Governing Body April 2007
The Governing Body of the Church in Wales met at Swansea University on April 11th and 12th. Mr Sandy Blair is one of the members from our diocese. He reflects on the meeting.
The Governing Body of the Church in Wales is our parliament; what some other Provinces call a Synod but in Wales that name just covers the Bishops and Archbishop. The GB (for short) authorises the Church’s policies, rules and procedures and it works in tandem with the Representative Body (RB) who are trustees of Church Property. All the Bishops, some of the other clergy, and some lay representatives of every diocese make up the GB, most by election but a few by co-option. I was co-opted last year.
The GB used to be very large but has been through a process of adjustment including a significant reduction in size; despite this it will by 2008 still have 144 members. That is more than two and a half times the size of the National Assembly for Wales. However, it only meets twice a year for two days at a time. It is supported by a Standing Committee and the Bench of Bishops (who both work closely with the RB) and by the Provincial Secretariat.
The names of those who represent Monmouth Diocese have recently been circulated to parishes for information. It is of interest to note that members of this diocese currently serve as Chairman and Deputy of the Standing Committee and of the Representative Body.
The agenda for GB meetings always provides for a presidential address by the Archbishop, Question Time, and private Members’ motions as well as presentations on current topics, business reports and debates on policy. Significant items at the spring meeting this year included: the role of the Church in Wales in Education on which there is to be a wide-ranging review; the adoption of a Welsh Language Scheme setting general standards but leaving detailed arrangements to suit the circumstances of individual parishes; the launch of the new Provincial Website with links to all dioceses and, hopefully in the future, to parishes; an analysis of the implications for the Church of the new Government of Wales Act; a presentation by Bishop Dominic on the work of our Diocese particularly in the active encouragement of mission and new ministry following the publication of Hope for Monmouth.
The most substantial discussion however was reserved for an initial exploration of the issues surrounding the emerging proposal to extend the ordination of women to the Episcopate. This is likely to be the subject of a formal proposition from the Bench of Bishops next year. The discussion this year, conducted with a nice balance of serious argument and good humour, provided a helpful opportunity for both proponents and opponents to share with the Governing Body those aspects which gave them most concern. We were left with a general sense of considerable support for the forthcoming change together with a recognition that for some this would raise very substantial questions of conscience potentially affecting their confidence to remain within the Church to which they had committed their lives to date.
As I left to drive home still thinking about the weight of this discussion my mind was drawn back to the Archbishop’s opening address, not for what he had said about the role of women, good though this had been, but about the tragic murder of the Reverend Paul Bennett and the need for the church to consider the security needs of all our priests.
Mr Sandy Blair, co-opted member of GB