Anglicans are gearing up for the next meeting of General Synod, which is set to take place June 23-29 at RBC Place in London, Ont. in the diocese of Huron and will include the election of the 15th primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, as well as an update from the primate’s commission on re-imagining the church.
About 240 members of General Synod from the orders of Bishops, Clergy and Laity will attend the meeting along with dozens of staff members and volunteers, says Archdeacon Alan Perry, General Secretary of General Synod.
Candidates to become the next primate are National Indigenous Anglican Archbishop Chris Harper; Archbishop Greg Kerr-Wilson, bishop of Calgary and metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province of the Northern Lights; Bishop of Caledonia David Lehmann; and Bishop Riscylla Walsh-Shaw, suffragan bishop in the diocese of Toronto.
Another major item of business will be a report from the primate’s commission tasked with re-imagining church structures. That document, already presented to Council of General Synod in March, outlines six major “pathways” for change that include potentially making significant cuts to the size of the church’s governance bodies. However, Perry says, acting on these proposals will likely be the task of a future General Synod.
Also up for discussion are resolutions on church governance that were withdrawn at the previous meeting of General Synod in 2023. Resolution A030-R1 would eliminate the need to approve canon changes at two successive sessions of General Synod by instead requiring notice of the proposed change to have been previously referred for at least a year to all diocesan and provincial synods. Resolution A031 would change the threshold for required votes by orders from “a two-thirds majority in each Order” to “a two-thirds majority of the members with a majority in each Order.” Both resolutions are up for the first of two necessary readings at consecutive General Synods.
Worries about future of church
Alan Hayes, professor emeritus of church history at Wycliffe College, says the latest General Synod comes at a time when many have expressed worries about the future of the church. “Parishes are closing and being merged,” he notes. “It’s hard to get clergy to fill vacancies … There’s financial issues and things are closing down. I think people see problems for sure.”
Such concerns prompted former primate Archbishop Linda Nicholls to create the commission, Reimagining the Church: Proclaiming the Gospel in the 21st Century, tasked with re-examining church structures. Though the primate’s commission will be presenting its six pathways, the working group tasked with proposing organizational restructuring for the church has not yet been formed, Hayes notes, so hard decisions about church structures will likely not be made until future meetings of General Synod.
In that sense, he says, the 2025 General Synod will not likely be a turning point for the church. While the election of a new primate is significant, Hayes says—many view the history of the Anglican Church of Canada through the lens of its primacies—the primate has little intrinsic authority outside the office of General Synod.
“Primates aren’t as influential as bishops of large dioceses tend to be,” Hayes says. “Bishops of large dioceses control more of the funding. Money has a way of talking in the church as well as in the secular world.”
Primates’ authority, he says, lies partly in being able to set the agenda in areas such as Council of General Synod.
“They get to decide what people talk about, so that’s actually a big deal,” Hayes says. “But otherwise, it’s the moral credibility they have, the respect that people have for their leadership.”
Finances, youth also likely on agenda: planning committee chair
Perry says the 2025 meeting of General Synod is budgeted for a gross of $923,000, with about $390,000 in recoveries, i.e. reimbursed costs. Normally General Synod pays the cost of meals and sometimes accommodation for members and then recovers those amounts from dioceses, which make up the majority of reimbursements. General Synod also receives fees from exhibitors and sponsors who contribute to the cost of hosting the event, though this makes up a much smaller share of recoveries.
The result is a net cost of about $500,000 for General Synod, Perry says. The final cost may come in under that estimate due to lower travel costs, he adds, with many members travelling by train rather than by air. By comparison, the 2023 meeting of General Synod cost $645,082 with $320,990 in recoveries, according to audited financial statements, for a net cost of $324,092.
Guests at General Synod will include The Episcopal Church’s former presiding bishop, Michael Curry, in lieu of current Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe who is unable to attend; Bishop Marinez Santos Bassotto, primate of the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil; and a range of ecumenical and interfaith representatives.
Canon Laura Walton, chair of the General Synod planning committee, highlights other agenda items such as financial planning discussions, youth programs, a farewell dinner for Nicholls and installation of the new primate. Members will vote on resolutions using electronic handheld devices.
With just two years since the last General Synod rather than the usual three years, planning committee members faced great pressure to get things done, Walton says. Dividing tasks among four subgroups helped, she says.
Walton hopes their planning will result in a meeting that is much more than items on an agenda. “We’re really focused on creating a General Synod that is not all business and will give some people time to meet, interact, learn, and understand how General Synod works,” she says.
