Strengthen women’s role: council

In other business, the Council of General Synod also:

• approved a resolution to send a message to the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) urging a study of the place of women in the structure of the ACC; the same resolution directed CoGS to facilitate research by the Canadian representative to the Inter-Anglican Women’s Network on the status of women in the Anglican Church of Canada and urged all members of the church "to work towards the realization of the goal of equal representation in their own structures of governance, and in other bodies to which they nominate or appoint;"

• approved a resolution urging its officers to "provide clarity" about the implications of the St. Michael Report on the meeting of General Synod 2007 and that this "clarity" be given at its upcoming spring meeting. The report detailed the Primate’s Theological Commission’s opinion that same-sex blessings are a matter of doctrine; therefore, General Synod, not diocesan synods and bishops have the final authority to decide on whether they should be allowed in parishes or not. The report was referred to the wider church for further study;

• acknowledged, in a resolution, the "years of devoted service" provided by J.H. Clyne Harradence of the diocese of Saskatchewan, who served as prolocutor of the synod sessions of 1980 and 1983, and as vice-chancellor from 1986-2006.