InReview August 2014

WELCOME to this special edition of In Review, the monthly newsletter from the National Institutions of the Church of England, featuring a central spread covering the July sessions of General Synod.

Our aim is to keep people in touch with the activities of the Archbishops’ Council, Church Commissioners, the Pensions Board and other bodies who serve the Church at national level.

Do check out In Focus, our sister publication designed to be a centrespread for A5 parish magazines.

The National Church Institutions working for you

August 2014

Church votes for women bishopsSpecial report featuring highlights of General Synod July sessions on pages 2-3

The new look July Synod stage during the debate on women bishops

inreview

Commissioners confirm Wonga exit

Nearly 1000 #newrevs ordained

www.churchofengland.org

Between Petertide and Michaelmas this year, nearly 1000 men and women are being ordained to minister in churches across the country.

Coming from a wide range of backgrounds including the Army, banking, social media consul-tancy and racecourse management, new deacons and priests are celebrating their new roles as “Rev-erends” within the Church of England.

As part of the ordination service, the new priests and deacons are addressed by a Bishop of the diocese in which they will serve who will say: “They are to proclaim the gospel in word and deed, as agents of God’s purposes of love.

They are to serve the community in which they are set, bringing to the Church the needs and

The Church Commissioners for England have announced that their indirect investment exposure to Wonga in their ven-ture capital portfolio has been removed, and that the Church Commissioners no longer have any financial or any other inter-est in Wonga.

“The terms ensure that the Church Commissioners have not made any profit from their investment exposure to Wonga.

“At no time have the Commissioners invested directly in Wonga or in other pay day lenders. The indirect exposure of the Commissioners through

pooled funds represented considerably less than 0.01% of the value of Wonga.

“The Church Commissioners estimate that if they had had to sell their entire venture capital holdings they might have lost £3-9m to remove the exposure to Wonga, which was worth less than £100,000. The Commission-ers are pleased that another way forward has been agreed given their fiduciary duties to clergy pensioners and to all the parts of the Church they support financially.See full announcement at:bit.ly/wongaexit Credit Keith Blundy

More on page four

Ordination service at Durham Cathedral

Page two | The National Church Institutions working for you

Women Bishops gi ven Final Approval

Church House Publishing launches two books at Fringe event

Jim Wallis urges Synod to consider Common Good

Synod joins York Minster service

Rev Jim Wallis, President and Founder of the US Christian community Sojourners, made a presentation to General Synod on ‘the Uncommon Good’ on the afternoon of Saturday 12th July.

During the presentation, he shared personal reflections on his work with Sojourners, and called on Synod and the Church as a whole to see how the Common Good is the “high-est of Christian principles”

The presentation in full is available at:bit.ly/uncommongood

You can also listen to an interview with Rev Jim Wallis about ‘The Uncommon Good’ at:http://bit.ly/jimwallis

Jim Wallis presenting ‘the Uncommon Good’ to Synod.

(Synod pictures courtesy of Keith Blundy)

General Synod has given its final approval for women to become bishops in the Church of England.

The vote on the Measure to admit women to the episcopate was carried by the required two-thirds majority in each of the House of Bishops, the House of Clergy and the House of Laity.

The voting results were as follows:• House of Bishops: Yes 37 No 2

Abstentions 1• House of Clergy: Yes 162 No 25

Abstentions 4• House of Laity: Yes 152 No 45

Abstentions 5

As a result, the first woman bishop could potentially be appointed by the end of the year.

The vote comes 18 months after the proposal was last voted upon in Novem-ber 2012 when the proposal failed to achieve the required two thirds majority in the House of Laity.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said:

"Today is the completion of what was begun over 20 years with the ordina-tion of women as priests. I am delighted with today's result. Today marks the start of a great adventure of seeking mutual flourishing while still, in some cases disagreeing.

