Anglican Communion News Service

Dr Bruce Kaye, general secretary of the Anglican Church's General Synod, has labelled the regionalism found in Australia's large metropolitan Dioceses - Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth - a 'bad experiment' that should be 'abandoned in favour of dividing our larger dioceses'.

Dr Kaye's comments came at the Brisbane diocesan clergy Summer School during a speech canvassing the main issues at the General Synod in July this year. Likely matters before the Synod include lay administration (presidency) at Holy Communion, women bishops, the position of a Defence Force bishop, and sexuality issues.

Dr Kaye said that a number of issues before the Synod concerned the role of a bishop under the Constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia, and some concerns had been raised about the anomaly of having assistant bishops in the Synod's House of Clergy.

Dr Kaye said that the problem was not with assistant bishops but with 'assistant dioceses'.

"Some of the assistant bishops have responsibility for many more parishes than some diocesan bishops. Having assistant bishops with regions has been a bad experiment and we should abandon it in favour of dividing our larger dioceses. No bishops should have pastoral care of more than about 35 parishes. Administrative arrangements could easily be consolidated provincially or regionally. The church community would then have the possibility of experiencing episcopal ministry and the bishops would have a chance of exercising a ministry to the whole church community," Dr Kaye said.

Asked to respond to Dr Kaye's comments, the Archbishop of Sydney, Harry Goodhew, said it was 'an interesting debate' and Dr Kaye raised some good points. "However for the dioceses for whom Dr Kaye's comments may be relevant, it would not be feasible to break into dioceses as small as 35 parishes. It just won't happen," he said.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, the Diocese of Sydney - which now contains 263 parishes - considered breaking into three dioceses: Wollongong, Parramatta and Sydney. However research at that time found that a diocese needed more than 50 parishes to be financially viable. It was decided that a break-up of Sydney Diocese would only serve to duplicate administrative tasks, as each Diocese would inevitably want to be responsible for its own decision-making. As an alternative, it was decided to create five 'regions' each with its own bishop, archdeacon and elected council responsible for determining ministry priorities.

Interviewed to clarify his views, Dr Kaye explained that he is calling on the Church to 're-conceptualise the nature of Episcopal ministry'. He believes 'we need to free-up bishops from administration' so they can do Episcopal ministry.

"Bishops should not be so deeply enmeshed in management," he said. "I have been a parishioner in Sydney Diocese for more than 20 years. As a parishioner there is no experience of Episcopal ministry."

While he said Sydney-style regionalism was a step in the right direction, 'the Sydney model of regionalism is still too big. There should have been more of those regions - at least six', he said.

In an article in February's Southern Cross newspaper, the Bishop of South Sydney, Robert Forsyth, said the regionalism experiment in Sydney Diocese has been 'a great success'.

Pointing to the successful revitalisation of inner-city parishes in his region, Bishop Forsyth said, "Although the decision to have many regions in one diocese grew out of pressure from Wollongong and Parramatta, it has been the other parts of Sydney which have seen the most significant change and benefits.

"The truth is that the smallness and focus of regional councils mean, as far as I can see, that they are more strategic in the allocation of resources than either the Synod, the Standing Committee or the Diocesan Executive Board. This is not to question the talent of the members, but the size and focus of these bodies," Bishop Forsyth said.

In his speech to Brisbane clergy, Dr Kaye also called for 'realism' about the issues facing the Church at this year's General Synod and said the Synod 'should be judged in terms of its contribution to the Christian vocation of Anglicans in their daily lives'. "[Its] authority will depend on the relevance of the issues considered by the General Synod to the daily lives of Anglican Australians, the manner of their treatment, the quality of the processes, the relationships displayed and the degree to which the event points to God as the author and sustainer of that vocation," he said.

Article from: Anglican MEdia Sydney by Jeremy Halcrow