The following is a report of some highlights of the meeting of the Standing Committee of the General Synod, which convened in Rotorua on February 27 and 28, 2007.

Crunch time: The 2008 General Synod is shaping as a decisive event for this church’s grappling with the Windsor Report and the issues it deals with. And if this week’s Rotorua meeting of the Standing Committee has anything to do with it, that General Synod debate will be as constructive and informed as possible.

The Standing Committee, which met on February 27 and 28 at the Kingsgate Hotel, heard a report from Archbishop Brown Turei about the recent Primates’ meeting in Tanzania. It then devoted much of its first morning to considering the ramifications of that meeting, and debating how best it could promote church discussion about the key developments to emerge from that meeting.

Those developments, of course, include the release of the much-anticipated draft covenant for the Anglican Communion – one of the key Windsor Recommendations – and the Primates’ Communiqué which, among other things, gives the Primates reading of the state of the wider communion’s relationship with The Episcopal Church.

The Standing Committee seemed satisfied with our own Province’s contribution to efforts to find a way out of the impasse triggered by Bishop Gene Robinson’s ordination. In particular, the members seemed pleased with the inclusion of clause 8 of the Primates’ communiqué – in which the Primates declare their commitment to what they’ve called: The Hermeneutics Project. That’s the brainchild of our own Archbishop David Moxon, whose proposal for this had been presented to the Primates by the Australia’s Philip Aspinall.

Archbishop David told the Standing Committee that he hoped such a study would “enrich and rationalize the debate about sexuality.” The outgoing General Secretary, Robin Nairn, was one who gave a thumbs-up to Archbishop David’s work on this. The committee seemed to feel that the particular value of the hermeneutics project was that it proposed stepping back and asking fundamental questions about how Anglicans use, read and understand the Bible in its entirety – rather than focusing first on specific texts about which there is contention.

The aim of the hermeneutics project is to seek a consensus – or at least to attempt to find a range of ways that are acceptable to most – for using, reading and understanding the Bible. If that emerges, commented one member, then the church has a new basis for actually debating what the specific texts mean.

The outcome of the Rotorua discussions? The 18 members of the Standing Committee (including our three Archbishops) have been formally requested to ask their episcopal units to pray about, debate and discuss the draft covenant and primates’ communiqué at their respective synods, and to report back to next May’s General Synod.

The Standing Committee was also brought up to speed on plans for our own Hui on Hermeneutics, which is to be held in Wellington on August 28, 29 and 30, at the Loaves and Fishes café attached to Wellington’s Cathedral.

All interested Anglicans are invited to take part, although they will have to meet their own expenses. Archbishop David said an agenda for the hui would be circulated as soon as its been prepared.

The Standing Committee heard, too, of other efforts to prepare for next year’s Windsor debate at General Synod: at a special meeting next week the Bishops will consider how they can best prepare for a fruitful and constructive debate.

And there were efforts too, to get traction for The Listening Process first advocated by Lambeth Resolution 10:1 in 1998, which committed the Provinces “to listen to the experience of homosexual persons” who are within the church.

The new General Secretary, Jackie Pearse, was asked to write to the bishops, inviting them to report to the November meeting of the Standing Committee on the progress their units have made, and the insights that have been gained from their own listening

FULL REPORT

Anglican Church - Media Office
March 3, 2007

The following is a report of some highlights of the meeting of the Standing Committee of the General Synod, which convened in Rotorua on February 27 and 28, 2007.

Crunch time: The 2008 General Synod is shaping as a decisive event for this church’s grappling with the Windsor Report and the issues it deals with.

And if this week’s Rotorua meeting of the Standing Committee has anything to do with it, that General Synod debate will be as constructive and informed as possible.

The Standing Committee, which met on February 27 and 28 at the Kingsgate Hotel, heard a report from Archbishop Brown Turei about the recent Primates’ meeting in Tanzania.

It then devoted much of its first morning to considering the ramifications of that meeting, and debating how best it could promote church discussion about the key developments to emerge from that meeting.

