Diocesan Synod, November 2024
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
Bishop Jonathan spoke about the assisted dying bill which is due to be debated in Parliament on November 29, noting that on All Saints-tide, many of those present will have ministered to those who are dying and perhaps also cared for close family at the end of their lives. He said he was opposed to these changes and had written to all of the area's MPs with his views. He urged synod members to consider their responses and use resources to take action. There are details here.
He was also able to announce that the national Church of England had approved our bid for a major investment by the national Church to help us to deliver our strategic plans. This means we have extra funding of around £1m a year to spend on the delivery of our strategy. You can read more about that here.
NEW SET OF DIOCESAN SYNOD MEMBERS
Every three years, a new set of Diocesan Synod members is elected. This was the first meeting of a newly-elected synod, so it included some new members. Each House has to elected a chair. The House of Bishops only has one member (Bishop Jonathan), so the other two Houses elected their chairs as follows:
- Chair of House of Clergy: Canon Bob White
- Chair of House of Laity: Debbie Sutton
Diocesan Secretary Philip Poulter also introduced synod members to an organisational diagram of staff and spoke about elections to Bishop's Council, our Vacancy-in-See Committee and our Patronage Board. Details here. Canon Bob White explained more about our synod's standing orders.
SAFEGUARDING
Diocesan Secretary Philip Poulter updated synod members on safeguarding, referring to a visit by Alex Kubeyinje, the Church of England's director of safeguarding, He had indicated that our diocese's safeguarding arrangements were the "gold standard" that other dioceses might want to follow, which was a morale-boost for our safeguarding team. He also gave an update on the process by which safeguarding might become more independent of the Church of England, which you can read more about here.