Swiss Archdeaconry

DIOCESE IN EUROPE
ARCHDEACONRY OF SWITZERLAND
Minutes of Synod Meeting
held on Saturday, 16 June 2007
at St Ursula's Church, Bern

Present:
The Rt. Revd. Geoffrey Rowell, Bishop in Europe
The Rt. Revd. Fritz-René Müller, OC Bishop of Switzerland & Hon. Asst. Bishop in Diocese
The Ven. Arthur Siddall, Archdeacon of Italy and Malta and Acting AD of Switzerland
The Revd. Adèle Kelham, Area Dean of Switzerland

Basel St. Nicholas Revd. Anne Lowen, Manney Harrison
Bern St. Ursula's Revd. Canon Dr. Richard Pamplin, Revd. Linda Bisig, Revd. Wendy Hough, Hector Davie, Karen Bell, Hans-Karl Pfyffer, Brian Morgan
Geneva Holy Trinity Revd. Maree Wilson, Nick Meyer, Mary Talbot
La Côte Revd. Paul Holley, Valerie Geschonke
Lausanne Christ Church Revd. Adèle Kelham, Angela Fall, Geraldine Coulthurst
Lugano St. Edward's Revd. Kate Gibson, Linda Chiesa, Mary Palmesino
Montreux St. John's Geoff Fookes, Philippa Martin-King
Vevey All Saints Revd. Clive Atkinson, Les Cutter
Zurich St. Andrew's Revd. Canon John Newsome, Revd. Gabriel Amat, Vicky Atchison, Miriam Keller
P.T.O. Revd. Dr. Russell Hilliard

Apologies
Basel Revd. Geoff Read, David Houlton, Robert Keene Bern Susan Zysset Geneva Revd. Michael French, Kilian Anheuser La Côte Revd. Julia Chambeyron Emmanuel Church Helena Mbele-Mbong Zurich Marilyn Buchmann, John Waygood P.T.O.s Revd. David Miller, Revd. Andrew Ling OC. Revd. Christoph Schuler

Morning Session
The Area Dean, Revd. Adèle Kelham, welcomed all those present and opened the Synod with a prayer.

  1. Approval of Minutes of Synod held on 20 January 2007
    There were no amendments and the minutes were approved and signed.
  2. Matters arising
    None
  3. Future Dates
    See list at the end of these minutes
  4. Finance
    Brian Morgan had nothing special to report. All chaplaincies have paid their quotas. As a result the bank balance is in plus.
  5. Bishop Geoffrey's Address: How and where we are in this global world?
    The world-wide Anglican Church is very divided on some moral issues today, particularly homosexuality and the ordination of women. In order to explain the reasons and background for this, Bishop Geoffrey gave a short history of the growth of the Anglican Church from its origins in England to the spread to America and later the colonies. These overseas churches have gradually evolved their own independent style of worship and principles, which sometimes conflict with the UK church. There is no common canon law for the world-wide Anglican community. A current proposal for an Anglican Covenant hopes to establish more communion between all the churches, but you will never satisfy everyone, if only because of the diversified cultural and local political situation.
  6. Anglican-Old Catholic Relations
    Bishop Fritz-René Müller brought greetings from the Old Catholics. Our two churches are working more closely than ever before at all levels - synod, chapter meetings, parish level, Partner Sein, Willbrord Society - but we could be even closer. Much depends on the local priests on both sides. He also mentioned the OC attitude towards female ordination and homosexuality, which is more liberal than the C of E. In his view, the churches must speak out clearly in a practical manner on these subjects.
    The Trinity Sunday collection in all the Anglican Swiss chaplaincies was for Partner Sein. The following email from Rob Mackay, Project Co-ordinator of the South African Bible Union has been received
    Please convey our thanks to all Anglican communities for their collections on Trinity Sunday.
    Bishop Fritz-René extended an invitation to the OC Pastoral Synod at Solothurn in January 2008.
    World Day of Prayer 2008 - Does anyone have contact with Guyana? The service for the WDP 2008 has been compiled by Guyana and some personal contact would be appreciated.
  7. Diocesan Synod 2007 at Cologne
    This was attended by Revd. Geoff Read, representing the clergy of Switzerland, and Brian Morgan and Vicky Atchison for the laity. Vicky Atchison reported.
    Finance The Diocese has a total expenditure of ca. CHF 1,400,000 per year, just over half of which comes from the chaplaincies, most of the rest from investments. The Church Commissioners cover the costs of our two bishops.
    Communications European Anglican is always looking for interesting articles and photos.
    Ministry Training has a budget of CHF 120,000 p.a. It is reckoned to cost CHF 60,000 to train a person for the ministry, from the first enquiries to the final ordination.
    Minority Ethnic Groups Do keep on inviting the people until they have enough confidence to accept the invitation.
    Future Leadership Structure of the Diocese to relieve the double role of archdeacon and full-time chaplaincy. The proposal made to Synod was that the Diocese should be split into two Episcopal areas, each with its own suffragan bishop. Each suffragan bishop would be assisted by two full-time archdeacons who would not have additional parochial duties. They, in their turn, would be assisted at a local level by area deans, who would continue to be a chaplain in the area that they serve. So the Diocese would end up with one diocesan bishop, two suffragan bishops, four full-time archdeacons and several area deans. A working party will work on this and report to next Diocesan Synod.
    Human Trafficking which is modern-day slavery and exploitation. Synod tabled a motion to send to the General Synod deploring this trade and calling for backing from the Church of England for the work of the UK Human Trafficking Centre.
    Diocesan Environmental Officer Brian Morgan will help us calculate our own amount of greenhouse gases produced from our premises, with the aim to reduce the emissions to 40% of their present levels by 2050.
    Mothers' Union is now officially established in our Diocese. Interested people should get in touch with Mrs. Barbara Woods, wife of the Dean of Gibraltar cathedral.
  8. Written Reports (distributed prior to the meeting)
    Members had the opportunity to ask questions or make comments.
    Choir Festival 2007 27-29 April in Lausanne Geoff Fookes reported that approx. 50 choir members took part in a most successful festival. This year marked a "first" with the organisation of a post-festival evensong at All Saints, Vevey, as part of their 125th jubilee celebrations. On the financial side, the archdeaconry subsidy was well below the maximum figure allowed, thanks in part to a very generous, anonymous, donation.
  9. Any Other Business
    None

After the Morning Session Bishop Geoffrey celebrated the Eucharist.
Lunch was prepared by the ladies of St. Ursula's

Afternoon Session Sharing resources - A Way Forward
Paul Holley described the SACEP review exercise: Seeking a strategy that supports common elements of chaplaincy mission. This had been partly discussed at clergy chapter meeting in May 2007. The objectives of the exercise were


The Synod members divided into groups and discussed the following aspects
These points will be taken further at future Synod meetings

Many thanks to St. Ursula's for hosting the Synod and especially to their ladies for catering for us.

27 June 2007/MK