Those developments, of course, include the release of the much-anticipated draft covenant for the Anglican Communion – one of the key Windsor Recommendations – and the Primates’ Communiqué which, among other things, gives the Primates reading of the state of the wider communion’s relationship with The Episcopal Church.

The Standing Committee seemed satisfied with our own Province’s contribution to efforts to find a way out of the impasse triggered by Bishop Gene Robinson’s ordination.

In particular, the members seemed pleased with the inclusion of clause 8 of the Primates’ communiqué – in which the Primates declare their commitment to what they’ve called: The Hermeneutics Project.

That’s the brainchild of our own Archbishop David Moxon, whose proposal for this had been presented to the Primates by the Australia’s Philip Aspinall.

Archbishop David told the Standing Committee that he hoped such a study would “enrich and rationalize the debate about sexuality.”

The outgoing General Secretary, Robin Nairn, was one who gave a thumbs-up to Archbishop David’s work on this.

The committee seemed to feel that the particular value of the hermeneutics project was that it proposed stepping back and asking fundamental questions about how Anglicans use, read and understand the Bible in its entirety – rather than focusing first on specific texts about which there is contention.

The aim of the hermeneutics project is to seek a consensus – or at least to attempt to find a range of ways that are acceptable to most – for using, reading and understanding the Bible.

If that emerges, commented one member, then the church has a new basis for actually debating what the specific texts mean.

The outcome of the Rotorua discussions? The 18 members of the Standing Committee (including our three Archbishops) have been formally requested to ask their episcopal units to pray about, debate and discuss the draft covenant and primates’ communiqué at their respective synods, and to report back to next May’s General Synod.

The Standing Committee was also brought up to speed on plans for our own Hui on Hermeneutics, which is to be held in Wellington on August 28, 29 and 30, at the Loaves and Fishes café attached to Wellington’s Cathedral.

All interested Anglicans are invited to take part, although they will have to meet their own expenses. Archbishop David said an agenda for the hui would be circulated as soon as its been prepared.

The Standing Committee heard, too, of other efforts to prepare for next year’s Windsor debate at General Synod: at a special meeting next week the Bishops will consider how they can best prepare for a fruitful and constructive debate.

And there were efforts too, to get traction for The Listening Process first advocated by Lambeth Resolution 10:1 in 1998, which committed the Provinces “to listen to the experience of homosexual persons” who are within the church.

The new General Secretary, Jackie Pearse, was asked to write to the bishops, inviting them to report to the November meeting of the Standing Committee on the progress their units have made, and the insights that have been gained from their own listening.

Tikanga reports

Archbishop Jabez Bryce gave an account of life in Fiji post the December 5 coup, and a report on this will be carried in the next issue of Anglican Taonga.

He also gave a report on the flooding which struck the northern Fiji island of Vanua Levu in mid February – and which wreaked havoc at Labasa, and caused considerable damage to Anglican property and mission in that city. All Saint’s Secondary School; St Mary’s Primary School; St Thomas’ church and a number of church houses and the homes of many parishioners have all been severely affected.

A week after the floods had receded all the school properties were still closed, and the church homes – including the one occupied by Bishop Api Qiliho – were still uninhabitable.

The report on damage done to the St Mary’s Hostel and church compound paints a bleak picture: At the height of the flood the warden and caretaker’s quarters, the hostel chapel and main dining hall were four feet under water, and when the waters receded workers and staff faced the task of removing hundreds of cubic metres of stinking silt.

The damage to Anglican property and plant here has been estimated at more than F$110,000. The magnitude of the disaster becomes clearer given the standard hourly rates paid to labourers hired to clean up the mess – F$1.75.

Meanwhile, at All Saints Secondary School, the flood damage has been costed at more than F$155,000.

For Tikanga Maori, Hone Kaa reported that he’d been one of 300 who had gathered at Whareponga Marae at Ruatoria on 11am on Saturday February 17 to witness Pane Kawhia’s ordination to the priesthood by the present and 14th Bishop of Waiapu, The Rt Rev John Bluck.

