Standing Committee & RB13 Mar 26

Standing Committee News – March 2026

The Standing Committee of the General Synod met on Tuesday, 10th March 2026, in Church of Ireland House, Dublin.

The meeting was opened in prayer by Mr Ken Gibson with a Bible reading from Jeremiah chapter 29 and a prayer for our broken world at this time, especially that God would help us to help others to find peace, food, water and healing.  Mr Gibson asked for God’s wisdom, understanding and guidance in all of the Standing Committee’s work.

On the occasion of several persons attending their last meetings of the Standing Committee, the Archbishop of Armagh paid tribute to Mrs Hilary Prentice (as Chair of the Representative Body’s Executive Committee) for her time and attentiveness, Mr Peter Cheney (as Press Officer) for his faithfulness and diligence in communications roles in recent years, and Bishop Paul Colton who was previously an Honorary Secretary of the General Synod before his consecration.

He noted Bishop Colton’s service in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, his interests in ministry in education and healthcare, his immense knowledge of the law of the Church of Ireland, and his work as guardian of its polity – the essence and unwritten culture of the life of the Church.

In the report of the Honorary Secretaries, Ms Hazel Corrigan noted that the stock of the pew edition of the Book of Common Prayer was getting low and the Honorary Secretaries have therefore approved a print run of 1,000 copies to maintain stock.

Resolutions and presentation

The Standing Committee approved the recommendations of the Priorities Fund Committee for 2026.  This year, the Priorities Fund had received 78 applications, requesting grants amounting to €1,496,639 and had recommended 48 grants totalling €556,911, supporting outreach initiatives, innovative ministries in rural context, Christian education, and lay and ordained training.

The Standing Committee received a presentation of the Church of Ireland Census returns for 2025 received to date.

The Standing Committee approved a resolution that a query regarding the publication of judgements is to be forwarded to the Standing Committee’s Legal Advisory Committee.

The Standing Committee approved proposed amendments to the Clergy Private Health Insurance Policy (subject to the approval of the Representative Body), and to update the terms of reference for the Safeguarding Board and the Safeguarding Board’s Case Management Committee.

The Standing Committee nominated the Rev Dr Bob Cotter to attend the Provincial Synod of the Moravian Church in Great Britain and Ireland, taking place in Swanwick from 9th to 13th July 2026.

Preparing for General Synod 2026

The General Synod will be meeting in the Slieve Donard Hotel, Newcastle, Co. Down, from Thursday, 7th May 2026 to Saturday, 9th May 2026.

The Standing Committee approved the following meeting hours for the General Synod when in ordinary session in 2026:

• First day – Thursday, 7th May 2026: 12.00 p.m. to 1.00 p.m. (beginning with a Service of Holy Communion) and 2.00 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. or, if the introduction and principle stages of all bills sent to the members with the summonses have not then been concluded, until such later hour as the Synod shall determine.

• Second day – Friday, 8th May 2026: 10.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. and 2.00 p.m. to 6.30 p.m or such other hours that Synod may determine.

• Third day – Saturday, 9th May 2026: 10.00 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. or such other hours that Synod may determine.

The Standing Committee approved that a motion be brought to General Synod to allow Standing Order 6 (4) of the Constitution of the Standing Committee to be amended so that nominations and elections to fill casual vacancies among the co–opted members of the Standing Committee may take place by electronic means.

The Standing Committee approved that bills be brought to the General Synod with the following intentions:

• to remove all mention of deacons serving in internships from the Constitution as ordinands are no longer ordained before serving their internship, through amendments to Chapter I (The General Synod) and Chapter XIV (Clergy Pensions Fund) and the repeal of Statute IV of 2013;

• to amend the Constitution in Chapter XVI (Safeguarding) to remove reference to the names of previous Safeguarding policies and to re–word the relevant section of Chapter XVI so that specific policies are no longer referenced going forward;

• to make miscellaneous amendments to Chapter VIII (Ecclesiastical Tribunals, Offences, Sentences, Faculties & Registries) regarding the clergy disciplinary process;

• to make amendments to Chapter IV (Archbishops & Bishops) and Chapter VI (Appointment to & Tenure of Cures) regarding the termination of tenure in cases of the intractable breakdown either between an incumbent and his/her parish or between a bishop and his/her diocese; and

• to make miscellaneous amendments to Chapter IV regarding the termination of tenure on grounds of ill–health.

The Standing Committee adopted its report to General Synod 2026, and approved resolutions that the reports of the committees and working groups reporting to the Standing Committee be appended to this report.

The meeting concluded with the Grace.