THE NEXT General Synod meeting will take place in Church House, Westminster, from Monday 8 to Friday 12 FebÂruary. It has a very full agenda, said the secretary general of the ArchÂbishops’ Council, William Fittall, at the press briefing on Monday, because it will be “clearing the decks for the Synod at York in July” when the ordination of women bishops will next be debated.
Mr Fittall went on to “refute the myths” that were current in the press that the revision committee on women in the episcopate had been deliberately dragging its feet in order to miss the February sessions and therefore delay any decision, or that the committee had “misapplied itself”.
A large number of proposals had come to the committee, and it was having to examine each in turn, giving the proposers the chance to put their cases personally, and to consider all the legislation line by line.
Asked whether the recent offer from the Pope had further slowed the process down, Mr Fittall refused to commit himself, saying that the committee had had to look at “a lot of big ideas” as well as details. He did not think there was any reason to change the view that 2014 was likely to be the earliest date that a woman bishop could be appointed.
In the midst of it all, the situation related to clergy pensions in the C. of E. is really quite astonishing, especially given the relatively low compensation levels during years of active ministry. Cutting back on disability retirement benefits, extending minimum age to 68, increasing minimum years of credited service for full vesting: sounds to me like an imploding system. I believe their funds have been battered due to an unwise overweighting in the equity markets prior to the 2007 crash, and these are buckets for bailing a sinking canoe. Even in a moderately socialized economy like the U.K.’s I expect there will be some very sad stories flowing out of this for years to come.
Bruce Robison