DIOCESAN SYNOD October 2013 Rev Mara, Rev David Crosby, with Una Clifford and Charles Greeneklee as elected lay representatives attended Synod sessions on Friday 18th, Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th October. This was the First Session of the Forty-second Triennial Synod of the Diocese of Adelaide. Campbelltown Parish is now represented by two elected synod persons rather than three as in recent sessions. The Synod Eucharist was celebrated in St Peter’s Cathedral, North Adelaide on Friday night with Archbishop Dr Jeffrey Driver as Celebrant. The sermon was preached by The Rev’d Dr Matthew Anstey of St Barnabas Theological College. Following the service the Archbishop presented the President’s Pastoral Address to Synod. The remaining sessions of synod on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th October were conducted in St Peter’s College Memorial Hall. The Synod Eucharist is always a grand affair with a colourful procession of robed clergy and bishops, choral singing and organ playing. It is a pleasure to be part of a cathedral full of Anglicans praying and singing together. Unfortunately several sung parts of the service eg The Gloria, were sung only by the choirs. In his Presidential Address the Archbishop takes his listeners on a wide sweep across the Diocese and the community, taking up issues that are significant to the assembled synod. There is often a theme or themes which will tie the proceedings of Synod together. This year’s Presidential Address exemplifies this tradition. Many aspects of our current church and community lives are considered in a thoughtful and encouraging way. We meet Emily who helped plant a church at Kidman Park in 1948 and Majur who is a little boy with twisted legs, found abandoned at Bor in South Sudan. Other topics considered include Anglicare, the Royal Commission, the Boats, St Barnabas College, the Dean and Chapter of the Diocese of Adelaide Incorporated. Some of these topics served as introduction to Notices of Motion later on in the synod. Saturday, the long day at Synod, commenced early with prayers to open proceedings, followed by the usual Welcome and Procedural Motions. Our first task was to listen to a presentation entitled, ‘Strategic Plan “Setting a vision for the future”’. Expected outcomes by 2016 include 1. Growth in competency and confidence in sharing the Gospel. 2. Reshaping and consolidating congregational ministries. 3. Building strong links between communities of faith and schools and agencies. 4. Rebuilding credibility as a prophetic voice in the community. 5. Ensuring effective governance that serves mission. Please check the Diocesan web site for more details about the Strategic Plan. Business sessions commenced with 5 minute interviews conducted by Rev Stephen Daughtry and Emma Riggs, intended to draw attention to the work of people like Greg Lock and Rev Sam Bleby. These interviews were a good way to get a message to people at Synod and livened up the sessions with human interest stories. Keith Stephens, Secretary of Synod, presented the Finance Report and the Budget Report (for the year ending June 2014). These reports are very complicated and it is hard to relate the presentation to the documents we were given. Properties are being bought and sold, work on St Barnabas College is commencing, and the “green shoots liability” is being reduced. It is hoped that the expected challenges of the next 3 years will be overcome and that the Diocesan Assessment for parishes will be reduced in the foreseeable future. Saturday morning concluded with a brief discussion of two items of legislation. The significant part of the proposed Cathedral Ordinance is to enact a proposal for a Cathedral Chapter to assist in the function, ministry and mission of the cathedral. Synod also dealt with an amendment to the Clergy Parenting Leave Ordinance. Both items were carried. Later in Synod, Canon Andrew Cheesman moved a motion acknowledging the work of the Dean and Chapter over 165 years. Notices of Motion on topics ranging from Assessment Reduction, Personal Giving Incentive and St Barnabas College Building were considered after lunch. Synod then became Anglicare for that body’s AGM. Constitutional changes were approved and later confirmed by Synod. Notice of Motion number 21, concerning Australia’s responsibilities to refugees who arrive on our shores occupied the remainder of Saturday’s 11 session. Synod experienced difficulty as to how best to express its views about how boat people should be received on arrival and what should be done about the Inverbrackie detention centre. Eventually after praying and thinking about the motion over night agreement was reached and a satisfactory motion (in two parts) was carried on Sunday afternoon. Synod reconvened on Sunday afternoon with a conference on Professional Standards. Notice of Motion 17 will be considered in 2014 but Synod did consider how the introduction of a Grievance Policy could protect vulnerable people as well as saving time and legal expenses. Currently there is risk that disagreements between workers, which should be dealt with by grievance procedures, may otherwise inappropriately escalate to Professional Standards matters, unnecessarily damaging careers and wasting time and money. Hopefully a better way will be found to deal with this topic before next synod. In the remaining time all the items on the Notice paper were carried. Synod considered prison chaplaincy and aboriginal prison chaplaincy. (Note that in South Australia there is no government funding for prison chaplaincy.) New Ministry Activity, Stewardship of Diocesan Resources and Use of church Property, Diocesan Youth Ministry and Continuing Education in the Diocese were also considered. The Chancellor, The Hon David Bleby, gave notice that the 16th ordinary Session of General Synod in Australia will take place in Adelaide from 29th June to July 4th 2014. The successful staging of this historic event will require assistance from many local Anglicans. Because this was an election synod, lay and clergy synods people voted to fill vacancies which occur at the start of each Triennial Synod. A short lived attempt was made to introduce electronic voting at this synod, both in elections and debates. As this was unsuccessful nothing more was heard about electronic voting at this stage but we can expect to hear more about it next year. The Archbishop is a good President of Synod and the staff of Diocesan Office makes sure that everything runs smoothly over the three day synod event. As always the comfort of delegates was well taken care of and the presentation of information using power point, printed notes etc was of a high standard. This is not an exhaustive account of events on the synod weekend. Other significant points include a possible aboriginal bishop, poor reporting by The Advertiser, as well as other features. Thank you for the opportunity to attend Synod for another three years. Charles Greeneklee.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 06:09:25 +0000
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