Rowan Williams to address Ecclesiastical Law Society
One of the sources of western canon law is custom. At what stage a repeated practice matures into a custom is a matter for debate. The Temple Talks were established a few years ago as a means of promoting the Ecclesiastical Law Society by inviting distinguished scholars to give lectures on subjects of interest to both members and non-members. They have become a regular feature of the ELS calendar, and most of the lectures have been reproduced in the Ecclesiastical Law Journal. Previous speakers have been:
Professor Richard Helmholz (Ruth Wyatt Rosenson Professor of Law in the University of Chicago) Discipline of the Clergy: Medieval and Modern (2002) 6 Ecc LJ 189.
Professor Jonathan Riley-Smith (Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the University of Cambridge) Were the Templars guilty? Their responses to interrogation by the inquisition and by papal and episcopal commissions, 1307-1312.
Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch (Professor of the History of the Church in the University of Oxford) The Birth of Anglicanism (2004) 7 Ecc LJ 418.
Professor Eamon Duffy (Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the University of Cambridge) The Shock of Change: Continuity and Discontinuity in the Elizabethan Church of England (2004) 7 Ecc LJ 429.
This year, the Society is delighted that its patron, the Most Reverend and Right Honourable Dr Rowan Williams, has agreed to give the Temple Talk. It will be on the work and legacy of Richard Hooker, a subject upon which the Archbishop has written recently in his volume Anglican Identities, and which is particularly apt for exposition in the Temple Church itself.
The precise details are yet to be finalised and further information will be circulated in due course. However, it is intended that the lecture will follow the pattern of previous years. Custom dictates that it will take place in the Inner Temple in the evening, preceded by evensong and followed by a reception. The date selected by Lambeth Palace is Wednesday 26 October 2005. Please note this in your diaries now to avoid disappointment.
Mark Hill
Clergy Discipline Consultation
Many of you will be aware of the Consultation that has been initiated by the General Synod Office, on the new Rules and Code of Practice to implement the Clergy Discipline Measure 2003.
There is a short time in which to make submissions (as the timetable is driven by the need to bring the proposals back to the Synod in July). The consultation document can be found on the General Synod website, www.cofe.anglican.org/about/churchlawlegis/cdmconsultation.
This site will link you in to the Measure, draft Rules and draft Code, as well as providing a series of questions for consideration.
A group will be convened to make a submission on behalf of the ELS. If you have any comments for inclusion in the ELS submission, please pass them to Paul Morris, at
Primates’ Meeting, February 2005
The Primates of the Anglican Communion will be meeting in Northern Ireland from 20 to 25 February. Among other matters, they will consider the Windsor Report (the Report of the Lambeth Commission chaired by Archbishop Robin Eames). The Report contains important recommendations with regard to the maintenance of our thirty-eight Provinces’ communion with one another, in the light of the authorisation of same-sex blessing services in the diocese of New Westminster (Canada), and the consecration of a partnered homosexual, Gene Robinson, as Bishop of New Hampshire (USA).
Amongst other recommendations, there is a substantial section on the “translatability” of bishops in the Anglican Communion, which would have repercussions for appointment processes in all our Provinces. There is also a recommendation that the Provinces of our Communion should negotiate and sign a Covenant (akin to the Porvoo Covenant), which would serve to reinforce our traditional “bonds of affection”. Almost certainly, execution of the Covenant by each of the Provinces would require authority from the legislatures of each Province, so the process is likely to be lengthy. Its educational value, however, would be enormous in encouraging us to learn about our interdependence in a world grown small by electronic communication.
To judge by the e-mail traffic already taking place, no doubt the outcome of the Primates’ Meeting will be swiftly available on websites everywhere, possibly even before the Primates know they have come to any conclusions themselves!
Revd Canon John Rees
News from the Education Officer
Having taken up office in November there are a few matters to report on the education front. I have contacted the principals of Theological Colleges and Training Courses in order to discover what is already being done to educate ordinands in Canon and Ecclesiastical Law. Members will be interested to learn that An Ordered Church is being widely used. This publication needs updating and there are plans for short introductory lectures to be included with the case studies that currently make up the course. I am also hoping that we will be able to publish the course in electronic form to be accessible via our website along with a number of “how-to-do” guides for the clergy. There are plans significantly to enhance the website which recognises the central role that websites now play in the dissemination of up-to-date information. I have had some suggestions regarding web designers but would be interested in any further recommendations.
Those working on the implementation of the Hind Report produced their recommendations just before Christmas and these have very recently been accepted by the House of Bishops. It will now be necessary for those on the point of ordination to be able to demonstrate familiarity with the legal, canonical and administrative responsibilities appropriate to the newly ordained and those working under supervision. By the time clergy are licensed to a post of responsibility they should be able to demonstrate a working understanding of and good practice in the legal, canonical and administrative responsibilities of those having oversight and responsibility.
It is my intention that the Society will be instrumental in assisting those who are responsible for training ordinands and clergy to attain these goals. To this end I am currently arranging to attend a number of Leavers’ Courses over the summer in order to discover more about the needs of those teaching and learning in the area.
