[Magdalen] Conscience's clause

[Roger Stokes]

On 30/06/2015 21:17, James Oppenheimer-Crawford wrote:
> The highest defacto authority in TEC is the diocese in most cases, and in
> most dioceses a great deal of that power rests with the bishop, for good or
> for ill. If one goes from one diocese to another, you will find that they
> do things in very different ways.  This is hardly a matter of evil versus
> good but a matter of responding to the local customs and needs. Every
> parish handles it a bit differently, due to the experiences and background
> of the people involved.

I recall a diocesan synod when I happened to be sitting next to the 
Prolocutor of the Canterbury Convocation.  The post title suggests the 
role - he was the one to speak on behalf of the clergy in the Province 
of Canterbiry - the majority of the Church ofg England.  As such he was 
part of the inner councils of the Church.  He commented that we do noit 
have a Church so much as 43 feudal monarchies - a slight exaggeration 
but you get the drift.

Like me Martin has served in a number of C/E dioceses but perhaps not 
been as close to or observant of how the wheels of power turn. The 
dioceses, and the parishes within them, each have their own dynamic (or 
stasis in some cases) according to local circumstances. Sometimes 
direction of organization happens from the centre, but it is not always 
effective such as wehen a new deanery is formed and the best place for 
them to meet is outside the diocese because of the topography.

It will be interesting to see how our newest diocese (which does not yet 
have a diocesan synod) of West Yorkshire and the Dales evolves from the 
three dioceses of which it is largely formed.  Suffice it to say that 
the word is that the next time they do a diocesan reorganization they 
will have a different approach having learnt from their mistakes this time.

The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral wisely, in my view, left how the 
historic episcopate (and I would argue by implication the whole question 
of Church organization) continues was left in the hands of the local Church.

Roger

Roger