THE secret ballot by which diocesan bishops are nominated could possibly be removed under changes intended to revive trust within the processes of the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC).
In the wake of the failure of the CNC to appoint on two occasions previously nine months, faith in the method has deteriorated to the extent that candidates across a variety traditions are refusing to have their names added to longlists, a paper by the Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, warns.
Others are “openly questioning the integrity of the method”, while “allegations of politicking within the Vacancy in See process are commonplace”.
Bishop Mullally chairs the Advisory Group for Appointments and Vocations, which provides advice and support to the Archbishops’ Advisers for Appointments and Vocations. Besides ending the key ballot, the paper proposes changing the brink required for a nomination, giving the presiding archbishop a further vote within the event of a deadlock, and the mandated resignation of the Central CNC members should they fail to make a nomination on three occasions during a five-year term.
The paper was produced in response to a request by a gaggle of bishops for an “urgent meeting” of the House of Bishops “to contemplate the present challenges facing the Crown Nominations Commission”. In the 15 years to the top of 2022, the CNC did not appoint just twice in 55 processes. But, in December, the CNC announced that it had been unable to achieve a consensus for Carlisle (News, 22 December 2023), followed by failure for Ely seven months later (News, 19 July).
The paper reports that the “deeply disappointing” results for the 2 dioceses have “knocked significantly” confidence within the CNC. Both candidates and CNC members have raised concerns “about how the method works in practice and the way in which that underrepresented groups look like less prone to be nominated”.
The paper will not be intended, Bishop Mullally writes, “to impugn or query the person decisions of individual members”, but to reply to questions on “whether the CNC process is meeting the needs of the Church and enabling the right flourishing of discernment under God”.
For the CNC to work well, and revel in trust, “those participating must believe that it’s a discernment process under God and never one among pre-judgements, tribalism or politics, which is now the perceived fear across the breadth of traditions within the Church, but particularly from those that are under-represented in senior roles.”
The paper records that, since 2018, 15 of the 22 names recommend by the CNC have been men, 19 of whom were white. The Bishop of St Albans, Dr Alan Smith, told the House of Lords this week that the Church had “made slower progress than we had hoped when it got here to making sure that our senior clergy are representative of the various congregations we serve”.
Currently, the key ballot, the paper says, “allows members of the CNC who will not be wishing to make a nomination from those interviewed in a position to conceal the very fact, and ensures the method will not be open or transparent. The mostly expressed concern in regards to the CNC is that members could take part in blocking candidates while having the ability to deny the very fact because of the key ballot.”
The last review of the CNC was debated by the General Synod in 2018 (News 16 February 2018). Chaired by the Revd Professor Oliver O’Donovan, the review group beneficial “tackling the culture of excessive secrecy”. The secret ballot “encourages CNC members to be suspicious of each other”, it concluded, and “may very well encourage the dysfunctional syndromes it is supposed to protect against. . . It may additionally be a greater defence against the temptation to breach confidence, just because it allows members to speak more openly to 1 one other.”
A proposed change to Standing Orders to remove the requirement to vote by secret ballot fell within the House of Laity (News, 1 March 2019). Also rejected was a call to lower the brink that a candidate would want to attain, from a two-thirds majority to two-thirds of those present and voting.
The recent paper proposes that the brink required for a nomination be lowered from “a minimum of two-thirds” (ten of the 14 members) to “a minimum of 60 per cent” (nine members). If abstentions were not counted towards the brink, an agreement of a minimum of half of the members would still be required.
Another proposal would give the archbishop chairing the commission for a selected see one extra casting vote, should the CNC reach some extent that it was unable to secure a nomination.
The paper reports that concerns have been expressed about “whether members elected to the CNC are representative of the range of traditions throughout the diocese” and recommends changes to regulations governing vacancy-in-see committees. These are the committees in each diocese charged each with preparing a press release of needs upon a emptiness arising and electing six diocesan representatives to the CNC.
The committee comprises each ex-officio and elected members. The paper proposes that “there may be a reserved place among the many clergy places for one priest who’s female, should a priest who’s female be standing for election. This would also extend to put representatives, ensuring a minimum of one place for a female lay person should one stand for election.”
An extended-term review of the CNC elections could also be obligatory, the paper says, “to handle more widely held concerns in regards to the operation of the CNC and representation amongst the Central Members”.
Changes were last made in 2021, giving the Synod the ability to elect three pairs of members from the House of Clergy, and three from the House of Laity, to the CNC (News, 16 July 2021).
The recent proposed changes would should be agreed by the Synod. The paper recommends that a proper proposal be developed for consultation with the CNC central members at their next meeting with the Archbishops, in November, before being submitted to the Standing Order Committee for it to report back to the Synod in February 2025.
In addition to Ely and Carlisle, there are currently three vacant sees. Fourteen diocesan bishops, in total, are because of retire in the subsequent five years.
In February, the Archbishop of Canterbury told the Synod that the CNC had been “comprehensively reviewed within the previous quinquennium of the General Synod” and that there was no further formal review planned (News, 19 January 2018).
