Listening to the fees debate at #Synod (late but on catch up having had a lie in and a swim) and thinking please please make a decision on wedding fees at least. It's really awkward dealing with 2027 wedding enquiries and having no idea what the increase will be... glad the adjournment was lost
Looking at a regulation that includes deaconesses,* and wondering if there are any deaconesses still alive. #synod ✝️
* in a C of E context this refers to a specific type of women’s lay ministry - no longer available - rather than an old fashioned way of saying “female deacon.”
'You only have to open @churchtimes.bsky.social to see the same thing – House for Duty, House for Duty, House for Duty…
That is a structural problem because the only people who can afford to do that are people with independent means'
Andrew Gray #synod working class ministry debate
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Loved this! Wonderful light moment at the end of our week together
'Difference is not lesser'
@freerangepriest.bsky.social speaking in #synod debate on working class ministry & vocations
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'Lack of degree can be seen as lack of intelligence... but we often learn in different ways'
Aneal Appadoo #synod on how he hasn't experienced racism in @churchofengland.org - but he has experienced classism
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We have frozen fees for funerals and related ministry. I still find the whole concept of fees for this objectionable, but that was a good morning’s work, especially as there seems to be a growing call for a systematic look at how we can get to a better way of doing things #synod ✝️⚓️
'In areas of poverty we have to have the contact with the bereaved - and increased fees will stop that contact'
Jonathan Macy on his #synod amendment to ensure that funeral fees do not hit certain low-income areas "so hard that they aren't going to have a funeral ministry anymore"
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Deborah Mason and Chris Packham with Val (the synod member who is proposing the motion)
Exciting developments for Rewild The Church! Last night @deborahmeaden.bsky.social & @chrisgpackham.bsky.social spoke to church decision makers & Commissioners explaining why Church Commissioners should commit to rewilding 30x30. Thanks to all who asked your #Synod reps to attend & sign the motion
Not entirely sure why Sandra Turner thinks Synod needs to remind us that we’ll all die; frankly there are some sessions where the sweet release of death seems inviting…
The latest issue of the Church Times is out today 🗞️
In the news: #Synod has been under way in London this week, including a heated debate on funding allocation to poorer #ChurchofEngland parishes. Read the latest stories at churchtimes.co.uk ☝️
With @churchofengland.org's role in offering hatching, matching & despatching, we've spent this morning debating parochial fees - especially funeral fees
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'We are very cautious about anything that would undermine our ecclesiology or our Anglican identity – anything that looks like Delegated Episcopal Ministry or provides structures for people to be able to choose their own bishop'
The Bishop of Chelmsford speaking on episcopal caution #synod #LLF
As expected, all amendments on #LLF have fallen & we now move back to the main motion from the bishops, unamended
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The Bishop of Leicester says "a review with some degree of independence is needed to establish the facts & rebuild trust" after LLF
He adds "in a world of so many divisions how do we learn to live together? That question is at the heart of what to means to be the church"
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‘How dare you make LGBTQI people take part in this facetious charade.... We are once again the acceptable sacrifice'
@charliebelllive.bsky.social speaking #synod in the Living in Love & Faith debate
#LLF
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Bishop of Birmingham calls on #synod to vote for motion as proposed
This will 'maintain momentum without promising any particular outcome.... amending will cause stagnation and further distress & pain'
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Prayers requested as Synod turns to “Living in Love and Faith” (five hours!) this afternoon. ⚓️✝️
From now until the end of today's business #synod is due to be discussing Living in Love & Faith #LLF
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Amen!!
"People know that I believe we should increase that [LiNC funding]… we must have open and transparent processes for dealing with those things. And we will get to it"
@archbishopofyork.org speaking about LiNC funding in #synod debate on poverty
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'Interfaith work in our country is in crisis'
Bishop Martyn Snow tells #synod of his frustration that 'we are not resourcing interfaith properly in the national church' & he is told by other faith leaders that ‘only you can convene us’
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'Poverty is not an identity, poverty is a condition, one often imposed on people through no fault of their own'
Rev Chantal Noppen @inclusivechurch.bsky.social #synod commending person-centred language as 'language matters because it shapes our imagination, our responsibility & our actions'
'We need to just crack on… poverty is poverty is poverty is poverty… we can’t just talk about it'
@alexdjfrost.bsky.social pleading with #synod to not just talk about poverty
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'Poverty in our nation is not colour-blind
& nor should we be’
Fr Andrew of @stpeterswalworth.bsky.social reminding #synod ‘poverty in England disproportionally affects black and minority ethnic communities'
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A man at a lectern in a dark clerical suit with a buttonhole using a miniature daffodil and some other greenery.
Bishop Martin Gorick considering the flowers of the field and encouraging the use of sustainable, seasonal, local flowers and discouraging the use of floral foam (not banning, despite reporting), while modelling a sustainable, seasonal buttonhole.
Liturgical business up next #synod with a take note debate on the festival of God the creator and commemoration of the twenty-one martyrs of Libya
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#Synod Good to hear the question about the lack of clarity around who should/should not have a DBS check. Very much needed. Those in positions of leadership in the church with oversight of groups of e.g. children should, in my view, require at least a basic check. We need absolutely clear rules.
'We need to reduce complexity and our proposal offers this & more'
Bishop Joanne Grenfell encourages #synod to vote for the motion saying it will create a ‘single strengthened safeguarding structure’
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After various lunchtime fringe events (including one on Makin/Smyth review), #synod moved onto a debate on church safeguarding structures
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