Representation from the Church in Wales

Transcription

1 MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE CENTRAL READERS' COUNCIL HELD ON FRIDAY to SUNDAY 4 th -6 th MARCH 2011 AT THE WYCLIFFE CENTRE, HORSEYS GREEN, HIGH WYCOMBE. Present: In Attendance: Apologies: Rt Rev Robert Paterson (Chair) Chrysogon Bamber (vice-chair) Andy Lie Ven Christopher Lowson Stephanie Ridge Heidi Cartledge Nick Daunt Marion Gray Carol Lidgett Christine Haines John Marshall Gloria Cadman Ven John Reed Professor John Wood Jenny Macpherson Jennifer Williams Morgan Bunday Alan Wakely Mo Cheesman Cliff Harris Tim Ling Rt Rev Graham Cray Sue Hart Heather Fenton The meeting opened with prayer, led by the Bishop Minutes of the Meeting held on 6 th November 2010 approved. Matters Arising from the Minutes (i) Representation from the Church in Wales A letter has been received from the Bishop of Monmouth in reply to an enquiry from the Chair. This suggests that the Church in Wales should be represented by the Archdeacon of St Asaph, who holds the ministry portfolio for the Church in Wales at present. However, he is about to retire, and it was agreed that we should wait for his successor to be announced, and then approach him/her. (ii) Ministry Council representation The Bishop was delighted to inform the Executive that he has been appointed as a full episcopal member of the ministry Council. He reminded the meeting that two other Readers (Andrew Britton and Alan Wakely) attend council meetings ex-officio. (iii) Operational Statement Chrysogon Bamber circulated an updated Operation Statement. This was accepted without comment.

2 (iv) CMD Panel Member The bishop reported that he had decided to approach a potential replacement to fill the vacancy on the CMD panel created by Wendy Sargeant s resignation. Andy Lie continued to express concern that the appointment was not as a result of advertisement and election. The bishop reminded the Executive that the position was not theirs to control, and the Church centrally would not accept instructions from CRC as to how to proceed. Nonetheless, he was pleased that the Executive on balance was happy that the approach should be made. Reports (i) Editorial Committee John Wood reported on a successful year for the magazine in terms of subscriber numbers. Peter Watkins and Ian Yearsley have left the committee after many years service and been replaced by Mark Hurley, Chris Bracegirdle and Elizabeth Evans. However, no-one has been found to date to replace Janice Cruse as Advertising Manager. The subject areas for future issues have been notified by the editor: for the next two editions they will be Rural Affairs and Tourism (11.2), and the Bible (11.3) Approaches have been made by the editor of the Church Times, who has offered help with advertising and distribution problems but the meeting expressed some concern that this might presage an unwelcome interest in editorial matters. It was however agreed that widening circulation should be an aim if this proves to be possible without any surrender of control. (ii) Website John Marshall submitted a written report on activities during 2010, which will be presented at the AGM. He also told the meeting that in recent months there has been a sudden and very marked increase in the number of forum postings. A few contributors seem to be becoming over-absorbed with one particular issue or another, but in general the increase is welcome. The committee feels that links with the conference committee are important, and to that end have moved their next meeting to coincide with the conferences committee who are due to meet at Swanwick in early June. (iii) Conferences Heidi reported that plans for the Conference at Swanwick in 2012 are proceeding apace. It is intended that advertising material will be distributed with the next issue of the magazine, although pricing may not be available until later in the summer. The committee recognises the need to ensure that the conference is properly priced, and to that end, the treasurer has been invited to the next committee meeting. (iv) RACSC The next meeting of this committee was to take place in a few days time, and hence no report was received. The Executive noted that the old title (DRACSC) has now lost

