But problem more diocesan than national, bishop says
It might be time for the church to hold weekend-only meetings and provide onsite child care even if it costs more, suggests the chair of a primatial commission.
Inequality of representation in the church is one of the issues identified by the commission, Reimagining the Church: Proclaiming the Gospel in the 21st Century, which this summer released a document outlining seven “hypotheses” aimed at jumpstarting discussion on adapting to the church’s challenges.
“It is time to dismantle the racism and colonialism that is built into our governance structures in order to diversify participation,” the hypothesis begins. It then states that General Synod’s Governance Working Group, which consults on decision-making bodies and procedure, should create ways to enable people of any age, cultural background, language, family situation and employment status to participate in church governance. “Barriers to engagement and leadership opportunities are to be removed and proactive supports are to be developed.”
Archdeacon Monique Stone, the commission’s chair, tells the Journal the hypothesis is rooted in a desire on the part of commission members to acknowledge that not everyone is able to drop their daily work and travel cross-country to work on church matters. “We’ve got to realize that taking a week to go to General Synod, for lay people, is a privilege,” she says. “One of the things we are suggesting is that our governance structure right now does not enable people of different socioeconomic realities to participate in it.”
This makes it easier to take part in General Synod or the Council of General Synod (CoGS) for people who are retired or who have the ability to take time off work than for those with full-time jobs or less flexible demands on their time, she says. “And so when we do some of our tasks within governance, we need to look at, how does that structure uphold colonial realities? Or, how does it enable inclusivity?”
While many of the hypotheses are aimed at reducing the rate at which the church uses money and resources, this may be one area where it’s worth allocating some additional time and funding to ensure the outcome is in line with the church’s mission, Stone says. As examples, she says the church might consider holding some meetings on weekends only, providing child care at some events or creating a bursary for younger people who need to take days off to participate in longer events like General Synod.
Retired bishop Peter Fenty, formerly a suffragan bishop in the diocese of Toronto, was also the first Black person to become a bishop in the Anglican Church of Canada. He agrees with Stone that there is much work to do to break down systemic racism in the Anglican Church of Canada. In his experience, he says, General Synod gatherings have not been representative of the broad diversity of the church’s membership, particularly Black people. They have typically been made up mostly of white people with some Indigenous members, he says— something that speaks to how the dioceses have elected their representatives.
Fenty is skeptical that much can be done at the level of national policy to improve that representation, as he believes the problem needs to be dealt with at the local level in each diocese. “Do we acknowledge the reality of systemic racism in our own dioceses? Until that work is done, it seems to me that [General Synod] is engaging in futile work,” he says.
General Synod just doesn’t have the influence over the dioceses to make them work through those issues locally, he says. One area where there’s room for work is in the process by which dioceses select their representatives at General Synod, he says—processes which are often opaque and complicated in his experience. Some people from racialized backgrounds may not feel welcome in these roles, may not be aware that they meet the requirements or may even find the roles closed to them when they do present themselves, he says. General Synod’s ability to address diversity in representation will depend on diocesan success in welcoming diverse participation, he adds.
Another member of the commission has concerns about the phrasing of the second hypothesis. The Rev. Cole Hartin currently serves as associate rector at Christ Church Episcopal in Tyler, Texas and was previously the rector of St. Luke’s Anglican Church in St. John, N.B. He says he is troubled by language in the hypotheses which he believes starts from an unfair assumption that the church is inherently racist.
While watching out for discrimination and ensuring the church is welcoming to people from a variety of backgrounds are good things, he says, phrasing the hypothesis on improving accessibility of church governance in terms of “built-in” racism and colonialism unnecessarily implies that anyone who disagrees with the hypothesis must be taking the side of racism and colonialism. He adds that while the national church has worked increasingly hard to keep up with trends in social justice terminology, doing so hasn’t proven much help against declining numbers.
“The substance of the gospel that Jesus has died for us, forgiven our sins and he is raised to new life so that we might share in that resurrection—that’s been kind of obscured by the constant messaging about social ills,” he says. “I don’t think those things are bad to talk about, but I feel like it kind of takes the focus off what God has done for us in Christ.”
Extreme and often defensive attitudes on either side of the public debate on racism and equality have left many progressives and conservatives suspicious of what their counterparts have to say, says Fenty. Progressives sometimes feel their opponents are needlessly obstructing change, while conservatives may fear their opponents will tear down the good while trying to correct the bad. But he believes the real work to be done requires both groups listening to each other in good faith and making room for the historical ministry of the church and expressions that welcome new voices, too.
“That’s exactly what Jesus was about—showing compassion for the other,” he says.
