Background to ORDAINED MINISTRY ISSUE  
at 12^th General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia

The 12th General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia, to be held in Brisbane from July 21-27, 2001, will discuss issues relating to ordained ministry.

The basis of the discussion will be a report requested by the 1998 General Synod. The interim report by the Ordained Ministry Working Group, entitled "The Three-fold Order of Ministry in the Life and Mission of This Church", is available at the General Synod 2001 website as a PDF or Word document.

The Working Group's brief was to report on the meaning and place of the three-fold ordained ministry (bishop, priest, deacon) in the life and mission of the Anglican Church.

Part of the Working Group's brief was also to canvass the implications for ordained ministry of the Appellate Tribunal majority opinion on the constitutional status of lay and diaconal presidency at the Eucharist (also known as Holy Communion or the Lord's Supper).

An opinion given by the church's Appellate Tribunal on December 24, 1997, said that it was legally possible for a lay person or deacon to administer the Eucharist and that it was constitutionally possible for the church to make a canon (law) to allow this to happen.

At present it is only possible for a person ordained priest to administer the Eucharist.

The Working Group, initially chaired by the Primate, Archbishop of Perth Peter Carnley, but later chaired by Bishop of Bunbury (WA) David McCall, met five times since it was convened.

The Working Group did not reach agreement on its business noting that "there are profoundly different understandings among us of the meaning and place of the three-fold ordained ministry", stemming from the different ways in which church members understand the authority of both the Bible and tradition on matters of church order.

On the issue of whether a person needs to be a priest to administer the Eucharist, the Working Group noted two main views existed in the church:

a) Ordination to the priesthood is necessary for the proper celebration of the Eucharist.

b) Ordination to the priesthood involves authorisation to preach the Word of God and to minister the holy sacraments in the congregation where the priest is lawfully appointed. But this does not in itself mean that ordination to the priesthood is the only way in which the Anglican Church may authorise suitable persons, on appropriate occasions, to either preach the Word of God or minister the sacraments in the congregation.

The Working Group also differed in its interpretation of the Appellate Tribunal's opinion on lay and diaconal presidency at the Eucharist. Three views were noted in the report:

a) Even if it could be shown to be constitutionally possible, it would be a far more radical and fundamental change to the church's order than the admission of women to the priesthood.

b) Lay and diaconal presidency is not necessary or desirable at this time at a national or diocesan level.

c) The opinion is welcome in a church that allows all other specific functions of a priest (in particular, preaching the Word of God) to be performed by lay persons and deacons under the oversight of a priest.

The report includes a paper by Archdeacon Trevor Edwards, as well as concise "Yes" and "No" cases on the lay and diaconal presidency debate by Archbishop Peter Carnley and Dr John Woodhouse of Sydney.

The text of the Ordained Ministry Report is available on the General Synod 2001 website.