TUESDAY'S NEWS

Report on Bills to amend the Constitution
(from Elaine Whitehouse, Communications Dept, RCB)

The General Synod on the first day of its 2003 session considered two bills to amend the Constitution of the Church of Ireland. Bills Nos 14 and 15 were given their second reading on Tuesday and will be put to final consideration on Thursday.

The bills will complete a process started in 2001 when the General Synod approved the preparation of legislation to consolidate the Constitution. The present edition of the Constitution was approved in 1988 and the consolidation process, undertaken every decade or so as a matter of course, aims to produce a rationalised edition of the document following the numerous amendments authorised in the intervening years.

The most noticeable difference in the new edition of the Constitution will be the switch to gender-inclusive language, with ‘clergyman’ being replaced by ‘member of the clergy’ throughout.  Lady Sheil, proposing the bill, said that when the last edition of the Constitution was published the ordination of women to the priesthood was still two years away, so the present consolidation provided the first opportunity to update the language used in the document to reflect this important change in the Church of Ireland’s make-up. Other terms which have also been changed to reflect the move to inclusive language include ‘synodsman’, which will become ‘synod member’ in the new edition, and ‘vestryman’, which becomes ‘vestry member’.

The Honourable Mrs Justice Catherine McGuinness told the Synod that the Constitution was “a living document” which periodically needed consolidation to reflect changes in the Church of Ireland.

Several companion motions will also come before this year’s Synod with the aim of consolidating the Standing Orders of the General Synod and the constitutions of the Standing Committee and the Board of Education.

If approved, the new Constitution will come into force on 1 October 2003, allowing time for the document to be prepared in print and electronic form.

The consolidation process does not allow for any amendment of substance.

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