Standing Committee & RB22 Jun 22

Standing Committee News

The Archbishop of Armagh congratulated Mrs Joan Bruton on receiving the award of an honorary British Empire Medal for her work with the Lighthouse Trust Summer School over many years.

The Archbishop thanked Dr Catherine Smith, who will shortly be moving from her role as Synod Officer to become Operations Executive with the Church’s Ministry of Healing, for her tremendous grace and efficiency in the role of Synod Officer over the last seven years.  The Honorary Secretaries, on behalf of the Standing Committee, expressed their gratitude to Dr Smith and wished her well in her new role.

The Honorary Secretaries have proposed that the 2023 meeting of the General Synod should take place on Friday, 12th May, and Saturday, 13th May, in person with a meeting for the third day of business to be held remotely on the evening of Tuesday, 16th May, and of Thursday, 18th May (if required).

The Standing Committee approved the Clergy Permanent Health Insurance Policy and the Clergy Parental Sabbatical Policy for inclusion in the Dignity in Church Life Charter.

The Standing Committee also approved proposals by the Sub–Committee on future mechanisms for meetings of Standing Committee and other meetings, which allow for a combination of in–person and remote formats for meetings of the Standing Committee with the potential for hybrid meetings to be considered by the Honorary Secretaries.

Appointments

The Revd Canon Jane Galbraith was declared elected to the Standing Committee as the clerical representative of 55 years or over for the Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe.

PricewaterhouseCoopers was appointed as auditors of the accounts of the Representative Church Body for the year 2022, on terms to be agreed by the RCB Executive Committee and reported to the Standing Committee.

The Standing Committee approved the appointment of the following persons to represent the Church of Ireland as delegates to annual meetings of other Churches:

• the Rt Revd Dr Ian Ellis and Mrs Ethne McCord to attend the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (22nd–25th June 2022) at Assembly Buildings, Belfast;

• the Rt Revd Michael Burrows to attend the Provincial Synod of the Moravian Church in Great Britain and Ireland (14th–18th July 2022) in Swanwick;

• Professor Ken Dunn, and a further delegate to be appointed by the Honorary Secretaries, to attend the Ireland Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (11th–14th August 2022) at Stranmillis University College, Belfast; and

• the Revd Canon Malcolm Kingston to attend the Governing Body of the Church in Wales (7th & 8th September 2022) at the International Convention Centre, Newport.

The Standing Committee ratified the appointment of the Revd Eugene Griffin to the Safeguarding Board, as a clerical member nominated by the Archbishop of Dublin.  Ms Shirley Scott, Policy Manager at the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, has also been co–opted to the membership of the Safeguarding Board as an external expert.

The meeting closed with the Grace.