The Anglican diocese of Central Newfoundland affirmed a new diocesan constitution at its 49th and 50th synods—held one after the other from May 30 to June 2 to satisfy requirements for two consecutive synod votes to enact constitutional changes.
Bishop John Watton says the new constitution includes updated language to reflect changes in the church and broader society, as well as provisions to comply with safe church policies set by the ecclesiastical province of Canada and the national church.
“We had to get the constitution done, and for me it was important to get that piece of work finished so that we could get back to the work of the diocese getting ready for the future,” Watton says.
The bishop proposed consecutive synods to accelerate approval of the new constitution: holding the 49th synod for the first reading and vote, closing the synod, then reconvening as the 50th synod for the second reading and vote.
Part of the rationale for holding the two synods consecutively, Watton says, was the expense of organizing a diocesan synod, including travel and accommodations. The same concerns had previously compelled the diocese to shift from holding its synod annually to once every two years.
The diocese consulted with its chancellor Gerald Ralph to ensure that the idea of two consecutive was legally sound, he adds—noting that Ralph “was totally on board with it and he helped guide us through the process.”
“Our chancellor thought it was a fantastic idea,” Watton says. “We went through all the checkups to make sure it was legal… We just saved the cost of a synod by adding a few extra hours to our schedule and doing it right.”
Watton did not respond to later inquiries by the Anglican Journal asking whether holding two consecutive synods might go against the spirit of the canon requiring two consecutive synod votes to implement constitutional changes, or set an undesirable precedent.
Ralph declined to comment for this article, citing a heavy workload that had accumulated in the wake of the synod and a conference related to his job as a trial lawyer.
Central Newfoundland had begun revising its 1998 constitution prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2016 and 2017, Watton says, the diocese began “getting serious about having a conversation” on mission and sustainability.
The experience of COVID-19, Watton says, “enabled our diocese to better serve our people by being flexible about types of worship and certain policies in parishes.
“Some of our parishes were really struggling, for example, with [how] our constitution stated … that you absolutely had to have a certain number of people on vestry; that you had to have absolutely two wardens, otherwise you weren’t duly constituted and your church had to cease functioning.”
Asked whether, in his opinion, it was legally sound for a diocese to hold two synods in such quick succession, as a means of accelerating the process of constitutional changes that require two consecutive synod votes, David Bell, chancellor of the Anglican diocese of Fredericton as well as the ecclesiastical province of Canada—which includes the diocese of Central Newfoundland—responded by email only that neither General Synod nor ecclesiastical provinces have much legal authority over dioceses.
“Provincial chancellors advise their metropolitan bishops and metropolitans have no oversight role in the internal affairs of the dioceses within their ecclesiastical province. In the Anglican Church of Canada it is the diocese that is the fundamental unit of the church. The jurisdictions of General and provincial synods are limited add-ons, and the legal authority of the primate/metropolitans is correspondingly narrow,” he said.
Karen Webb, chancellor of the ecclesiastical province of the Northern Lights and a member of the Journal’s editorial board, says she is unaware of any instance within the church of holding two synods consecutively to enact constitutional changes, certainly not within her own province.
She believes the diocese of Central Newfoundland doing so sets a precedent for the church—one she is “not too keen on.”
“I do know it is frustrating sometimes when you want to make a change that is relatively simple or very important, and it takes two sessions of synod,” Webb says.
“I understand what [Watton is] saying,” she adds. “I’m not keen on it because everything that is worth doing does take some time. To say synods are expensive—well, does that mean in whatever your next period is, you’re not going to have one? Because if you come back and you have one anyway, you didn’t save a dime.
“That to me doesn’t make any sense. What does make sense, when I looked at what [the diocese was] saying online, was they had stuff they needed to get done now, and I understand that.”
Webb wonders, however, whether other dioceses may decide to follow suit when they find themselves wanting to make constitutional changes.
