The Church Of Ireland
News Briefing

STANDING COMMITTEE OF THE GENERAL SYNOD

The Standing Committee of the General Synod of the Church of Ireland met on Tuesday 16th June 1998 in Church House , Dublin.

At this meeting, the following Resolutions were passed:

• That General Synod should meet in Belfast in the year 2000 on 15th, 16th and 17th May at the Waterfront Hall.

• That the report of the Commission on Episcopal Needs be adopted and that the Standing Committee be requested to take the necessary action for implementation of its proposals.

• That the proposals contained in the report of the Commission on Episcopal Needs to the General Synod of 1998 be conveyed to the Honorary Secretaries of each Diocesan Synod affected with a request that approval of the alteration to Diocesan Boundaries affecting each particular Diocese be sought at a meeting of the Diocesan Synod and that the decision of the Diocesan Synod be conveyed to the Honorary Secretaries of the General Synod.

• That the Honorary Secretaries report to the Standing Committee when a decision has been received from each Diocesan Synod affected by alterations to Diocesan Boundaries.

• That the Standing Committee on receipt of a report from the Honorary Secretaries then considers what action should be taken, to implement further the proposals contained in the report of the Commission on Episcopal Needs.

• That, as directed by the General Synod of 1998, a Select Committee be appointed to investigate the position of married students in the Theological College and provide an interim report to the Synod meeting in the year 1999 and a final report and recommendations to the Synod meeting in 2000. That the following be appointed to the Select Committee with power to co-opt:

  • The Bishop of Meath and Kildare
  • Mr V.G. Carson
  • Mr A.C. McElhinney
  • Rev Canon J.R. Bartlett
  • Mrs A.A. Bedlow
  • Rev. M Graham

• That, as directed by the General Synod of 1998, the Standing Committee directs that the Church of Ireland seek membership of the Jubilee 2000 Coalition.

• That the following be appointed to represent the Church of Ireland at the annual meeting of the Jubilee 2000 Coalition to be held in England in the Autumn of 1998:- Mrs A Aalen

• That, whereas it is desirable to consider the need for reform of the General Synod of the Church of Ireland the Standing Committee of the General Synod

  1. now decides to take the initiative in considering reform of the Synodical Structures and Synodical methods of the Church of Ireland and in initiating general debate about such reform at the meeting of General Synod in 1999.

  2. starts to undertake a full review of present structures of General Synod including under Chapter One of the Constitution of the Church of Ireland (taking into account developments arising from the work of the Commission on Episcopal Needs, the Standing Orders of the General Synod, the Standing Orders of Standing Committee and including a paper on the subject previously submitted to Standing Committee by JLB Deane)

  3. establishes a working group to pursue these objectives

  4. requests the working group to present an interim report to it as its January meeting, and

  5. that the following be asked (having already given their agreement) to serve on the Working Group:

     • Bishop John Neill, Bishop of Cashel and Ossory
     • Mr Denzil Auchmuty
     • Ms Valerie Beatty
     • Ms Claire Burrows
     • Canon Paul Colton
     • Mr Jim Getgood
     • Dean Thomas Moore
     • Lady Brenda Sheil
     • Ms Kate Turner
     • Hon. Secretary

     and with power to co-opt up to three other members

• That, as recommended by the Committee for Christian Unity, the following be elected to represent the Church of Ireland on the Irish Inter-Church Committee for a four year period in place of the Rev Dr I M Ellis during his term as a Vice-President of the Irish Council of Churches: Rev R J Gray

• That, as recommended by the Committee for Christian Unity, the following be appointed to represent the Church of Ireland on the Assembly of the Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland for the period ending immediately after the Assembly to be held in the year 2002:

  • The Bishop of Kilmore
  • Rev R J Gray
  • Rev T R Williams
  • Miss Janet Barcroft
  • Mrs Roberta McKelvey
  • Mr William Nixon
  • Rev G V Wharton
  • Rev M A Parker
  • Mrs Arlene Kee
  • Mr Desmond Thorpe

  Alternates:

  • Ms Vivienne Hood
  • Mr Daniel Nuzum
  • Prof Marcus Wheeler

• That the Standing Committee approve a portion of the funding from the grant made by the Priorities Fund to provide £15,000 per annum for 3 years towards the cost of a part-time Publishing Executive Officer, being utilised towards the cost of studying the current and future publishing needs of the Church prior to making the appointment.