wfn.org | ACNS3451 Sydney Diocese to invite bishops of the Anglican

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ACNS 3451     |     AUSTRALIA	  |	28 MAY 2003 

Sydney Diocese to invite bishops of the Anglican Communion to respond to
plans for Lay and Diaconal Presidency

[Anglican Media Sydney] News stories that have appeared with suggestions that
the Diocese of Sydney is about to commence the practice of lay and diaconal
presidency are incorrect.

A Committee report will be debated at the June meeting of the diocesan
Standing Committee. The report contains the suggestion that a process of
consultation with the bishops of the Anglican Communion be set in train later
this year before the matter is fully debated by the Sydney Synod in October
2004.

The Committee was set up by an October 2001 Synod resolution that requested
an investigation as to whether there was a legal option for commencing the
practice of lay and diaconal presidency in the Diocese of Sydney.

The Sydney Synod has been debating lay presidency (called in Sydney 'lay
administration') since 1977, and there is now a strong commitment based on
biblical and theological reasoning for the practice to be introduced into the
ministry of the diocese. Yet it is also realised that this would become a
matter of strong debate within the Anglican Communion, and the Synod
Committee has appropriately recommended this process of careful consultation.

The recommendations of the Committee are that the report and draft
legislation be sent to the 2003 Synod and also that the Synod should request
the Archbishop [Dr Peter Jensen] "to write to the bishops of the Anglican
Communion explaining the intention of the Synod to consider the bill at its
2004 session, and inviting comments to be forwarded to him by 1 June 2004."

The suggestion is also that Dr Jensen arrange for a report to be prepared on
the responses that are received for the Synod session in October 2004.

"Clearly a firm intention to consult with the episcopal leadership of the
entire Anglican Communion is central to the planned process for the Sydney
Synod," said Dr Glenn Davies, Bishop of North Sydney and the Committee
chairman.

The Report

The report deals with legal matters, without any theological reasoning. This
is because the Synod in 2001 resolved that the Committee should investigate
any options, consistent with church law, that would be available for the
matter to proceed into practice within the Diocese.

The Committee believes that there is a power for this to be allowed under
Section 2(1) of the Anglican Church of Australia Constitutions Act 1902. This
is a result of a 1976 amendment to this NSW 1902 Act.

The Anglican Church of Australia is essentially a federation of provinces and
dioceses. While there is a Constitution for the Anglican Church of Australia
that came into being in 1961, this does not remove the power of the 1902 NSW
Act.

The Committee report says consideration was also given to the advisory
opinions from the Appellate Tribunal of the Anglican Church of Australia on
questions sent to it by the then Primate, Archbishop Keith Rayner, in 1995.

The Primate asked whether it is consistent with the Constitution of the
Anglican Church of Australia for deacons and lay people 'to preside at,
administer or celebrate the Holy Communion'? The Appellate Tribunal answered
YES to this question with a 4/3 vote.

The Primate also asked, if the previous answer was YES, if it is consistent
with the Constitution of the Church for a diocesan synod rather than a
national Church General Synod 'to permit, authorise or make provision for the
practices of lay and diaconal presidency'? The Appellate Tribunal answered NO
with a 6/1 vote.

The Sydney Committee understood that the matter could proceed if a Canon was
passed by the General Synod. However, it also understood that the General
Synod was unlikely ever to pass such a Canon.

The Committee also recognised that lay and diaconal administration is widely
regarded as not being authorised in the Church because of provisions of the
1662 Act of Uniformity, especially Section x.

This Act was repealed in England in 1974 but was still the law in the Church
of England in 1961 when the Constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia
was passed.

An opinion from a 1948 legal case in NSW relating to a prayer book in use in
the Diocese of Bathurst was that though the Act of Uniformity was never a
Public Act in NSW, it still [in 1948] determined the doctrine and ritual of
the Church of England in NSW since it did so in the Church of England.

The Sydney Synod Committee therefore resolved that the way forward to ensure
a legal power for lay and diaconal presidency would be to repeal any
operation that the Act of Uniformity may still have in the Diocese of Sydney.

Notwithstanding an Appellate Tribunal Opinion in 1976 that the Act of
Uniformity does not now apply to the Anglican Church of Australia, the Synod
Committee recommends that this repeal of Section x of the Act of Uniformity
would remove all doubt as to its application to the introduction of lay and
diaconal presidency in the Diocese of Sydney.

If this was repealed then lay and diaconal presidency could be dealt with by
way of regulation of the Archbishop at the request of Synod.

Draft Legislation

A proposed ordinance was attached to the Committee report. The recommendation
was that this ordinance be tabled at the October 2003 session of the Synod
with the Committee report and that the process of consultation be set in
train with a view to full Synod debate on the matter in 2004.

What happens next?

The Synod Standing Committee will debate the matter on June 30 and decide
whether or not it desires to print the report and draft bill for Synod in
October, accompanied by the suggested process of Communion wide consultation.

Two Sydney Doctrine Commission Reports on Lay Administration may be found at:
http://www.anglicanmedia.com.au/old/doc/layanddiaconal_1998.html
and
http://www.anglicanmedia.com.au/old/doc/layanddiaconal_1995.html

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