Pane is the great granddaughter of Raniera Kawhia – who, in 1860, at the same hour of the day, on the same day of the month, had been ordained a priest by the first and new Bishop of Waiapu, William Williams.

Hone also reported the ordination of the Rev Betty Reid, who is the sister of Bishop Muru Walters and the sixth person from the Walters/Ihaka whanau to be priested.

A radical earlier constitution

The Standing Committee also discussed the significance of an anniversary that’s soon to be commemorated in Auckland – on June 13, the 150th anniversary of the signing of the constitution of the Anglican church in New Zealand will be celebrated.

That first constitution had its deficiencies – Maori had no voice in its creation, and neither did women. Even so, the 1857 constitution was, for its day, perhaps as radical as the one adopted in 1992.

In the first place, it was the first constitution in the world to recognize that lay people had an equal place in the decision-making of the Anglican Church, alongside the clergy and the bishops.

In the second place, it affirmed that the Anglican Church was a voluntary organization in this country – and not the established state church.

The sesquicentennial will be marked with a commemoration at the tiny St Steven’s Church in Judge’s Bay, Parnell, where the 1857 signing took place – and it will followed by an evening gathering at Auckland’s Holy Trinity Cathedral.

Progress report 1: Relocating the General Synod office to Auckland

Confirmed: The General Synod Office will be relocated to the Dean’s Lodge on the St John’s College campus in Meadowbank, and Jackie Pearse, the new General Secretary, will work from there from the end of March.

The Lodge will also be the office for the permanent secretary to Te Kotahitanga.

There are, however, some zoning difficulties. The Auckland District Plan that relates to the college property doesn’t allow the Lodge to be used solely as an office, and resource consent is now being sought to permit this.

In the meantime, however, the district plan does give the OK for the lodge to be used as a home office. So Jackie and her husband have been asked, on an interim basis, to live above the new office.

There was some discussion, too, about giving the Dean’s Lodge a new name to identify its new function.

One suggestion: Tui Tuia: The office of the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia.

There was also discussion, about sharing facilities on the St John’s College campus with the Methodist Church’s Trinity College.

The Methodists have indicated they would like to consolidate and expand their presence at St John’s. A small working group will report back on developments in the wider Anglican-Methodist relationship, and the relationship between St John’s and Trinity College in particular.

Progress report 2: Preparing for The Charities Act

Professor Richard Sutton gave an update on the church’s preparations to be fully compliant with the 2005 Charities Act.

A small Anglican working group has been set up to advise and assist the church with registration and compliance – and episcopal units are encouraged to await the advice of that group before proceeding with any registration under the Act.

Next year’s General Synod – and the ones to follow?

The Standing Committee heard a verbal report from Robin Nairn about preparations for next year’s General Synod in the Diocese of Wellington – and it was warned that the costs of a synod held in the capital were likely to be considerably higher than the 2005 Christchurch event.

That final bill for that had been around $120,000 – and a similar event held next year in the Wellington CBD could tally $150,000. The committee members considered this, plus various options for pruning these costs – including finishing the synod a day early, on the Thursday afternoon, or changing the venue.

The Standing Committee will revisit this issue at its July meeting, once it has firm costings for a Wellington synod.

The committee also had some preliminary discussion about suggestions made in Robin Nairn’s final report that the whole business of how General Synods are run could be rethought.

Robin is concerned that general synods are becoming increasingly expensive, while the perhaps half those who attend don’t speak. Moreover, most of the representatives who go to Synod have taken five days of precious annual leave to do so. He encouraged the Standing Committee to examine the membership and timing of the synods.

Robin also floated the idea of an extended hui “where our people can articulate their visions and wishes concerning the mission of their church – leaving the legislative ‘tidy-up’ to an elected few, with written reports available for those who wish…”

The Standing Committee said its farewells to Robin on the Tuesday evening, and Bishop Kito Pikaahu arrived to pay tribute on behalf of Te Kotahitanga.