Australian Anglicans Debate Lay Presidency
Episcopal News Service. October 19, 1995 [95-1273G]
(ACNS) The Sydney Anglican diocesan synod recently voted to defer the third reading of its ordinance for preaching and administration of holy communion by lay persons and deacons. In moving the motion for deferral until 1996, synod member John Woodhouse said that cogent arguments questioning the status of any kind of lay ministry had been advanced by the archbishops of Perth and Sydney and that these arguments should be considered over the next 12 months. Woodhouse said, "18 years to get to this point has been a long time, but 19 years is not much longer." He affirmed that the issue needed to be addressed because "it has to do with recognizing that the prohibition that is perceived to exist around this one activity in church conveys to many people seriously false ideas about what a priest is, and what the sacrament is. We cannot allow the situation to continue where lay persons or deacons who are qualified to preach the word of God in church are under no circumstances ever qualified to administer the Lord's Supper."