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General Synod 2010
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Procedure Guidelines 2010

The General Synod 2010 will be held in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin from Thursday 6 May to Saturday 8 May.  The Synod Service will be held on Thursday 6 May in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin at 7pm.

The General Synod 2010 will follow new procedural format as initiated at General Synod 2009, the details of which are outlined below. The aim of the new ordering of business is promote debate on the issues and involvement amongst the members of General Synod.


Committees are grouped together in acknowledgement of their function. The four categories of committees are ‘Mission and Ministry’, ‘Anglican, Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations’, ‘Social Affairs’ and ‘Administration’. Please see below for your information.

ENCLOSURE A


The timetable for General Synod will be altered to reflect the committee groupings. There will be a time for Discussion of Reports and a subsequent time set aside for Committee Motions. An example of a segment of the timetable is outlined below:

 16.30: 
Anglican, Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations
 The Commission for Christian Unity and Dialogue
 The Covenant Council
  
 Discussion of Reports
 Committee Motions

      

The procedure for General Synod 2010 will be as follows:

  1. The Honorary Secretaries will lay the Book of Reports on the table.

  2. Committees will be grouped together according to the timetable motion.

  3. The President will inform the General Synod that it is time for the Discussion of Reports and will invite the committee members appointed by their committees to move, without speeches, to have their reports considered by General Synod and will retain their right of reply until the points have been received from the floor.

  4. A debate will follow as directed by the President.

  5. Members of General Synod may debate the reports and raise questions directly from the floor as in previous years.

  6. Following the debate, the President will invite the committee appointees to use their right of reply. The committee appointees conclude their remarks by moving that the reports be received by the General Synod.

  7. The committee appointee will move to have the report received by the General Synod and a formal seconding will be required.

  8. The President will then direct the General Synod to move to the Committee Motions.

  9. It is to be noted that a proposed resolution is a motion. Once a motion has been resolved it becomes a resolution of General Synod.

  10. Committee Motions, as in previous years, should include an action required after its proposed resolution. Examples of such motions from General Synod 2008 are as follows
Standing Committee:
That a small implementation group be appointed by the Standing Committee, for a period of three years, to identify the priorities from the report, Living with Difference – A Reality Check, and to bring forward specific resolutions to the Standing Committee to implement the recommendations contained in the report.

Church of Ireland Council for Mission:
That the General Synod authorises the Church of Ireland Council for Mission to gather, compile in standardised form and analyse the already existing information in each parish and diocese concerning trends in worship and pastoral offices and endorses the planned trial in three contrasting dioceses.

Commission on Church Buildings:
That the unexpended allocation held by the Commission be transferred back to the Representative Church Body and that the Representative Church Body be requested to present a Bill to the General Synod of 2009 to disband the Commission.

 

Committees that have produced opinions, statements or position papers during the year may also take this opportunity to request that General Synod accept such a document as the official opinion of the Church of Ireland in the form of a Committee Motion.

If a motion is deemed not to require an action, it may be taken with the approval of General Synod.

  1. A committee appointee will propose the motion and will be allocated five minutes for the speech.

  2. There will be no seconding speeches. A formal seconding will be required.

  3. The voting procedures remain unchanged.

  4. In accordance with Standing Orders and precedents the Representative Church Body, Standing Committee, Church of Ireland Pensions Board and Boards of Education reports, proposing and seconding procedures will remain unchanged.
ENCLOSURE A..........COMMITTEE GROUPINGS
  Mission and Ministry
  The Church of Ireland Marriage Council
  The Church of Ireland Youth Department
  The Commission on Ministry
  The Council for Mission
  The Hard Gospel Committee
  The Liturgical Advisory Committee
  The Church’s Ministry of Healing
  
  Anglican, Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations
  The Commission for Christian Unity and Dialogue
  The Covenant Council
  
  Social Affairs
  The Church in Society Committee
  The Board for Social Action (NI)
  The Board for Social Responsibility (RI)
  
  Education
  Board for Education NI
  Board for Education RI
  
  Administration
  Report of the Representative Church Body (not more than 2 hours)
  Report of the Standing Committee (not more than 2 hours)
  Report of the Pensions Board (not more than 45 minutes)