The challenge for us will be for the church to model good disagreement and to continue to demonstrate love for those who disagree on theological grounds. Very few institutions achieve this, but if we manage this we will be living out more fully the call of Jesus Christ to love one another. As delighted as I am for the outcome of this vote I am also mind-ful of those within the Church for whom the result will be difficult and a cause of sorrow.

My aim, and I believe the aim of the whole church, should be to be able to offer a place of welcome and growth for all. Today is a time of blessing and gift from God and thus of generosity. It is not winner take all, but in love a time for the family to move on together."

The Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sen-tamu, said:

"This is a momentous day. Genera-tions of women have served the Lord faithfully in the Church of England for centuries. It is a moment of joy today: the office of Bishop is open to them.

“To those who ask "what took you so long?" my answer is that every decision has a cost and there will be those within our body who will be hurting as a result of this decision. Our answer to the hurting should not be "get over it" but rather "we will not let go until you have blessed us."

“We move slowly because we move together. But in moving together we achieve not only what is just but also

Bishop James Langstaff opening the debate

Synod members attended the annual Sunday morning service at York Minster, where the congregation was welcomed by the Dean, Viv Faull.

She is pictured here (fourth from left)

after the service with the Archbishops of York and Canterbury, Dr John Sentamu and Justin Welby.

Jim Wallis, who addressed Synod the previous day (see above) preached.

Two new books, on the Common Good and Assisted Dying were launched at a fringe event on Monday lunch.

The books, ‘Anglican Social Theology’, and ‘At the end of the day’, contain pastoral and theological reflections that provide insights into the Church’s positions on the Common Good (see above) and Assisted Dying (see page four).

The books are published by Church House Publishing, the official publisher for the Church of England, and are available at:

www.chpublishing.co.uk

Synod audio available

The audio from every session of July’s Synod is available on the Church of England SoundCloud account, including interviews with Rev Jim Wallis and Rt Rev Nigel Stock, Bishop to the Armed Forces.

www.soundcloud.com/the-church-of-england/sets/general-synod-july-2014

InReview | Page three

Women Bishops gi ven Final Approval Next stages on safeguarding legislation

model what is right. “As the African Proverb says: "Whoever

walks fast, travels alone. Whoever walks far, walks in the company of others."”

The legislation approved includes a House of Bishops declaration, under-pinned by five guiding principles and a disputes resolution procedure. Following the vote on the Measure which enables women to become Bishops, the Synod voted on enabling legislation (Canon) and also rescinded the Act of Synod as part of a package of measures being proposed.

Following the vote the Measure moves

to the Legislative Committee of General Synod and then to the Ecclesiastical Committee of the Houses of Parliament where the legislation will be considered. Subject to Parliamentary approval the Measure will return to the General Synod in November of this year where it will come into force after its promulgation (legal formal announcement).For more information on the motion and Amending Canon:bit.ly/wbmotionbit.ly/wbcanon

Synod affirms support for the Armed Forces

Clergy robes, baptism and other items of business

Archbishops pay tribute to Bishops of Burnley and Oxford

Rev Christopher Hobbs, (London) brought a Private Members Motion on clergy robes which he described as “a modest proposal that where the bishop and the church council agree, robes need not be worn”. He said that this was the case in many churches and wanted it reflected in Canon law. Members sup-ported the motion to introduce draft legislation to amend the law relating to the vesture of ministers.

Synod also agreed to move forward on a new version of the baptism service “expressed in accessible language”. The motion was originally brought by Liver-pool Diocese in 2011 and the House of Bishops then asked the Liturgical Com-mission “to prepare material to supple-

ment the Common Worship Initiation provision”. This has now been successfully piloted in more than 500 parishes and Synod voted to send the texts for revision in committee.

