It's been good to be back in Dorchester this week - even though beautiful weather is always slightly frustrating when you just get home from holiday - all of you who have gone back to school and work will be feeling the same I know.

Her in Dorchester Festival Fever is ratcheting up quite nicely now!!
One of the highlights of my week has been the two Jospeph rehearsals - you can read Caroline's Joseph Blog too and check out the Facebook page of Joseph himself

If it hadn't crossed your mind to come and watch us (I'm in the back row of the chorus!!) then do start thinking now - the more I rehearse the more excited I am about the production - the Brothers are SOOOooo much fun!!!

Another 'not to be missed' Festival event (as far as I'm concerned anyway!!) is the Festival Cafe service on Sunday 3rd May. We're really lucky to have John Hardwick - an internationally famous worship leader to come and lead this for us and our (almost) own but equally internationally famous David Winter too. Dorchester Abbey choir will sing (they're working towards international fame at present but locally - they're the best!!!). If you've sung "God's people aren't super brave super heroes" that's one of John's songs as is A Band of Angels!!
Two conversations in the last twenty four hours reminded me of somthing important which very few people understand and that is that all the exciting things that happen in Dorchester Abbey rely on volunteeers to organise them - and yes that DOES include the Festiaval. If you haven't met Steph and Nick Forman you probably couldn't undersatnd how this is possibl!! Steph is a one woman Dynamo (she has a day job in London as well!) and Nick is the essential right hand man (except that he's often a left hand too) - not to mention being a bit of a dynamo himself. But Steph and Nick aren't are only Abbey volunteers - there's a positive army of them - from our wonderful gardenening team led by Eileen Olleson and Frank Norman to the stewards who will be in the Abbey and Museum every weekend in the summer. It's a great team here and it goes without saying that new members are always welcome!!



But of course the Rector's week is not all Festival (or not yet at any rate!) The Team Clergy meet regularly on Wednesday mornings and this week we decided to go to H's Cafe at the Berinsfield roundabout. There's good coffee on tap and friendly bikers and other travellers stop for refreshment. (Incidentally the bacon baps are lovely!!) This week, as we left one of the Biker's stopped Nigel (Hawkes - one of our Team Vicars) to ask advice about his mum - she's up north and he's worried about her. In theological colleges they call this the ministry of presence - sometimes it feels like just hanging about .. but it's also about something I think we all need some more opportunities for - a chance to "be as well as to do" and then just to see what comes our way as a result.

We missed Anne (Ilsley another vicar!!)at the Team meeting - just in case you haven't heard she fell and broke her leg really badly on Easter morning in Culham Church. She finally came home from hospital on Wednesday night and we wish her well!!

Well - that's all for now - and apologies in advance for any typo's that I missed when I checked this - there's always one!!

Easter Weekend

As usual the Abbey looks beuatiful for Easter - the flower ladies have excelled themselves and my favourite arrangement is a 'dancing cross' on the pillar near the Shrine Chapel. But it's hard to have favourites because all the arrangements and the Easter Garden are beautiful.
I have to confess that I've 'lost' my camera at the moment so that I can't bring you any pix!! Anyone who'd like to send some is most welcome!!
On Easter morning a party of us walked to the top of the Wittenham Clumps to kindle the 'Easter Fire' as the sun rose - the idea is to greet the Sunrise on Easter Day in celebration of the Son who has risen!! It was grey and miserable on Easter morning and the only way we knew that the sun had risen was because it gradually became lighter!! This didn't stop our celebrations though - the acclamation 'Christ is Risen. He is Risen Indeed!' echoed on the clumps as the fire was kindled and the large Easter Candles from all the Team Churches were lit from that one flame to be taken back to all the parishes for their services later - we all enjoyed tea and bacon rolls at Little Wittenham therafter!! Sometimes, of course, our lives are a bit like this - we only know that the sun has risen becasue of a lifting of the darkness not becasue we see the sunrise. I remember visiting our friends the Gregson's in Nepal more than ten years ago now and hearing something similar - in Khatmandu during winter you rarely see the hills that surround the city because of the constant low cloud - but, as Lynn said to me - they are still there - just as God is still there when we find it hard to sense him - and just as Jesus is risen - even if we sometimes find that hard to believe because of what else is happening in the world!
Well back to the Abbey and Easter morning. Dorchester families had a great disappointment on Palm Sunday because we were unable to borrow the donkey from the Donkey Sancturary becasue of insurance problems!! We made up for it on Easter day with a lovely collection of two week old chicks who visited the Easter morning service - with a reading from C S Lewis' book the Voyage of the Dawn Treader as well as our normal readings they helped us to think about the new creation - the real 'me' that is within each of us and our chance to rediscover or resurrect that 'me' with Jesus.

