Archbishop of Sydney Vetoes Lay Presidency Proposal
Episcopal News Service. November 11, 1999 [99-165]
(ENS) Archbishop Harry Goodhew of Sydney, Australia, has vetoed a recently passed measure that would have allowed lay people as well as priests to celebrate Holy Communion.
"Having carefully and prayerfully weighed these matters I have decided to withhold my assent to the ordinance," Goodhew said in a statement sent to members of the Synod of the Diocese of Sydney. "I hope that members of the diocese will understanding my reasoning even if they cannot share it. I hope that those elsewhere who may be pleased with my decision will exercise similar restraint when dealing with the moral issues on which the bishops at Lambeth expressed such a clear view."
The synod voted two to one on October 19 to inaugurate a five-year trial of lay presidency, provided the bishop gave his approval. Had the bishop assented, the Diocese of Sydney -- the largest in Australia and one of its most evangelically minded -- would have been the first in the Anglican Communion to allow lay people to preside at the Eucharist.
Opponents of the measure at the synod meeting said that such a move was a fundamental break with Anglican tradition and practice, and warned it could split the Australian church and cut the Sydney diocese off from Anglicanism. One opponent said the proposal was an attack on the priesthood itself. But supporters of the move claimed that to prevent lay people from celebrating Holy Communion was going against Gospel teaching.
The primate of the Anglican Church of Australia, Archbishop Keith Rayner, declared that ratification of the synod's decision would be tantamount to starting a new church: "At the Reformation in the 16th century, the Anglican reformers made it clear that they were not starting a new church. The Sydney vote represents a fundamental break with the principles of the Anglican reformers."
In announcing his veto, Goodhew indicated that there were three matters that emerged as the most important in coming to his decision.
The first was the strength of the synod voting. "It certainly has great weight with me," he said.
The second is "my role as a bishop in this Church." As a diocesan bishop he stated he is "bound to uphold the constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia."
The archbishop pointed out that a 1997 opinion of the Appellate Tribunal, the highest legal body in the Anglican Church of Australia, said that an individual diocese did not have the power to pass an ordinance of this kind without the authority of a General Synod canon. "This opinion cannot be taken lightly," he said.
"The impact on the Australian [Anglican] Church and the wider Communion" was the third area that weighed heavily in the archbishop's decision. In the months since the 1998 Lambeth Conference, Goodhew has been active with a number of other archbishops and primates from Asia, Africa and South America in calling on 'liberal' bishops in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom not to act unilaterally on certain moral issues, including the ordination of non-celibate homosexuals and church recognitions and blessings of same-gender unions.
"I am particularly sensitive on this point because I have been engaged since Lambeth with other parts of the Communion arguing against unilateral action over crucial moral issues and attendant theological norms," Goodhew said. "To act unilaterally myself and without wide consultation would undermine my credibility in those ongoing debates."
The ordinance, which had been on the synod's agenda for some years, was passed on the final day of the synod's meeting this year. Lay persons and deacons would have been allowed under the ordinance to be officiants at services of the Holy Communion. The synod's terminology for this action is 'administration,' though it is commonly referred to as 'presidency' in the worldwide Anglican Communion.
In London, Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey immediately declared his opposition to the vote. "I am firmly committed to the priesthood of all believers," he said in a statement. "but do not feel that this negates the firm ontological basis of the ordained ministry which has been central to our understanding of the church."
Reform Ireland, an evangelical organization, supported the vote, commending the synod for its "pioneering spirit," and calling on the Church of Ireland to examine lay presidency. A statement from the group added, "We believe such a move to be consistent with the Bible's teaching of the priesthood of all believers, and beneficial to those parishes which do not have the regular services of an ordained presbyter."
With Goodhew's veto, the ordinance lapses and will not come into effect, although under church law the measure may be revived in a diocesan synod. If it is approved by that body, and by the provincial synod, it could come into force regardless of the bishop's opinion. However, observers say this is unlikely to happen with Sydney's ordinance, since there is no guarantee it would receive support in the provincial synod.