STRONG FEELINGS were expressed at the Church of Ireland General Synod in Armagh over last week’s announcement by the Government that its jobs initiative is to be funded by a levy on private sector pensions.
The synod also agreed to subscribe to, rather than adopt, the Anglican Covenant made necessary by divisions in the worldwide Anglican Communion over gay clergy issues and to include a prayer for Northern Ireland in the Book of Common Prayer.
Sydney Gamble, chairman of the Representative Church Body executive committee, assured delegates “in light of the strength of feeling expressed . . . that we will indeed be taking every opportunity to make strong representations in relation to our specific situation” where the pensions’ levy was concerned.
It “added a new dimension to the ongoing pension discussions” within the church, he said, but details “are still awaited, and when they are known, we will have to see exactly what impact they will have on clergy pensions”.
The levy made it “premature to propose any further radical changes to the clergy pensions fund . . . in the Republic of Ireland”, he said and that it looked “unlikely that any new legislation will emerge before the middle of this year at the earliest”.
Among pension proposals being considered within the church currently is “a possible increase in the retirement age of existing clergy”, he said. “While no definitive proposals in this regard are being brought forward at this time, I wish to confirm that this possibility is still under review.”
He also reported to the synod, which concluded at the weekend, that the financial crisis had, to the end of December 2010, “eroded 40 per cent of the value of general funds and 50 per cent of the value of the Republic of Ireland general unit trust” in the Church of Ireland.
On the Anglican Covenant, the synod approved by a large majority a motion which read: “Seeing that the Anglican Covenant is consonant with the doctrines and formularies of the Church of Ireland, the General Synod hereby subscribes the Covenant.”
The covenant was first proposed in the Anglican Communion’s 2004 Windsor Report as a way in which its 38 provinces might maintain unity despite differences, mainly on sexuality issues. It arose from the crisis generated when the US Episcopal Church elected openly gay man Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.
Noting the difference between subscribing to the covenant and adopting it, the proposer of the motion, Bishop of Cashel and Ossory Michael Burrows, said that subscribing indicated the Church of Ireland had put its collective name to and aligned with it. It did not affect the sovereignty of the church or mean any change in doctrine, he said.