The other great event of Easter weekend at the Abbey is alsot he oepning of the Tea Room on Easter Saturday - and the place buzzes into life with families eating delicious cake in the garden and others queueing for a space in the Tea Room itself. If you haven't visited the Tea rooms yet then you really should. As well as the most delicious home made (yes -everything is made by the ladies of the village!) scones and cakes you have the pleasure of sitting a one of two large tables in the medieval Guest House where the company is always different and the conversation very varied! You can wander in the Abbey, visit the museum - or go for a strenouous walk up the clumps to work off the tea!! Everyone who comes is very well looked after by teams of ladies who are only too willing to ply you with tea and cake!! This year I gather we had a visitor from the local press on Sunday afternoon - so look out for us in the papers!! Just in case you don't know the tea room is open every weekend from 3-5pm and Bank Holidays - later in the summer it also opens on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons (Thursday's being my particular favourite because of the cheese scones!)

Well I'm about to go on my post Easter Break - if you're near the Thames and see 'Running Wild' then do give me a wave!!

Dorchester Team and Kidlington Youth Weekend

We all arrived safely at Wycliffe and in good time to settle into our rooms before dinner. Francine Gifford from Dorchester who is in charge here had stayed to welcome us and it was good to see her! Everyone liked their rooms and the dinner - a buffet was a great success. The food is brilliant!!

Also at the Conference Centre is a Sign Language conference and it is fascinating being with them in the Dining Room and seeing the mixture of conversation and signing!
The evening was spent in our 'home base' room Eliot.
We began with games of various kinds - built Jenga Towers to see which team could get the highest in the fastest time and divided into the three teams that we'll be in with Adventure Plus tomorrow! Finally the younger participants constructed the highest structure they could with marshmallows and spaghetti - uncooked! Whilst they did that the older (over 13's) invented a challenge course that the younger group will attempt tomorrow evening!!!
Nigel's taken lots of pictures so watch this space!

Best news of all is that everyone went to bed - and if not to sleep certainly went quiet very quickly...
and so to bed!!

Wednesday 11th February

An early start for me today as I have a committee meeting for the Open Synod Group at 8am. Leaving the hotel at 7.30am (supposedly in good time) I meet someone who wants to talk about my speech yesterday – I’ve been surprised at the amount of interest it has caused! Just make the meeting! Open Synod Group is precisely what it says – a group that tries to operate outside some of the ‘party’ lines in Synod. We hold an open meeting in each group of sessions always trying to focus on an issue of interest to Syod members and usually getting people to speak from opposing points of view about he issue. Our meeting on the Monday of this week was addressed by one of the Provencial Episcopal Visitors – the Bishop of Beverley. That was in preparation for this morning’s debate.

