors from other Churches including the Greek Orthodox Church in Britain and Ireland, the Church in Wales and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland.

WORSHIP

The opening worship was conducted by the Right Reverend Kenneth Clarke, Bishop of Kilmore, the most recently-elected bishop in the Church of Ireland.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

The Archbishop of Armagh in his Presidential Address referred to:

· the pain and distress caused by the Foot and Mouth outbreaks
· a changing Ireland and the spiritual dimension
· the value of the individual
· elections in Northern Ireland
· policing
· Drumcree and Garvaghy Road

· He welcomed Bishop Clarke to his first General Synod as a bishop.
· He paid tribute to the life and work of the late Deans Jack Shearer and Maurice Carey
· He thanked Professor John Bartlett who is retiring from the position of Principal of the Church of Ireland Theological College
· He referred to the excellent service given to the RCB by Professor Spearman and Judge Buchanan.

PREPARATION FOR NEW PRAYER BOOK

Much of the business of the day was the careful attention which has to be given to the preparation of services for inclusion in the new Book of Common Prayer, due to be published in 2004. One of the Bills for the revised Holy Communion Service (Bill no 2) had no fewer than 43 amendments!

SYNOD REJECTS PROPOSALS TO REDUCE NUMBERS ON GENERAL SYNOD

Rather more emotion and excitement were aroused by a proposal (Bill No. 5) to reduce the size of General Synod from its present 648 to approximately 400 members.

In 1870 there were 2230 ordained clergy in the Church of Ireland. Now there are 550.

Now the Report of the Synodical Structures Working Group is making proposals for a quite drastic reduction

Many moving speeches were made praising the value of Synod as it exists and urging that no reduction should take place. Other speakers fully supported the proposals of the Working Group.

After a very interesting debate, the Synod voted by 192 to 163 to reject the Bill in principle . Therefore it will not receive a second reading and the proposed reduction will not now take place.

BILL ON PENSIONS

In the final business of the day Lady Sheil introduced a Bill (Bill No. 6) to improve provisions for pensions for retired clergy, clergy widows and dependants.

SERVICE IN ST PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL

The first day of Synod ended with the General Synod Service of Holy Communion in St Patrick's Cathedral at which the preacher was the Right Reverend Richard Henderson, Bishop of Tuam.  His address can be downloaded in .RTF format or .HTML format.

This was an inspiring service attended by a large number of General Synod members.

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From the Revd Gregg Ryan,
Irish Correspondent of the Church Times

ECONOMISTS THE NEW IRISH PROPHETS, EAMES TELLS SYNOD

In the Ireland of the Celtic Tiger, the economist has become the prophet of the new millennium, Church of Ireland primate Dr. Robin Eames told the General Synod at Dublin in his Presidential address.

"We see such frequent evidence that in the process of change the community has adopted new language to express ideas and new ways of discerning what constitutes success and failure. In this process of change there have been positive and encouraging signs for human advancement. But there are also questions about the nature of life, the quality of life an the ways we judge what is worthwhile for society," he said.

Together with issues about the nature and quality of life, there are also issues about the sanctity of life, about the bondage of past grievances and human rights.

However, Ireland is in danger of becoming an unbalanced and even a sick society if the individual's economic contribution is to ignore the lifelong process of education and development, and fails to recognise the holistic nature of individual growth.

"Surely there is a need to endorse the individual's spiritual development and understanding of community, the sense of the aesthetic and the ability to have \creative and stimulating leisure interests - this is the challenge I see for the Church in a changing Ireland today, and tomorrow."

Archbishop Eames said the church must change when ways of presenting the eternal Gospel are no longer relevant to society, and it is in that process of change that the value of the individual must be recognised.

"Flexibility and he ability to change and to grow are not just characteristics of a strong economy. They are the marks of a society composed of individuals who can draw strength from a faith both eternal and unchanging but never static and lifeless - to transform that society into a community for all. That is definitely a spiritual message. That is definitely a spiritual dimension to life. But I have to ask: is Ireland failing to hear that message because of the church?"

"An Ireland which diminishes the value of an individual is an Ireland in trouble. An Ireland which loses its spiritual dimension is an Ireland which is set on a course to community chaos. An Irish Church which fails to preach the vale of an individual is a church which has already become irrelevant."

