John Stanley wonders if the Church of England is being true to its own better nature THE CHURCH'S consideration of the Turnbull proposals over the next year will bring us to a watershed. These proposals will take us down a [...]

COMING ALONGSIDE THE SYDNEYSIDERS RECENT DECISIONS by Sydney Synod raise issues of significance to Anglicans beyond the confines of Australia. A proposal to permit the ordination of women as assistant priests (not as rectors) was defeated, quite narrowly, in the [...]

When I was a child I was taught always to whisper or speak quietly in church, except when joining in acts of public worship, and only to speak at all other times when absolutely necessary. The church building was a [...]

Andy Hawes asks whether the General Synod is more than a spectator sport I OFTEN SIT IN THE public gallery at Synod and look down. with members sitting in concentric circles, it reminds me of a circus. There are certainly [...]

Jonathan Redvers Harris asks how the 'open process of reception' is progressing. IN THE DEBATE and reports about the ordination of women to the priesthood some use was made of the principle of `reception': the notion that for a doctrinal [...]

The declaration prefacing the Thirty Nine Articles of the Church of England says that they "concern the settled Continuance of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England now established, from which We will not endure any varying or [...]

Speeches made in the General Synod before the passing of the Act. THE ARCHBISHOP of Canterbury moved the motion `That the resolution of the General Synod approving the Porvoo Declaration be solemnly affirmed and proclaimed an act of Synod' Fr [...]

Cui Bono? The General Synod is difficult to describe. It is unlike any Synod at any other level in the Church. We all know about Deanery Synods and Diocesan Synods where the members turn up early, sit through all of [...]