3 its first initial, because deployment issues have been devolved elsewhere within the Ministry Division. (v) Fees Panel Jenny Macpherson reported on the deliberations of the Fees Panel. Of greatest relevance to Readers is the question of funeral fees, and there has been much activity to try to establish a nationwide procedure. The Fees Measure going through the legislative process at present makes it clear that all fees for pastoral offices are the property of the relevant Diocesan Board of Finance. The panel is recommending to the Archbishops Council that individual dioceses should offer realistically costed fees to ministers conducting all occasional offices, and this will include Readers. (vi) Selection Nick Daunt reported that he has been involved in visiting a wide range of dioceses most recently Oxford, Worcester, Derby and Blackburn and he has also been involved in Vocation Day presentations in Liverpool and Chester. He is currently working on the production of a selection pack, giving guidance as to best practice. This follows a highly successful response (38/44) to his questionnaire to dioceses. (vii) Quality in Formation In Sue Hart s absence for family reasons no report was received. Independent Examiner of Accounts Prior to hearing the financial report, the Treasurer expressed concern that Simon Dennis may have a conflict of interests as our independent examiner, as he also serves on one of our sub-committees. The Executive agreed that in fairness to Mr Dennis, a replacement should be sought from the start of 2012, whose appointment should ideally be approved at the AGM in April2011. Financial Report Cliff Harris presented the accounts for 2010, as the outgoing treasurer. He explained that there was a structural deficit of about 8k which had been expected when the budget was set, but that the activities of the Council had been broadly within budget with one marked exception, a deficit of around 9000 on the Conference for reasons that have already been fully discussed. This deficit had been funded from the Special Fund, so does not appear on the general account. The meeting requested that the fact that the conference was in deficit should nonetheless be clear. The report was accepted by the meeting, subject to honoraria being referred to as fees, which more accurately describes the present situation. Carol Lidgett (incoming treasurer) then presented the budget proposals for The meeting agreed that there was no longer any justification for budgeting for a deficit. Carol indicated that a capitation fee of 3:75 per Reader would be needed to reach a break-even point in 2012, unless ameliorative measures were put into place. In the contrary direction, she felt that the levels of remuneration paid to officers (and hitherto described as honoraria) were insufficient.

4 Her suggestions provoked a lengthy discussion. In the end, it was agreed to recommend a capitation fee for 2012 of 2:75 per Reader (licensed or PTO), which would cover the following budgetary provisions and savings: The Secretary, Associate Secretary and Database Secretary will now be paid as employees at an increased, standardised rate. Other officers will continue to raise invoices for professional services rendered. From 2012, CRC should cease to subsidise travel to and from the AGM Papers for the AGM should be sent electronically wherever possible to reduce postage costs. Residential meetings of the Executive should cease forthwith, but occasional residential events may be held for strategic thinking The costs of the database secretary should be charged in future against the income from the magazine account. Future Executive meetings should consist of Chair, vice-chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Associate Secretary, RACS representative and elected members only i.e. omitting sub-committee chairs, editors and national advisers. However, the Executive reserves the right to ask such people to attend, and they should feel able to ask to do so if there is important relevant business. This change requires a constitutional amendment, notice of which will be given at the 2011 AGM for official implementation in 2012, but the Executive agreed to act upon the intended changes with immediate effect. Subject to the above provisions, the budget was approved for presentation to the AGM. HEFCE funding Measures are being considered by the Church to deal with the drastic cuts being made in state funding for training through HEFCE which is how training is currently academically validated. This primarily concerns clergy training, but Christopher Lowson explained that those Readers-in-Training who were reading for foundation degrees would be affected, and others could be too. The Bishop of Sheffield is examining the situation, specifically with regard to clergy, but his group is aware of the implications for lay ministry. Fresh Expressions By invitation, the Rt Rev Graham Cray addressed the Executive. He detailed the progress being made in the Fresh Expressions movement, indicating the importance of the role of laity in congregational leadership roles, and pointing out that the movement is becoming effective across barriers of churchmanship. Strategic Considerations Over the weekend of the meeting, there was ample time for free and informal discussion of the strategic issues facing Reader ministry. These were then crystallised into a formal discussion of the way to move forward from the recommendations of Reader Upbeat. The symposium planned for November 30 th /December 1 st to provide an academic background to Bishop Robert s approach to the House of Bishops is now well in hand. Four papers are being prepared ahead of the event discussing respectively the liturgical/doctrinal, historical, biblical/patristic and sociological issues that face lay ministry. The authors are people with strong academic credentials but who are new to church deliberations at national level. The hope is that they will bring a fresh approach, but each is being mentored by senior

5 churchpeople (two bishops and two professors) who are fully aware of the church s requirements. The bishop indicated that a good deal of time would be devoted to this topic at the AGM to ensure that the situation was widely understood. Date of Next Meeting: This will be held at York University (during General Synod) on Saturday 9 th July 2011.