On Northern Ireland, Dr. Eames urged young Irish Anglicans to join the new police force. "I want to say with confidence that I encourage them to give serious consideration to a career in the new police service. As reforms emerge I feel I can make that call with confidence. The training, the ethos and the acceptability of the police in Northern Ireland in the days to come will depend to a large extent on the calibre and character of its members. I believe the young people of the Church of Ireland have much to offer in that regard. I encourage them to seek that career."

The Primate said the Drumcree stand-off remains "the most serious, searching and defining issue to confront the Church of Ireland for many years….a tragic one which haunts us as a Church."

"The search for a solution has continued exhaustively during the year. This is a cameo of the darkest side of life in Northern Ireland - a situation in which people are prisoners of the past and hostages of the present."

He said independent legal advice has examined all that the C of I has said and done in the tragic situation. "It has confirmed that as the laws of the Church of Ireland stand at present we have utilized every available avenue to express our condemnation and state our position. But there is the other aspect that has nothing to do with technicalities: it is the moral issue and the duty to confront the evils of sectarianism with the Christian voice".

Dr. Eames said the Church "does not, cannot and will not condone the scenes of sectarian hatred we have seen in previous years - so often orchestrated by those who have their own agenda and little or no interest in the concerns of the Orange Order or the Residents Coalition."

Stressing that the focus must remain on mediation, he promised that "together with continuous encouragement to reach a peaceful solution which respects the rights of all, no-one nor no pressure will silence the voice I have tried to make heard - we condemn without reservation the scenes of sectarian hatred which have accompanied the protest at Drumcree. These scenes are at complete variance to the Gospel the Church of Ireland is called to proclaim."

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From the Revd Gregg Ryan,
Irish Correspondent of the Church Times

PROPOSAL TO REDUCE SYNOD NUMBERS

A Bill to reduce the number of members of general synod in the Church of Ireland was voted out by a substantial majority without receiving its second reading on Tuesday. The proposal would have meant a reduction of approximately 40% in the current membership from 650 of which one third are clergy, to 400 and would provide for a minimum clergy representation of 20%.

The Bill has provoked much debate in the church, with opponents arguing that it would diminish the democratic voice in more sparsely populated areas in favour of the dioceses with strong urban bases.

Proposing the Bill in principle to synod, Canon Philip Patterson of Down & Dromore Diocese said the proposed reductions would not, as some had feared, deliver power into the hands of an oligarchy rather than a democracy.

"The principle of this Bill is a return to the guiding principles used in 1870 when General Synod came into being. Namely that each diocese should be represented in proportion to the number of its clergy and that the lay representatives should be in the ratio of 2:1 of the clergy."

"In 1870 the proportion of clergy used was 10%. Unfortunately no provision was made to adjust representation in line with a changing demography of the church and so we have the present imbalance."

The proposal before synod was to use a 20% proportion of clergy as a base for calculating the the diocesan representation to General Synod. "That is twice the level used in 1870, but of course the church population of 2001 is such that, this increase of base will not increase the size of Synod but will actually result in a significant reduction in the overall size of General Synod."

The outcome would be a synod of 400 members, and the transition would not be without pain, given that the church had changed so much in its demographic make-up and that this was the first revision of composition of the House of Representatives in 130 years, Canon Patterson said.

"Built into the Bill is an automatic review every third triennium so that never again
will the levels of representation get so out of kilter as they presently are," he added.

Seconding the proposed Bill, Mr. Denzil Auchmuty of Tuam diocese noted "the disproportionate number of males compared to the number of females who occupy the pews of the majority of our churches. Likewise the number of younger people represented at synod is small, but they are the future of the church and they should have their voice heard."

However, feelings in the opposition camp ran high, and one synodsman from Kerry said that "the laity of the Roman Catholic Church would give their eye teeth to have a Synod like this. They would have women priests, women bishops and cardinals too…..and a lot of other ecumenical things."

Canon Billy Neely of Armagh said the concept as proposed filled him with dread. "Nothing less is at stake than the whole future of the Church of Ireland. Accept this and the character of Synod will be altered for all time and there will be no going back."

A last appeal by Canon Patterson left the majority unmoved. He said the Bill offered fair and equitable representation and would not create a "Church of Ulster" as some might fear. Throw the Bill out, he warned, would effectively dismiss the committee and synodical reformation would be 'a dead duck' for the forseeable future.

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