What is the General Synod?
The
General Synod is the national assembly of the Anglican Church of Australia.
It has powers in the following areas:
Legislation by Bills
Legislation by Canon
Relations with other Churches
To regulate the ACA’s relations with other churches and to make provisions
for matters relating to worship and doctrine. It can make provision by Act of
Synod.
Liturgy and Doctrinal Assent
To approve, amend, continue or discontinue liturgies and make provision for
any matter to which rubrics of the Book of Common Prayer relate and to ensure
that the forms of service contained in the Book of Common Prayer continue to be
available for use in the ACA.
Deliberation
To consider any other matters of religious or public interest
Finance
To approve (or reject) the central church budget each year.
14th General Synod (20-26 October)
The Primate,
Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, said he was very happy with the sense of unity that
the Synod witnessed this week on a range of critical issues associated with the
church's mission, in particular:
• mission and attendance - the formation of Fresh Expressions Australia
encourage the development of health and vitality of the church nationally;
• climate change - dioceses have been asked to reduce their environmental
footprint and to consider the impact of climate change in Australia and on the
poor around the world;
• indigenous Australians - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
representatives will have a seat in the national Standing Committee. The Synod
expressed a strong sense of solidarity with our indigenous peoples and called
for a long term approach to close the gap of disadvantage;
• drought - a task force to explore the effects of drought on regional
churches and communities will be established along with an national appeal to
provide much needed assistance where required;
• global poverty - the Synod strongly embraced the Millennium Development
Goals an called on all dioceses and the Australian government to reach the
financial assistance targets of 0.7% of annual income;
• women bishops - the clarity brought to the matter of women's
eligibility for admission to the order of bishops by the Appellate Tribunal was
widely welcomed;
• listening process - the Synod paused to listen to the stories of four
gay people. The exercise sought to go beyond the politics and to listen with
sensitivity and compassion;
• a national register - the means of ensuring that people with unresolved
allegations of abuse against children and parishioners will no longer be able to
move from parish to parish without their record being known was adopted
• The people of Burma. The Synod adopted a resolution of solidarity with
the whole Christian family, and the people of Burma. We realised in the debate
what difficulties they were in.