Each day this week Anglican Futures will give a short summary of what happened at Synod for those with little time to spare.
1) The morning began with a presentation from Lord Boateng, followed by a debate led by the Bishop of Dover, the Rt Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin, which affirmed the Church of England's 'racial justice agenda'.
VOTING FIGURES: In Favour 311, Against 1, Abstentions 6
2) Next, came the long awaited debate about the future of safeguarding.
It too began with a presentation - this time from the Independent Co-Chair of the Safeguarding Response Group, Lesley-Anne Ryder, who cautioned Synod that, their ways of working were "incomprehensible" to her and to the public, saying "one of the ways that you are losing the trust and confidence of the nation is because you have rules and ways of working which are difficult to understand."
Her warning fell on deaf ears.
Synod was given the choice between,
Model 3 -"Less independence", which would provide an independent scrutiny body, whilst day to day operations would remain the responsibility of 85 different diocesan and cathedral bodies; or
Model 4 - "Greater independence", which would match the independent scrutiny of 'Model 3' with a new, single, independent body to which the diocesan and cathedral operational safeguarding staff would belong.
After two hours of debate, they chose a non-binary, two-stage, incomprehensible fudge.
"Thank the Response Group for its work for greater independence in safeguarding in the Church of England, and, noting the significant reservations around Model 4 in paragraph 62 of GS 2378 and the legal advice from VWV dated 31st January 2025, endorse Model 3 as the way forward in the short term and call for further work as to the legal and practical requirements necessary to implement Model 4."
In doing so, they ignored the advice of the Rt Revd Joanne Grenfell, Lead Bishop for Safeguarding, who told Synod very clearly, "It would be very much harder to bolt the additional parts of Model 4 onto Model 3, than to develop Model 4 from the outset, carefully and with all necessary consideration and diligence."
They also rejected the pleas of survivors and the opinion of the Second Church Estates Commissioner, Marsha de Cordova, MP, that, ""It is essential that this assembly shows both Parliament and the public that the Church is fully committed to change."
Having shown, at best, a half-hearted commitment to independent safeguarding, Synod's well-meaning addition to the final motion of an apology to survivors seemed tokenistic.
As, Mr Martin Sewell, a lay member of Synod, and advocate for survivors and better safeguarding practices, said afterwards,
"For all the pious rhetoric about listening to survivors, Synod discounted them, preferring a last minute compromise which came without preparation, or consultation.."
Mr Sewell was one of only nine members to vote against the final motion but he was not alone in his concern about the way the decision would affect survivors. After the debate, Bishop Grenfell said,"We have missed the opportunity to say unequivocally to victims and survivors today that we hear their concerns about trust and confidence in the Church."
VOTING FIGURES: In Favour 392, Against 9, Abstentions 6
3) Synod members were given the opportunity to discuss two reports - one about the working of the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) and the other about diocesan finances. These were, in effect, 'rehearsals' for debates which touch on these subjects on Thursday and Friday.
4) Then it was back to safeguarding - and the approval, without debate, of the 2025 Safeguarding (Clergy Risk Assessment) Regulations.
5) After all that, there was no time for the Bishop of Derby to give a presentation about Sports and Wellbeing Ministry, so the world will just have to wait for Synod's view on whether they will, "recognise the missional potential for churches of sport and wellbeing through its ability to transform the lives of people and communities."
With thanks to Unjay Markiewicz for the image of long grass.
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