A Bill seeking to broaden access to the Church of Ireland’s Severance Fund has been introduced at Synod this afternoon (Thursday May 7). If approved the name of the fund will be changed to the Clergy and Ministry Protection Fund.

The bill deals with the Severance Fund which was set up in 2003 to enable financial settlements to be made to clergy agreeing to withdraw permanently from stipendiary ministry following a process of mediation through the Provincial Mediation Panels.

The fund was not accessed for the first few years of its existence and no diocesan levy for the fund has been collected since 2008. There is a balance of over €500,000 in the fund. In 2012 the Provincial Mediation Panels were disbanded so currently the only way to access the fund is by a recommendation from an archbishop or bishop relating to permanent cessation from stipendiary ministry.

The 2015 Bill seeks to broaden the scope of the fund to include provision for cases of permanent incapacity on medical grounds and change the name of the fund to the Clergy and Ministry Protection Fund. This will compliment the provisions of Bills No 1 and 2 dealing with dignity in Church life and permanent illness of clergy.

The Bill is proposed in the names of the Bishop of Derry and Raphoe and Mr Kevin Bowers at the request of Standing Committee and the Representative Church Body.

Proposing the Bill Bishop Ken Good said: “I believe that utilising the Fund for this purpose is a caring, practical and Christian application of the resource. It will help to enable the support of clergy in illness. And it will enable, more easily and more compassionately, ministry in a parish be continued in a way that has the capacity to be less uncertain and less disruptive. It is proposed that, in its wider application, the Fund be re–named the Clergy and Ministry Protection Fund”.

The Bill passed its first and second stages and will receive its third reading on Saturday morning.

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