not too much

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the Anglican Diocese of Sydney will ordain 45 (male) deacons this week. Each will be appointed to a "living" within the Sydney church that includes living quarters, a car allowance and a $39,000 stipend. This may be the largest group ordained at one time in the Anglican Church in Australia. Many of the new clergy have been appointed to set up new congregations affiliated with existing parishes.

All this (apart from the male exclusiveness) is very good news.

However, a crazy consequence of the constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia is that the more employed ordained people there are in a diocese, the more ordained and lay representatives it has in the General Synod. The constitution allows one lay and one clergy delegate per ten clergy in the diocese who are either incumbents (paid or unpaid) or in other paid positions. This ordination will give Sydney between 8 and 10 new votes in the General Synod. The constitution cannot be amended without Sydney's assent.

The number of people a diocese can afford to pay depends not merely on the number of people it has but on its wealth. Growth in Sydney is a very good thing, but the dominance this gives it over the church nationally is not. Sydney can use its wealth to buy control of the national church.

I do not decry the growth of the Sydney diocese in terms of the number of people is has--far from it! This must be to the good of the Kingdom. But I do regret that representation (lay and ordained) in the national forums of the church depends on the number of clergy a diocese can afford to pay. In our diocese we are exploring models in which unpaid clergy can serve in small rural communities.

Brian,
If you were to look a little more closely into this situation, rather than using its “wealth to buy control of the national church” I believe you would find Sydney is acting with restraint.
For example in my Parish in the inner west of Sydney we have five ministers. Only two are ordained. If Sydney went all out and ordained every person working in ministry it would have a big impact on those Synod numbers. Conservatively it would increase Sydney’s numbers by 25%.
I am not sure that it is Sydney’s “wealth” that pays for ministers. There are few subsidised ministers – and these only while a new parish gets going or for the first couple of years for a youth minister. Generally a sydney parish pays for ministers out of the pockets of the parishioners. Just like Canberra-Goulburn or Willochra.
Incidentally this year’s intake into Moore College will be a healthy 136, either a record or close to it.
obadiahslope () - 10 02 06 - 12:01