The 800th anniversary of the seal-ing of the Magna Carta was recognised by Synod as an important opportunity for churches to celebrate the Charter’s principles “which established that the English Church and all our citizens shall live in freedom”. An amendment to the successful motion brought by Keith Mal-couronne (Guildford) also encouraged churches to seek to increase the number of people voting. For all General Synod business see bit.ly/julysessions

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York paid tribute to the retiring Bishops of Burnley and Oxford at the end of the Synod session.

The Archbishop of York honoured the work in Synod of the Bishop of Burn-ley, John Goddard (pictured left).

The Archbishop of Canterbury then gave a farewell to John Pritchard

(pictured below), Bishop of Oxford and Chair of the Board of Education, which included reflec-tions on the Archbish-op’s time at Cranmer Hall while Bishop John was Warden.

The Draft Safeguarding and Clergy Discipline Measure – to make provision about safeguarding children and vulner-able adults; and to amend the Clergy Dis-cipline Measure 2003 - was introduced by the, Bishop of Durham, Paul Butler (pictured right), Chair of the Churches National Safeguarding committee. The motion that the Measure be considered for revision in committee was overwhelm-ingly approved by Synod.

In his speech to Synod, Bishop Paul said:

“Members of Synod, we have made far too many mistakes in the past in relation to safeguarding. This package of propos-als is before you today as part of how we wish to do everything reasonably possible to avoid making those mistakes in future. We must not be complacent.” In July 2013 Synod voted to work on legislative and non-legislative changes to tighten procedures which had been identified following the Chichester commissaries safeguarding reports.

Bishop Paul’s speech is available at:bit.ly/paulbutlerspeech

The draft Measure that was approved for revision in committee is available at:bit.ly/safeguardingmeasure

Speakers in the debate included (clockwise from top left): Rod Thomas, Christina Rees, Father David Holding, and John Spence.

Rt Rev Nigel Stock, Bishop of Lambeth and the newly installed Bishop to the Forces (pictured above left, being installed by Archbishop Justin) intro-duced a motion to affirm the Church’s support for

the Armed Forces.Following his speech,

Philip Fletcher opened the debate saying:

“The provision of pas-toral and spiritual care to the Armed Forces Community needs to

become a shared respon-sibility involving both the Chaplains to the Armed Forces and the wider Church.”More information on the motion is available at:bit.ly/armedforcescov

The audio of the session can be found at:bit.ly/julysynod5

Page four | The National Church Institutions working for you | InReview

St Mary’s Manchester wins schools award

St Mary’s Church of England Primary school in Manches-ter has been awarded Primary School of the Year at the TES Schools Awards in London.

The judges described St Mary’s saying: “This is an amaz-ing school with an amazing record of achievement in incred-ibly difficult circumstances. The can-do approach to educational achievement is an inspiration.”See the full announcement at: bit.ly/stmaryscofeschool

Church to play roman Catholics in charity cricket match

Details of a cricket match between the Church of England and Roman Catholic church has been announced.

The match will be played in Canterbury on 19 September between a team of CofE ordi-nands and RC seminaries to raise awareness of slavery and human trafficking.More details are available at:bit.ly/cricketannouncement

News in Brief

New retired clergy housing scheme announced

ethical investment Advisory Group publishes review

18 Church of england cathedrals to receive money for ‘essential repairs’

Archbishop Justin joins faith leaders in statement opposing Assisted Dying Bill

10 million rely on church community support according to new research

New research conducted for the Church Urban Fund, CUF, shows that 10 million adults a year in England use community services from churches. This is more than half of all those who access these services. The wide range of support includes food banks, luncheon clubs and night shelters along with relation-ship courses, financial advice and access to computers and the internet.

The results of a survey, which accompany a new report from CUF and think tank Theos, show

The Church of England Pen-sions Board has published the outcome of its review of rental housing for retired clergy, fol-lowing a consultation process which took place last year. The publication summarising the consultation results and the Pensions Board’s decisions is available below.