The morning began with a Eucharist celebrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury who gave an excellent homily about Aargh! or Aha! Moments – the moments that I have been known to call ‘Yes’ moments. Archbishop Rowan has been on excellent form this group of sessions speaking in a way that is encouraging all sides in the debates on women and the covenant to understand that we remain part of the Church whether we stay or go! This morning’s debate began with speeches from Christina Rees and the Bishop of Beverley. Both were, in their own way, graceful but the Bishop of Beverley seemed to have no room for compromise at all. The Bishop of Manchester in his opening speech had made clear that at the Revision stage ‘all’ the suggestions made in the debate last July could be revisited. Interestingly enough Miranda Threlfall Holmes and Christina both made clear that they accepted the work of the Holy Spirit in the decision of Synod that a single clause measure was not appropriate – so I guess that option will not be revisited at the revision stage – possibly the only one that won’t!! Causing most anxiety is the proposed revision of the Canons and Canon A4 in particular. I share this concern believing it to be inappropriate to revise foundational Canons of the Church in the interests of one very particular historical occasion and one very specific group.

This debate took the entire morning but it was, to be honest, pretty well the mixture as before – more references to the Elizabethan settlement (but you might expect that – and a wonderful moment when Kevin Carey reminded us that we were being asked by one group to undo the Reformation and by another to undo the Elizabethan Settlement and that this ‘was too big an ask!’ Perhaps the most surprising speech came fromt eh Bishop of Norwich – who felt that the provisions were so damaging to the Episcopacy that the Measure should not be committed to Revision – that the minority cannot dictate and that ‘a Code of Practice will not do’ is not a theological point! Towards the end of the debate the Archbishop of York reminded us that whatever is done God blesses all! Although nthat was not quite the end of the debate it’s probably the best place to leave it.
And so to lunch – today with the Ministry Division to whom we could ask questions after a short presentation but a dash to Business Committee meant that I missed the questions!

The afternoon began with a Private Members Motion from Martin Dales ont eh subject of the water rate being charged on all public buildings including charities; churches, scout and guide and sports facilities are all targets and no differentiation is being required between businesses and charities. Except of course that businesses will be able to claim their charges against VAT! Synod ahd no difficulty in sending a clear message to government and OFWAT about their opinion!! This issue is a very good example of the use of PMM’s – Martin Dales raised a concern in the questions to the Business committee last July – was advised that a PMM was the fastest way of getting action – quickly reached more than the required number of signatures for his motion during the York synod and the debate is on the agenda in February!
This PMM was followed by a more controversial one, that of Mr Paul Eddy on the Uniqueness of Christ in multi faith Britain. It occurs to me that there are links between this and the ‘almost wrecked’ Diocesan Synod motion from Chester yesterday. Both motions indicate that Christians feel that they are under threat in multi faith society. One group wishes to have the Church reclaim its place in public life and would like the Bishop’s to do this for them – another wishes to have clear and unequivocal statements, originating in the House of Bishops, about the ‘uniqueness of Christ’ and some good patterns of mission. Parts of the debate were moving – others rolled out the kind of language that I find needs a great deal of unpacking even in well educated South Oxfordshire! Fortunately the link with the Report Presence and Engagement to be debated tomorrow was made and underlined more than once.

By this time we were all pretty exhausted but there was one more Diocesan Synod motion to go. At the beginning of this group of sessions there was some comment about the number of these we had to deal with. By the end of this harrowing debate no-one could have questioned the value of bringing these kinds of issues before us. The motion was brought jointly by the Dioceses of Winchester and Newcastle to mark the centenary of Josephine Butler – it’s intention to draw attention to all kinds of Human trafficking and its timing to remind us particularly of the issues that may arise in connection with the Olympic games. Our attention was drawn to appalling statistics – but also to the work that Churches and groups of churches can do – a good example from Ealing being pressure put on a local newspaper who, whilst running news stories about the horrors of trafficking and sex shops were (unwittingly) advertising the same in their classifieds.
This may have been one of the most disturbing couple of hours I’ve spent in Synod – it was also one of the most educative and inspiring.

Tuesday 10th February

(with apologies for the late posting - Wedensay afternoon before I could get to a computer!!)

