The Church of Ireland General Synod 2024 was held in the Armagh City Hotel from Friday, 10th May, to Saturday, 11th May 2024, and the Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross was well represented again this year. Day 3 and 4 of General Synod will be taking place remotely on the evening of Tuesday 14th May and, if required, the evening of Thursday 16th May.

The beginning of the General Synod was marked with a service at St Patrick’s Cathedral, in the town centre of Armagh. The preacher was the Bishop of Clogher, the Rt Revd Ian Ellis. His full sermon can be read here. 

Following the service, members walked to the Armagh City Hotel and the Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, the Most Rev John McDowell, delivered his Presidential Address. You can find the full speech here. 

On Day 1 a total of eleven Bills have been presented for consideration by the members of General Synod. All bills have passed their first and second stages and will receive their third reading when General Synod meets online on Tuesday 14th May.

Each Bill is outlined in full in the Bills pamphlet available here.

A total of 23 motions have been received by the Honorary Secretaries of the General Synod, of which 15 concerned memberships of committees and the business of the meeting, and 8 were substantive, in terms of the governance of the Church and its policy and public positions. 

In the afternoon, a Private Members Motion on Baptism was considered by members of General Synod. The Motion was proposed by Prof Patricia Barker (Dublin & Glendalough) and seconded by Lynn Wright (Kilmore, Elphin & Ardagh). It affirmed the sanctity of marriage but called on Synod to acknowledge that it is a reality of modern life that infants are often born to single parents and/or to couples who are not married. The Motion asked Synod to affirm that, in accordance with Canons, Chapter 9 of the Constitution of the Church of Ireland, irrespective of the marital status of the parents of an infant, a minister must not refuse or, save for the purpose of preparing or instructing the parents or godparents, delay to baptise any child within his or her cure who is brought to be baptised, provided that due notice has been given and the provisions relating to sponsors and godparents are observed.

Before the motion was proposed, Archbishop John McDowell observed that the motion had no power to do what it sought to do. It could not impact the present or future practice of baptism by the Church of Ireland. He also said there had been a request for voting by orders. The motion needed 50% or more on both votes, clergy and lay, to pass.

The vote was taken by orders, with 144 lay people voting for the motion, 83 lay people voting against the motion, 69 clergy voting for the motion and 72 clergy voting against the motion. The motion fell. Comments on the motion can be read here.

Later in the afternoon, the Report of the Marriage Council was presented, and the Revd Jonny Campbell–Smyth stepped aside as chair. Speaking to the report, Dean Cliff Jeffers suggested that the Church of Ireland was missing an opportunity by not being more relaxed about where marriage ceremonies could be conducted. He suggested reexamining this so that the church could be more involved in people’s lives.

The day ended with the Report of the Board of Education.

Day 2 opened with a short time of worship and Archbishop Eamon Martin, Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, brought greetings and blessings to Synod. 

Following that, the Archbishop of Armagh congratulated Bishop Paul Colton on his 25th anniversary as Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross and even hinted that he might follow Bishop Colton’s suit and plant a tree for his own next major anniversary.

Throughout the day, members of General Synod heard the reports of the Commission on Ministry, the Church of Ireland Youth Department, and the Representative Church Body. Canon Andrew Orr, on behalf of Eco Congregation, thanked the RCB for their funding which enabled them to resource parishes in their climate related work at a local level.

Day 2 ended with the Report of the Standing Committee. All reports can be read here.

In addition to the Members of General Synod, some other members of the Diocese also travelled to Armagh to attend General Synod in various different capacities at the many stall that could be browsed outside the conference room.