Evangelicals Urge Greater Transparency in Church Appointments

The Church of England newspaper has revealed a new proposal suggested by a private group of conservative evangelicals which aims to end the secrecy over church appointments.

The proposal outlines that the British Prime Minister should be stripped of his historical role in the appointment of deans. At the same time, it urges to give autonomy to the diocesan bishops over choosing their suffragan bishops. Further details of the proposal, however, will not be published until the General Synod of the Church of England in February.

The Church of England, being the established church in England since the Reformation, has a special legal position within the state. Officially, the King or Queen has the title of "Supreme Governor of the Church of England".

In the appointment of Bishops, a Church committee forwards two names in order of preference to the Prime Minister, who normally accepts the choice but is not bound to. The Monarch would choose who was appointed, by sending a legally binding order as to who should be elected.

Questions about the current system have been raised by Anglican conservative evangelicals, triggered by the appointment of the gay canon Dr Jeffrey John as the Dean of St Albans in April 2004.

While the row over the liberal agenda to promote a homosexual clergy started to boil among the traditionalists in the Church, a delegation from the conservative evangelical network Anglican Mainstream was formed and met William Chapman, the Prime Minister’s Appointments’ Secretary, to voice concerns over selection procedures.

Also, in a letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair, evangelicals accused Downing Street for deliberately attempting to steer the Church in a more liberal direction on homosexuality.

Philip Giddings, convenor of Anglican Mainstream, welcomed proposals for an overhaul of the current system. "There is a big advantage in having greater transparency so that people know how things are happening. It stops arguments about who was promoting whom."

Giddlings, who is also the Chairman of the Church’s Mission and Public Affairs group, said that the present system had allowed the Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Rev Christopher Herbert, to put responsibility for Dr John’s appointment as Dean on the Prime Minister’s office.

"It has poisoned the atmosphere in the Church," he added, "It is very difficult now for people to trust one another."

Anthony Archer, a lay member of the diocese of St Albans, will put the motion from the evangelicals to next month’s General Synod. The motion calls for a review of the role of the Crown in the making of appointments and suggests that responsibility could be transferred to the Archbishop of the province concerned. It will also ask the Archbishops’ Council to commission a working party to review the system of senior Church appointments.

There are fears that the motion could reignite tensions between liberals and conservatives in the Synod, as Jeffrey John’s supporters could regard it as an attack on his suitability for promotion, according to the Church of England newspaper.