A long day at Synod!! Though, on balance a good one!
Arrived in Church House in time for a bacon roll – rather a cheaper option than the full works in a hotel and I love the extra few minutes in bed having bought orange juice at Tesco yesterday!! The day began with the presentation on the Archbishops Review of Constitutions about whicht eh Prolocutor had raised questions in the debate on the Agenda yesterday. Christina Rees presented the review – in (what someone later commented to me was a girlish apologetic manner and rather unlike her usual style. She stressed that the aim of the review group was to improve the way we work together – it will (apparently) also save money. The big problem that is perceived with the way of working that the Review Group has proposed is that large groups like the Mission and Public Affairs committee will no longer have the stage in their proceedings where the leadership and staff members hear from a wide variety of Synod members all of whom have expertise in different areas of the Board’s work. Instead a review group willb e elected and each year they will have the chance (retrospectively) to monitor the work that is being done by the Council.
Everyone is invited to send in their views to the consultation and there willb e adebate in July – probably one with fireworks!

From here Synod progressed to legislative business – I took some time out to check emails from the office at Dorchester – only to discover that there was no electricity there!! A short time back in the Chamber and then a visit to the top floor of the building at the request of the Communications department to be interviewed about the Church of England web pages!! What I did discover was that you can access the Dorchester Abbey Website from the C of E website in about 4 clicks!! Good News!

The highlight of the day was the lunchtime Fringe meeting – a lunch and presentation to celebrate the thirtieth birthday of Traidcraft! Once I had crossed the ‘How can traidcraft be that old??’ hurdle it was an inspiring occasion. Remember the Jute hanging plant baskets – one of the key women making those has now died BUT she used the money she made to educate her daughter … who went to University and got a degree … and has opened a school in the village where she grew up – so as a direct result of the fair-trade wages of one woman based on those baskets (who DIDN’T have one hanging somewhere in their home in the 70’s??) 60 children are now being educated. The important message from the lunch was that Traidcraft has moved on … well, we knew it had moved on from Jute to food but many of us are stuck in ‘its better to buy fair trade good from the supermarket in order to encourage them to stock fair trade.’ But this is 90’s talk – the supermarkets – Tesco in particular are now Traidcraft’s biggest competitor – Fairtrade accounts for an increasing proportion of supermarket sales and big names increasingly have a policy of ‘fairtrade only own brands’. Obviously this is good news…. BUT …Traidcraft has always used their profits to fund new projects and take risks. Supermarkets don’t do this.
SO IT’S A NEW MESSAGE – buy TRAIDCRAFT goods – slightly more expensive biut the profits are ploughed back into development and the encouragement of new fair trade areas … and products. I’m now the proud owner of one of the first pairs of rubber gloves made from fairly traded rubber. They don’t have a Fairtrade mark yet because until there’s a demand the work won’t be done to set the standard.

Lunch over the Archbishop of Canterbury gives a Presidential Address on Lambeth, the Anglican Communion and briefly, the divisions that may be avoided over women bishops. No headline news here because all the Primates attended the recent Primates meeting, worshipped together and talked together!!

So now we get to the first of a number of Private members Motions this Synod. Vasnatha Gnanadoss, Simon Bessant and others have been campaigning for the Church to tackle the issue of racism for most of this century (nd before that). Today was a turning point – drawing attention to the fact that the BNP and parties like them are claiming to be part of the Church of England. I spoke about my experiences with that party in organising Hustings in the Abbey for the Henley by-election last year. Speaking in Synod is extraordinary – I always know what I want to say but somehow it never comes out as I hear it in my head!! Vasantha’s motion called on Synod to ask the House of Bishops to formulate a policy comparable to that of the police that would ensure that no-one working for the Church of England belongs to a political party whose principles and policies are contrary to the Christian gospel of justice and equality. Three amendments were brought, both Archbishop’s spoke and the motion was passed unamended.
Minutes pass and now we are in the world of finance. Andreas Whittam Smith who, as far back as July, warned us about the recession led a ‘seminar style’ presentation together with Lord Goldsmith and the retired Bishop of Worcester, Peter Selby. When the full transcript of this debate is available on the Website you should read it …but for now some soundbytes!
Lord Griffiths: Bankers got it desperately wrong because they were incompetent (about managing risk) and reckless (took too much risk and allowed it to be ‘off balance sheet)
The question of bonuses is a difficult one – it may seem outrageous to give bankers a bonus with public money – but if the Government wants to get the taxpayers money back then the best people must be encouraged to stay!
Peter Selby: the Church must NOT use words like greed, greedy and selfish – not only do these words make us look like ‘grumpy church’ but they also let us off the hook of acknowledging that there was a universal conviction that deregulation of the market place would benefit everyone.
Peter Selby: the ancient wisdom of our tradition is that lending and borrowing are both absolutely essential and absolutely dangerous because they create power relationships that it is very difficult to control.

