Why is the General Synod of the Church of England so poor at holding Bishops to account?

May 2, 2018 by Jill

by Martin Sewell, via Cranmer’s blog:

Travel is said to broaden the mind, but occasionally it reminds us to pay more attention to what is closer to home, right under our noses.

Many years ago, on my first visit to the USA, I was paying for a taxi at San Diego airport when I casually complained to the taxi driver that all US dollar bills are the same size shape and colour. As the poor fellow waited patiently while I peered at the notes, I remarked that in Europe we made it easier for ourselves with different sizes and colour of notes. Didn’t he wish his country did the same?

“No sir,” he replied, “It teaches that it pays to pay attention to detail.”

I remembered that encounter when I read His Grace’s piece concerning the missing statistics from the Province of York recording the number of CDM complaints from that province, and which were reportedly unavailable because of flood damage. I was thinking about how these problems arise and my own part in not having sought clarification at an early stage.

Accidents do happen. I also know that I, like many others, can be blasé about requests for statistical information, and irritated by systems that demand box-ticking and data returns. Contemplating my own frailties I began to see my own failure. As a member of the General Synod of the Church of England, ought not I (and others) have picked up the problem, and put the same degree of thought that His Grace and his commenters did? Why did we not seek clarification and, if necessary, ask the awkward questions?

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