Dr Jonathan Spencer, Chair-man of the Pensions Board, said:

“The Board is committed to assisting those clergy who

need our help with retirement housing, now and in the future. The majority of those who seek our help come into our rental scheme. Many of them find the way it currently operates difficult and stressful. We also need to be good stewards of the funds we are given to do this important work. So, last year, we put forward, and consulted on, a new approach to retire-ment housing.”

The main changes to the rental scheme are: that clergy

hopes of all the people. They are to work with their fellow mem-bers in searching out the poor and weak, the sick and lonely and those who are oppressed

and power-l e s s ,

reaching into the forgotten cor-ners of the world, that the love of God may be made visible.”

The Bishop of Sheffield, Steven Croft, Chair of the Church of England’s Ministry Council, said:

“The ordination of nearly a thousand new deacons and priests in this season is a remark-able gift to both the Church and our nation. These deacons and priests will between them make an extraordinary contribution to the lives of communities across the land, in service, in leading God’s people in worship and through inviting others to follow Christ.

“It is a huge encourage-ment to see so many women

and men in every age group responding to God’s call to ordained ministry”.

1000 #newrevs ordainedContinued from Page one

Among the new clergy ordained is Chris Sutton, an Actuary and former banking executive. Chris was ordained in Chichester Diocese and has started a curacy in St Mary’s Slaugham and St Mark’s Staplefield.Watch an interview with Chris at:vimeo.com/98725782

ChurchCare, the build-ings division of the Church of England, has welcomed the announcement of £4.7 million in grants for 22 English cathe-drals from a government-spon-sored fund set up to support vital repairs.

Culture Secretary Sajid Javid announced that the first phase will provide 18 Church of England and four Roman Catholic cathedrals with grants worth between £15k and £500k for repairs ranging from urgent work to stained glass windows through to roofing and electrical projects.

The Cathedrals will receive £4.7 million of money made available as part of the First World War Centenary Cathedral Repairs Fund. Further grants from the £20 million Fund will be awarded over the rest of the two year programme.

The Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, who is Chairman of the Cathe-dral and Church Buildings Division, said:

“Every one of our cathedrals has drawn up plans for active commemoration of the First

World War. We are grateful to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and acknowledge his assistance in granting £20 million in the Budget to both Catholic and Anglican cathedrals as a way of tackling urgent repairs and enhancing the setting for the commemorative events. Our cathedrals continue to flourish as worshipping communities while offering a valuable insight into our nation’s heritage.”

A full list of the Cathe-drals receiving grant money is available at:

bit.ly/grantrecipents

The Church’s Ethical Invest-ment Advisory Group (EIAG) has announced that it has tightened recommendations regarding investment restrictions.

As a result, stricter rules are applied to how assets are man-aged, with investments that make more than 10% of prof-its in excluded categories are prohibited.Full details of the announcement can be found at:bit.ly/eiagreview

Hereford Cathedral, one of the recipients

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has joined more than 20 British faith leaders call-ing for Lord Falconer’s Assisted Dying Bill not to be enacted.

In a joint statement pub-lished ahead of the House of Lords debate, faith leaders said that if passed the Bill would have “a serious detrimental effect on the wellbeing of individuals and on the nature and shape of our society.”The full statement is available at: bit.ly/assisteddyingstatement

Archbishop Justin speaking during July’s Synod

Credit: Keith Blundy

that churches in England reach around 10 million people each year through their community activities, excluding regular and other church services such as baptisms, weddings and funer-als. Over half of all adults who say that they, or a member of their family, had accessed com-munity services in the last year, did so via churches or church groups. This equates to just over 10m adults -providing a signifi-cant social footprint.Read the full report at:bit.ly/goodneighbours

will be able to start looking for a retirement property much ear-lier; they will be able to choose their future home from a large pool of high quality properties in the certain knowledge of what the costs of each property will be, and they will pay a subsi-dised rent based on the value of the property they choose. None of these changes will take place before 1 April 2015.

More details can be found at:bit.ly/charmconsult