You’d think that this would have been enough for one day but there was still a final item of business – an hour and half on the Chester Diocesan motion on the Church in Public life. This had begun in the Wirral Deanery (‘almost as a lament’ in the words of proposer David Felix) and as I understand it wanted to inspire the Church as an institution as well as church members to fulfil their role in the public life of the nation and act with confidence to be taken seriously. It was significantly amended (so significantly that it didn’t look like the same motion) by Peter Spiers and has become a motion that encourages us all to go and live our lives a Christians in the world…

Whew – what a day and all that was left was to go and eat in the company of the General Synod WATCH (women and the church) group – yes, it’s that debate tomorrow!

Running Wild at Synod - Monday

First day of Synod and we begin with the report by the business committee – every Synod the Committee writes a report that supposedly explains how the items on the Agenda came to be there and also gives a clue about upcoming issues. As a member of business committee its always interesting to see what’s contentious and even more to hear what people would have liked to have been on the Agenda – or how an item should have been dealt with. One thing is certain as far as Synod is concerned its ahrd for the Business Committee to get it right! One Synod there is dismay because there are very few Diocesan Synod motions and they aren’t being discussed and now there are too many and perhaps we are wasting our time on them. The Diocesan Synod motions include debates on Justice and Asylum Seekers, Climate Change and Church property as well as more inward looking motions on the voice of the Church in Public life and the future of retreat houses. All of them, however, represent issued that have been of sufficient concern to ordinary parishioners to speed them on their way through Deanery and Diocese and it seems good to me to have grass roots concerns about the real world represented.
Today, an issue that had clearly been contentious on Archbishops Council had been included on the Agenda as a presentation rather than a debate ‘on the nod’. For those of us who had not seen the papers nor been privy to the conversations at Archbishops Council this kind of thing can feel embarrassing!!
A good debate on ARCIC followed with a great introduction by Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor. The warmth of personal relationships between Roman and Anglican catholics that I both witnessed and heard described in this debate was encouraging and distressing in equal measure. Encouraging because it seems absolutely right to be reminded of Pope John Paul II’s words to Robert Runcie
“affective collegiality will lead to effective collegiality, just s affective communion will lead to effective communion”. Distressing because this seems an apt approach to adopt in relation to the ordination of women to the episcopate … and yet there seems to be an underlying current to the debate implying that all this will be lost if women become Bishops – maybe I’m just paranoid!!
The day ends with worship but not before we have run the gauntlet of Question Time – 42 Questions and we finish all of them – I think this is the first time since I joined Synod in 2001 that I have heard every question answered!! And some good questions too – some highlighting Synod business that isn’t being discussed this time – distressingly in one instance as it seems the Church cannot manage to produce the Eucharistic prayers for Children asked for a year ago until 2011. This may be quick (!!) in Synod terms – but 10 year olds will be 12 then and how many missed opportunities does this represent?
And so to fringe meetings and in my case to hear Bishop Martyn Jarrett, one of the PEV’s (flying bishop in common parlance) talk about his ministry and his approach to the question of Women Bishops. It seems that unless some kind of separate jurisdiction is allowed then there is no discussion. I can hear the hurt when Bishop Martyn says you listen and then insist on voting for something that doesn’t do what I need to stay in the Church. I admire him for saying it, I admire his dedicated ministry and I deeply regret what seems to be his treatment at the hands of some Dioceses. BUT (and I’m afraid there is a but) how can we erect those barriers which will give him the protection he needs without creating no go areas for women and putting them in a position that undermines their ministry. This is how I come to the position that nothing but a code of practice applied by all with generosity can be a just solution to this ‘problem’.

