What happened at the General Synod in London this week?
by Hattie Williams, Church Times:
All calm and carry on: a guide to the key debates.
AFTER early warnings about tone, and with a motion on members’ conduct on the agenda, the General Synod took a more gracious approach to the wide range of issues up for debate in Church House, Westminster, over last weekend.
In his presidential address at the start of the February sessions last Friday, the Archbishop of Canterbury said that observers of the Synod’s deliberations in recent times had noted the “angst-ridden tone” and “unfair attacks” — bitterness and personal abuse had become normalised in the Church, he said.
“We need to assume the best rather than the worst,” Archbishop Welby warned members. “Suffering and enemies are faced best in communities with trust across the divide rather than in self-protecting and reinforcing huddles.” This was difficult, but the Church would not be able to minister to the outside world unless it was dealing well with its own internal issues.
Three motions dealing with behaviour were brought to the Synod.
A private members’ motion on sanctioning lay officers for bullying (News, 9 February) was brought by the Archdeacon of Blackburn, the Ven. Mark Ireland (Blackburn), and approved, on Sunday afternoon. It asked the Synod to recognise “the serious pastoral problems and unfairness that arise while clergy can be subject to penalties for bullying that include prohibition and removal from office but there is no means of disqualifying a churchwarden, PCC member, or other lay officer who is guilty of bullying from holding office.”
Many personal examples of abuse of clergy by lay people were given during the debate. The Revd Sonia Barron (Lincoln) recalled experiences of lay churchgoers who felt that they “owned the church” and so could openly undermine or intimidate the incumbent.
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