General Synod of the Church of England | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Chambers | House of Bishops House of Clergy House of Laity |
| Leadership | |
Vacant. Previous holderJustin Welby | |
TheGeneral Synod is thetricameral deliberative and legislative organ of theChurch of England. Thesynod was instituted in 1970, replacing theChurch Assembly, and is the culmination of a process of rediscovering self-government for the Church of England that had started in the 1850s.
Before 1919, any change to the church's worship or governance had to be byact of Parliament, which resulted in little being done.[1] In 1919, theConvocations of the provinces ofCanterbury andYork adopted the constitution of the National Church Assembly proposed by the Representative Church Council and presented it to the king as an appendix to an address. The constitution as proposed to the sovereign was then recognised as already existing in theChurch of England Assembly (Powers) Act 1919 (9 & 10 Geo. 5. c. 76) thus obtaining legal recognition of the assembly without implying that it had been created by Parliament or that Parliament could modify its constitution.[2]
By means of theChurch of England Assembly (Powers) Act 1919 Parliament then gave the assembly power to preparemeasures which, once presented to Parliament and approved by a special procedure (see below), were to "have the force and effect of an Act of Parliament" on "any matter concerning the Church of England", and included the power to repeal or amend Acts of Parliament concerning the church.[3] The preparation of such measures lay mainly with a joint Legislative Committee of the three houses of the assembly and this committee negotiated with the parliamentary Ecclesiastical Committee to reach an agreed form.[4]
The act required that, after being passed by the assembly, the measure had to be examined by a joint committee of both Houses ofParliament which prepared a report to both houses - today known as theEcclesiastical Committee. If then approved by each House, it was submitted to theSovereign forroyal assent. IfMPs or members of theHouse of Lords were not content with a measure then they could vote to reject it, but not amend it.[4] Once a measure had been agreed ("deemed expedient") by both Houses of Parliament, and received royal assent, it was (from 1926) printed with the acts of Parliament for the year in question.
By theSynodical Government Measure 1969,[5] the Church Assembly renamed and reconstituted itself as the General Synod of the Church of England. It also took over almost all the powers formerly exercised by the Convocations of Canterbury and York.
The synod istricameral, consisting of theHouse of Bishops, theHouse of Clergy and theHouse of Laity. There are currently 467 members in total.
TheHouse of Bishops is made up of the 30diocesan bishops in theProvince of Canterbury, the 12 diocesan bishops of theProvince of York, theBishop of Dover (who functions as diocesan bishop of Canterbury, in the Province of Canterbury), and seven other suffragan bishops (four from Canterbury and three from York) elected by all suffragan bishops.
TheHouse of Clergy comprises clergy elected from the following:
Members of theHouse of Laity are elected by lay members of theDeanery Synod in each Diocese every five years by a system ofsingle transferable vote. There are:
There are two or three synodical sessions per year (4–5 days each), one or two inChurch House,Westminster, the other at theUniversity of York, and each session is officially opened by the monarch. The Archbishops ofCanterbury andYork preside jointly.
The functions of the synod are:
Measures or canons must be passed by a majority of the members of each house of the synod. Most other business can be passed by a majority of the members of the synod overall. However changes to church doctrine, rites and ceremonies, or the administration of thesacraments, can only be made in the form agreed by the House of Bishops. Also, changes in the services ofBaptism orHoly Communion, as well as proposals for union with any other church, cannot be approved unless they have also been approved by a majority of thediocesan synods.[10]
Some measures do not extend to theDiocese of Sodor and Man unless so provided by a measure passed by theSodor and ManDiocesan Synod and approved byTynwald.[11] Measures are applied directly to the Channel Islands, in the legislation, under provisions of theChannel Islands Measure 2020.
The General Synod also elects some members of theArchbishops' Council.
Meetings of the General Synod have been allowed to be remote since theCOVID-19 pandemic, under measures that were originally meant to be temporary but have been extended.[12][13]
