Explanatory note
This Resolution of the General Synod of the Church of England, which was passed in accordance with section 7(1) of the Synodical Government Measure 1969, makes a number of miscellaneous amendments of the Church Representation Rules contained in Schedule 3 to that Measure. The principal changes are:—
The age on attaining which a person is entitled to have his name entered on the electoral roll of a parish is reduced from seventeen to sixteen (paragraphs 1(1) and 18(1) and (3)).
Provision is made for enabling the election of representatives of the laity to the parochial church council, the deanery synod or the diocesan synod to be conducted upon the principle of proportional representation (paragraphs 3(1), 9(1), 18(4) and (6)).
A churchwarden will become a member of the parochial church council as from the date on which he was chosen, appointed or elected instead of the date of his admission to the office (paragraph 4(2)).
Provision is made for one retired clerk in Holy Orders resident in a deanery to be chosen by and from among such clerks as a member of the deanery synod (paragraph 5).
The diocesan bishop, as one of the three authorities which constitute a diocesan synod, is to be replaced by a house of bishops. The members of that house will consist of the diocesan bishop, every suffragan bishop of the diocese and such other persons in episcopal orders working in the diocese as the diocesan bishop, with the concurrence of the archbishop, may nominate (paragraph 8(1)).
No person (other than the chancellor of a diocese may be a member of more than one diocesan synod, and no person may be a member of more than one bishop's council and standing committee, at the same time (paragraphs 8(3) and 11(5)).
The standing orders of a diocesan synod must provide that if in the case of a particular question the diocesan bishop so directs, that question shall be deemed to have the assent of the house of bishops only if the majority of the members of that house who assent thereto includes the diocesan bishop (paragraph 11(2)).
A clerk in Holy Orders who has executed a deed of relinquishment under the Clerical Disabilities Act 1870 will, for the purposes of the Rules, be in the same position as a lay person unless and until the enrolment of the deed is vacated and the vacation recorded in a diocesan registry (paragraph 17(2)).