Standing Committee & RB19 Jun 18

June 2018 Standing Committee News

The Standing Committee of the General Synod met on Tuesday 12th June 2018 in Church House, Dublin. The first half of the meeting was chaired by the Archbishop of Armagh and the second half by the Archbishop of Dublin. Archdeacon George Davison opened the meeting with a scripture reading and prayers. Archbishop Clarke welcomed 23 new members to their first meeting of Standing Committee following recent elections from each diocese.

Honorary Secretaries’ Report
Mr Ken Gibson provided a report from the Honorary Secretaries. He relayed that Church of Ireland Press has appointed Mr Adrian Clements as its new Chair and, now that he is in place, a meeting has been scheduled and a report will be provided in September; the Honorary Secretaries, as previously agreed by Standing Committee, are also meeting the new Chief Executive of the Board for Social Responsibility (NI) in early July.

It was noted that Archdeacon Paul Dundas attended the recent General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland in place of the Bishop of Clogher and he and Mrs Margaret Fullerton who also represented the Church of Ireland will report back on it in the Autumn. Mr Gibson relayed that several proposed amendments to the Special Resolutions at General Synod relating to the Liturgical Advisory Committee have been received and forwarded to the LAC; the LAC itself has also submitted its own amendments with a view to a Bill being proposed at General Synod 2019.

Auditors
It was resolved that PricewaterhouseCoopers be appointed as auditors of the accounts of the Representative Church Body for the year 2018, on terms to be agreed by the RCB Executive Committee, such terms to be reported to the Standing Committee.

Co–opted Members of Standing Committee
The results of the voting for the election of co–opted members were announced by Ms Hazel Corrigan, as follows: Mr Andrew Brannigan; the Revd Canon Alison Calvin; the Very Revd Nigel Dunne; the Revd Canon Dr Maurice Elliott; Ms Pauline High; the Revd Gary McMurray and Mr Alan Williamson.

Discussion following General Synod 2018
There was general discussion relating to the General Synod which had met in Armagh in May, with a number of practical points being made for the benefit of planning future General Synods and recording attendance figures.

Considerable discussion followed in relation to a private member’s motion which was passed at General Synod to provide for the withdrawal of Bill No. 7 (to amend Chapter I of the Constitution) and to request Standing Committee to consider the contents of the Bill and amendments for the development of legislative proposals for General Synod 2019. It was resolved that the Standing Committee appoint a Working Group, composed of one member of the Standing Committee from each diocese, other than a bishop, and two Honorary Secretaries, to consider the contents of the withdrawn Bill and the proposed amendments to that Bill with a focus to developing a report and legislative proposals for presentation at the General Synod of 2019. It was agreed that a member may be an elected or co–opted lay or clerical representative – with co–opted members deemed to represent the diocese for which they were elected to Synod – and that the Group should report to each meeting of the Standing Committee and provide its final report and draft legislative proposals at the January meeting. It was also agreed that a dedicated full–day meeting of the Standing Committee might be arranged.

Complaints Administrator
Following the retirement of Ms Eileen McClenaghan, the Standing Committee appointed Ms Bridget Rippey as the Complaints Administrator for the purposes of the relevant part of Chapter VIII of the Constitution of the Church of Ireland.

Church and Society Commission
CASC currently has an imbalance of male and female members, and of members from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The Standing Committee approved a call for expressions of interest for the remaining places on CASC, with a particular emphasis on welcoming expressions from those whose membership would address the imbalances. In addition, the Standing Committee approved the co–option of Dr Elizabeth Leonard to membership of CASC.

Working Group on Disability – Consultative Group on Disability
Standing Committee agreed that the current terms of reference of the Church’s Working Group on Disability be replaced with the new terms of reference for a Consultative Group on Disability. The new Consultative Group will advertise for expressions of interest and it is hoped that, with a larger membership, the Consultative Group will be able to undertake the role of advising the various boards and committees that report to General Synod, as well as advising dioceses and parishes.

Royalties
It was resolved, on the recommendation of the Central Communications Board, that a grant of £1,000 be made from the General Synod Royalties Fund to the ‘Be Reconciled’ project to assist the provision of a study resource for parish use, authored by the Revd Catherine Simpson.

Triennial elections
It was agreed that Mrs Brigid Barrett be appointed as one of the Standing Committee representatives to the CIYD Central Board. Following the retirement of Archdeacon Rountree from the Central Communications Board, and to whom thanks were expressed for his service, it was agreed that the Revd Canon Ruth Elmes be appointed as the Standing Committee representative to the CCB; the Revd Canon Gillian Wharton was appointed as the Honorary Secretaries’ representative to the CCB.

The following were appointed as members of the Legal Advisory Committee of the General Synod for the triennium: Ms Hazel Corrigan; Ven George Davison; Mr Ken Gibson; Rev Canon Gillian Wharton; The Hon Mr Justice Tom Burgess; The Hon Mr Justice Alistair Devlin; Mr Lyndon MacCann; The Hon Mrs Justice Catherine McGuinness; Mr Oswyn Paulin; Mr William Prentice; The Hon Mr Justice Ronald Rodgers and The Right Hon Lord Justice Benjamin Stephens.

The following were elected as the lay judges of the Court of the General Synod for the triennium: The Hon Mr Justice Tom Burgess; The Hon Mr Justice AFW Devlin; Mr Charles Galloway; Rt Hon Sir Paul Girvan; Mr Patrick Good; Mr Lyndon MacCann; The Hon Mrs Justice Catherine McGuinness; Mr Ronald Robins and The Right Hon Lord Justice Benjamin Stephens.

The following were elected as members of the Priorities Fund Committee: Mrs Brigid Barrett; Mrs Joan Bruton; Ms Hazel Corrigan; Ven George Davison; Ven Andrew Forster; Mr Glenn Moore; Mr Roy Totten and Ven Adrian Wilkinson.

The following were elected members of the Bishops’ Appeal Advisory Committee for the triennium: the Rt Revd Patrick Rooke; Revd John Ardis; Mrs Iris Suitor; Rt Revd Ferran Glenfield; Ms Ruth Handy; Revd Canon Jonathan Pierce and Mr William Kingston. Special thanks for forty years of dedicated service to the Bishops’ Appeal were expressed to Mr Albert Smallwoods upon his recent retirement.

Irish Council of Churches’ Joint Management Committee
The Standing Committee approved the co–option of the Rt Rev John McDowell to the Joint Management Committee of the Irish Council of Churches.

The meeting closed with the Grace.