MEMBERS of the Scottish Episcopal Church’s General Synod were encouraged to place their heads “above the parapet” on Thursday morning, in an address by the Primus, the Most Revd Mark Strange.
Bishop Strange, who can be the Bishop of Moray, Ross & Caithness, said that the Synod’s agenda — which incorporates items on the environment, the war in Gaza, and nuclear weapons — was “outward-looking”.
“There are all the time those that worry at any time when we put our heads above the parapet, and I understand that; yet there are numerous occasions, may I suggest, that this is strictly what we’re speculated to do,” he said.
“If we don’t call out once we are aware of turmoil and suffering brought on by actions that go against the teaching, life, and example of Christ, then we’re at risk of ignoring our call. Yes, sometimes we might be criticised, sometimes we’ll see people storming off in disagreement, but will we consider people join us due to our silence, or due to our motion?”
He referred to the war in Gaza, and said that “as peacemakers we want to speak of peace, not ignore the conflict”.
This, nevertheless, also created a responsibility to “work our way through those matters that are affecting us directly”, he said, referring to results from the 2022 census, released last month, which showed that 51.1 per cent of respondents in Scotland said that they’d “no religion”: a rise from 36.7 per cent in 2011.
Earlier this week, Bishop Strange was urged, in an exchange of letters seen by the Church Times, to sentence comments made by spokespeople for the Bishop of Aberdeen & Orkney, the Rt Revd Anne Dyer (News, 10 June).
Bishop Dyer is currently suspended, pending a disciplinary tribunal, which is known to relate to accusations of bullying (News, 21 May).
On Monday, six individuals who had complained about her behaviour wrote to Bishop Strange, saying that her spokespeople had “made the baseless accusation that the complainers are homophobes and misogynists”.
On Tuesday, the Primus responded: “It is just not appropriate for me to make comments whether at General Synod or otherwise, about any person involved in the present Canon 54 process.
“Any comments to the effect that ‘the complainers are ‘homophobes and misogynists’ haven’t been made by the Scottish Episcopal Church nor published on any of our platforms. You would due to this fact have to direct your concerns to those answerable for making and/or publishing any such remarks.”
In their reply, the letter-writers argued that it will be “entirely appropriate” for the Primus to make a public statement, suggesting that not doing so amounted to a failure to “protect us from further abuse”.
Bishop Strange did mention the disciplinary process in his address, but only to say: “We must all respect the method happening, and no further comment on the present situation should happen at Synod.”
THE first session of the Synod on Thursday afternoon began with a trial of a recent voting system. A test vote on the motion “that this Synod prefers coffee to tea” was carried in all three Houses, but revealed a split throughout the House of Bishops: two on both sides, with one recording an abstention.
There are currently only five bishops in post, owing to the suspension of Bishop Dyer, and the death last September of the Bishop of Argyll & The Isles, Dr Keith Riglin (News, 25 September 2023)
Dr Riglin’s successor, the Revd David Railton, is resulting from be consecrated in August (News, 24 May), but is present on the Synod, along with the Acting Bishop of Aberdeen & Orkney, the Rt Revd Dorsey McConnell, a former Bishop of Pittsburgh who has retired to Orkney.
The first substantive vote on the Synod was to approve using electronic voting. It needed to be rerun, after one member asked how they might vote electronically on whether or not they should give you the chance to vote electronically.
“We’re in a chicken-and-egg situation,” the convener of the Standing Committee, Bridget Campbell, admitted. The vote was carried, regardless.
The voting system was discussed again after lunch, as Ms Campbell introduced a motion asking the Standing Committee to develop proposals for a everlasting solution to the present ad hoc arrangements.
She acknowledged that every one votes at Synod had, effectively, turn into secret ballots, as a consequence of the shift to electronic voting — a move which had been brought in in the course of the pandemic to facilitate hybrid meetings.
It was, she said, clear from feedback that “many individuals somewhat like voting electronically”, but that there have been some who thought transparency was paramount.
The motion was to “test your general appetite for using electronic voting in the longer term”, she said, and to contemplate possibilities corresponding to publishing voting records after the meetings.
Concerns were raised from the ground about accessibility for individuals with visual impairments and ADHD, the fee of hiring the devices, and the environmental impact of an electronic system.
Ms Campbell also paid tribute to John Stuart, who’s retiring this summer after 28 years because the Synod’s Secretary General. She described him because the “architect” of the Synod in its current form (News, 15 December 2023).
Mr Stuart’s substitute is to be Dr Dee Bird, currently chief executive of Edinburgh Napier Students’ Association (News, 22 March), and a recent post of Chief Operating Officer has been created, to be filled by Dr Patricia Krus, who’s the acting chief executive for the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland.