Some more detail of the Terms of Service debate is worth recording. Geoffrey Tattershall introduced it by reminding us of the intention to move from Freehold to Common tenure - the most important aspect of this change being that it continues to regard clergy as office holders rather than employees. He suggested that the main matters of concern were the retention of freehold alongside the introduction of common tenure and the related issues about property as well as the proper provision of employment tribunals. In this respect he emphasised the importance to the steering group of striking a fair balance between incumbents who have freehold and licensed parish clergy who do not. The legislation proposed offers security for all based in law rather than the possession of freehold - it was this aspect of the Measure, he concluded, that ultimately gave equality and coherence to a new culture of office holding in the Church.
In the debate that followed it proved that Mr Tattershall had been accurate in his projection of concern.
A significant group of very persistent speakers and amenders sought to ensure that Freehold remained and this meant that they had brought forward amendments to every clause of the measure that related to Freehold. Closely linked to this is the manner in which property would be held when it was no longer seen to be held by the clergy. Whilst the Measure as drafted had put in place a strong process for objecting to the sale of parsonage houses the question of who was deemed to 'hold' them is one over which strong feelings are held. So that whilst the Bishop of Dover might re-iterate that 'to all intents and purposes' it was the Diocese that is practically responsible for property and not either the parish or the individual clergyman or woman there were many who felt that parsonage houses had been provided for clergy and for parishes not Dioceses. Add to this the (almost certainly unfounded) fear that whole clergy families would be required to uproot themselves from home and hearth at the whim of the evil 'Diocese' and a powerful strength of feeling was generated - indeed there are powerful arguments to be made on each side of this issue as another speaker made a powerful case for feeling as secure in the rented accommodation of his childhood as he now does in a Bishops' Palace!
Yesterday an amendment brought by Father Benfield to remove part of Clause 7 of the Measure was passed and led to the later withdrawal of the entire clause by the Steering group who have been 'sent back to the drawing board' - not for the first time. Clearly the question'In whom is the ownership of a parsonage house properly to be vested?' is one that will vex us for a while to come.
On balance Clause 7 and the housing issue was probably defeated partly because there were those who saw the strength of feeling of others and were unwilling to overrule it and also because there remained a real uncertainty about the 'right' place for this property to be held -rather than because there was a determination not to move from Freehold to Common Tenure.

This debate continued across lunchtime!!


During lunch there is always the opportunity to attend fringe meetings of synod and on Tuesday I attended a meeting organised by the Reverend Lynda Barley who conducts and analyses Church statistics for the National Church. In some respects the picture is not surprising and matches my experience. However the surprise is always the number of people (some 85% of the population) who enter a church building at some time whether for worship, services that offer ministry at life changing moments (or 'rites of passage') and the quite large numbers of people who come across our thresholds as 'spiritual visitors'. Coming to Synod and to meetings such as this reminds me of the obligation I have to keep our church building alive and prayerful for the sake of those who just slip across the threshold whether we notice or not.

When all the business relating to clergy terms of service is finished two further debates take place. Both are Private Members motions. The first comes from Tom Benyon a member of our own Diocese and is on the subject of Casinos. The motion is passed but is also significantly amended by the Mission and Public affairs division in a 'friendly' way. The debate is a good one with many members wishing to speak - including a clergywoman who ahd worked on the floor of a Casino (serving tea and coffee) to earn money as an undergraduate. The second is a debate on Bible Availability in Churches.


