Standing Committee & RB24 Nov 15

November 2015 Standing Committee News

The Standing Committee of the General Synod met on Tuesday 17th November 2015 in Church House, Dublin. The meeting was chaired by the Archbishop of Armagh and by the Archbishop of Dublin. A moment’s silence was kept to remember the late Bishop Peter Barrett and his family. Mr Sam Harper led with a scripture reading and prayers, including prayers for the world, racial harmony and the security forces following recent atrocities in Paris, Beirut and Iraq, before business commenced. The Archbishop of Armagh welcomed Mr Ken Gibson to his first meeting as the new lay Honorary Secretary.

Honorary Secretaries’ Report
The Revd Gillian Wharton provided a report on recent activities undertaken by the Honorary Secretaries including ongoing work on Charity Registration and appointments to the Commission on Episcopal Ministry and Structures of Mr Sam Harper (filling the vacancy for an Honorary Secretary) and of Mr Edward Hardy (co–option).

The forthcoming availability of a new Church of Ireland website to enable donations to the Bishops’ Appeal, the RCB and the Priorities Fund, along with payments to the RCB Library for archival searches and for Church of Ireland publications ordered online, was highlighted. www.store.ireland.anglican.org will be accessible shortly.

Finances
The report of the Standing Committee Budget Sub–Committee was noted and its recommendations adopted; it will now be forwarded to the Representative Church Body Allocations Committee.

Dignity in Church Life Charter
The Secretary General, Mr Adrian Clements, outlined further development of the guidelines and policies relating to the Charter. Members of Standing Committee discussed these in detail and provided comments on the documents to those working on the process. A final version of the documents will be brought to the January meeting of the Standing Committee for approval; once adopted, there will be a process of explaining implementation of the policies across the country.

Lobbying
The RCB has now registered on the Lobbying Regulation website, on behalf of the central Church, following the coming into force of the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 in September. The RB Executive Committee has recognised specific persons for the purposes of carrying out lobbying with the authority of the Church of Ireland: Archbishops and Bishops; Honorary Secretaries of the General Synod; Chairpersons of central Church committees; senior staff of the RB; and other individuals specifically commissioned by one of these to lobby on a particular occasion and on a particular matter. Standing Committee members discussed the issue, noting the importance of keeping records of relevant events and conversations and that the first return by the RCB is due in late January 2016.

Appointments
Mr Ken Gibson was elected as a member of the Charities Registration Monitoring Group.

The Standing Committee approved the following as members of the Central Communications Board for the 2015–2018 triennium: Ms Ruth Buchanan (Broadcasting Committee); Mr Adrian Clements (Church House senior staff); the Revd Eileen Cremin (Broadcasting Committee); the Very Revd Alistair Grimason (Representative Church Body); the Revd Trevor Johnston (Co–opted member); Mrs Janet Maxwell (Church House senior staff); Dr Kenneth Milne (Literature Committee); Dr Raymond Refaussé (Literature Committee); the Ven Richard Rountree (Standing Committee); The Most Revd PL Storey (Bishop of Meath and Kildare) (House of Bishops); the Revd Gillian Wharton (Standing Committee and Honorary Secretary). Another RCB representative and co–option for regional balance are being sought.

Reports
Reports were received from the Church of Ireland Historiographer; the Select Committee on Human Sexuality in the Context of Christian Belief; and from the Bishop of Tuam who had attended the Anglican Alliance Europe Consultation in Cardiff in late September.

The Select Committee’s forthcoming Guide to the Conversation will be accompanied by a resource pack including Bible studies to be used by parishes. The materials will be launched in Church House, Dublin at 4.00pm on Monday 18th January 2016 and in St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast at 4.00pm on Tuesday 19th January.

In reporting on the Anglican Alliance’s work in connecting churches and people with a view to fostering a world free of poverty, inequality, conflict and injustice, Bishop Patrick Rooke described how the Bishops’ Appeal in particular will be linking in with the Alliance in exploring advocacy – in addition to its work in development and relief. Bishop Rooke said that ‘collaboration, advocacy, research and upskilling of parishes are key’ and that Anglican Alliance can help with this.