Wednesday morning begins with a Eucharist in the Central Hall debating Chamber. Although this is not without its logistical difficulties it is good to worship in the place that we also debate and it is good to share communion in a place where, inevitably we disagree because things matter to us. It is also good to be led by our Archbishop who, in preaching to Synod, is always inspirational. The next item on the Agenda is the Fees debate. Partly as a result of a motion from our Diocesan Synod a few years ago a fees review group was set up – Moira Astin who presented the debate on our behalf has been on the group who have produced the new scale of fees and also an accompanying booklet. I am very supportive of the central intention of this report that the occasional offices are one of our best opportunities for mission and must be done well. The opportunity to pay retired and NSM priests and Readers properly for their ministry by charging a ‘ministry’ fee is also a good one. But there are other issues raised in the accompanying document that I want to speak against – in particular a greater centralisation of both fee payment and booking funerals. Unfortunately so do rather a lot of other people and the debate goes on and on and fails to address the main issues in the schedule of fees. An adjournment is moved. This is most unsatisfactory because the legislation for the proposed fee structure cannot now progress until further debate is had and Synod can work out exactly where its disagreement lies. It has the advantage of giving us all a rather longer lunchtime than usual – very welcome on a beautiful sunny day and very rare!

At lunchtime I attend a meeting of the Buildings division at which we hear most interesting descriptions of the way in which Hereford Diocese supports its buildings in Mission and also the way in which a short term appointment of a Deanery Buildings Officer is supporting the development of mission in churches in this most disadvantaged area with a view to making the most of Olympic presence in 2012.

This afternoon is a busy one with three very different and very important debates.
The first is a Diocesan Synod Motion from Durham Diocese requesting the commissioning of a Eucharistic Prayer for use when children are present. They ask for one prayer – others want more than one; Durham wants a prayer for children – others ask that special prayers are written for use with young people as well. As always we hear speeches in favour and against. Amongst those who speak against the main arguments are that there is already sufficient flexibility and that children are not helped by watered down liturgy. Amongst those who speak for it there is a wide range of experience and many indications of circumstances where such work would provide a valuable resource. There is also a financial statement – the cost of a Eucharistic prayer is £10,000 (meeting and subsistence costs and secretariat support) a second would be more expensive but not twice as much – do they come cheaper by the dozen, I wonder? Later in debate somebody points out that since much time would be spent debating which prayer of several proposed to authorise then more may, eventually be less costly!

Following this rather ‘churchy’ debate we enjoy one of those outward facing debates, this one on Mental Health, in which Synod is always at its best. Archdeacon Arthur Hawes who proposes the report and a motion calling for improvements in services and care for those with mental health problems and calling attention to problems posed by the criminal justice system. One of the great joys of Synod is that whatever subject is debated there is always a great wealth of experience and expertise which means the quality of debate is always very high. For me two facts shouted from the introduction that the mental health ‘industry’ is the second largest ‘employer’ worldwide – the largest is the Chinese Red Army!! Even more striking is the reduction of more than 100,000 beds for mental health patients in a five year period that has been matched by an increase of 40,000 in the number of people with mental health problems held in prison.
The last debate of the day is on the Anglican Covenant. In July Synod asked that it should have the opportunity to see and comment on the response that had been made by the Archbishops to the Covenant Drafting group following our debate at York. In the end we had two drafts in front of us – the response and the work of the Covenant Drafting group done in January. Opinion differed. As to whether this was a document for ‘Mission’ and to be welcomed with enthusiasm – or a document of division and exclusion. In truth it is a document of parts. There is much to welcome in the early part of the document that aims to celebrate what we share as Christians and because a genuine attempt is being made to find a way of relating as Anglicans that involves neither centralisation not atomisation (Christina Baxter). However the appendix that sets out a legal form of exclusion remains a major stumbling block and raises questions about whether it is in the spirit of a Covenant to speak of exclusion.