Highlights from the Council of General Synod: March 7, 2025

Members of Council of General Synod (CoGS) gathered at the Queen of Apostles Renewal Centre in Mississauga, Ont. at 9 a.m. EST.

Opening Eucharist

National Indigenous Anglican Archbishop Chris Harper presided at the opening Eucharist. Archbishop Anne Germond, Acting Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, delivered the homily.

Members took a break from 10:05 a.m. to 10:35 a.m.

Acting Primate’s Remarks

In her opening remarks, Archbishop Germond recalled the message from that day’s gospel in Matthew 24:9-14—of Jesus offering hope to the weary and that the key to the future is not in bad news, but in the good news he brings. Current suffering is not the culmination of what God has in mind for the world, but the birth pangs of something new.

Come what may, the church should not be afraid, Archbishop Germond said, despite many feeling helpless to change circumstances and seeing such hopelessness and devastation in the world. Rather, the church is given the gift of patient endurance and called to embody bold hope. “Let us embody bold hope through our words, in our actions, as we prepare for this extraordinarily important time leading into General Synod” and the election of the 15th Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, Archbishop Germond said. She expressed her gratitude for the privilege of serving as Acting Primate and thanked the church, General Synod staff and management team for their support.

Noting that CoGS at its current meeting would be receiving the draft report from the Primate’s Commission on Proclaiming the Gospel in the 21^st Century, Creating Pathways for the Transformational Change of the General Synod, Archbishop Germond thanked chair the Ven. Monique Stone and the rest of the commission. While the report could seem overwhelming at first glance, Archbishop Germond said, she reminded council that when former primate Archbishop Linda Nicholls created the commission, she did not imagine the work of reimagining the church as a quick fix, but rather “planting seeds” for work over a longer period of time.

In February, Archbishop Germond said, she was privileged to attend the General Synod of the Church of England, though it was not an easy synod to attend. The Church of England has experienced turmoil following the resignation of Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby in January over the church’s handling of allegations of abuse by former barrister John Smyth. The first motion of the General Synod was to disallow Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, senior bishop in the Church of England, from giving the presidential address. The motion was defeated and the archbishop gave a “stunning” address based on the Beatitudes, Archbishop Germond said, which was available online and which she encouraged CoGS to read.

Other issues discussed at the Church of England General Synod included Living in Love and Faith, the church’s resource on same-sex blessings. Archbishop Germond also highlighted what she called an inspiring motion to involve youth in the councils of the church. The absence of youth representatives at the General Synod had led to a robust conversation on the priesthood as a working-class vocation. She related how Fr. Alex Frost, vicar of St. Matthew the Apostle, Burnley, spoke about serving a poor community and how the Church of England does good work in these communities, but also speaks the language of elitism and distrust, which must change. Frost received a standing ovation at the end of his speech.

Archbishop Germond directed CoGS to her report as Acting Primate, which she offered for their reflection, and the report of the national House of Bishops. She asked members to pray for the bishops as they discern in preparation for their spring meeting, when they will select nominees to become the next Primate. Archbishop Germond appealed to council to spread word in their home dioceses about the election to help Anglicans fully understand what is happening in their church.

Pension Committee

Bob Boeckner, trustee of the Pension Committee, presented a motion for a 4% increase on pensions earned to date, which carried.

Resolution

Be it resolved that the Council of General Synod:

• Approve the recommendation of the Pension Committee to implement a 4% increase to pensions accrued as of December 31, 2024, for all active members, inactive members, and retired members effective July 1, 2025.
• Approve the recommendation of the Pension Committee to amend Schedule A of the Regulations of Canon VIII by adding Section 13 as follows:
  • Bonus Addition to Accrued Pensions as of December 31, 2024
    The amount determined as of December 31, 2024, in accordance with Regulation 5.1 with respect to a Member will be increased by 4.0% effective July 1, 2025. For greater clarity, this increase applies to all Active Members, Inactive Members and Retired Members as of December 31, 2024.

Anglican Award of Merit

General Secretary Alan Perry presented the slate of nominees for 2025 to be awarded the Anglican Award of Merit, the Anglican Church of Canada’s highest award for lay people. The five names included Canon (lay) Ian Alexander, Nancy Hurn, Teresa Mandricks, Jane Osler and Suzanne Rumsey.

Archdeacon Perry clarified that Canon Alexander, a member of the Anglican Award of Merit Committee, had recused himself from the meeting and was not present when the committee discussed the nominees. A motion to approve the five nominees carried.

Resolution

That this Council approve the five recommended names to receive the Anglican Award of Merit in 2025.

Table groups spent several minutes discussing whether eligibility for the Anglican Award of Merit should be extended to include clergy. A majority of table representatives expressed concern about “muddying waters” by including clergy with this particular award, but supported creating some other way to honour clergy.

Members broke for lunch from noon to 1:30 p.m.

Bible Study

The Rev. Carrie Irwin, chaplain to CoGS, led Bible study. Council members read and discussed Revelation 22:1-5, whose imagery of the “tree of life” (“…and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations”) had inspired the theme of the 2023-2025 biennium: “Rooted in the Word, Flourishing in the Spirit”. Irwin asked CoGS to contemplate their work of the past two years, which she said had been a reflection of this vision.

Primate’s Commission

The Ven. Monique Stone, chair of the Primate’s Commission on Proclaiming the Gospel in the 21st Century, presented the draft report of the commission, Creating Pathways for the Transformational Change of the General Synod. Several members of the commission were also present via Zoom.

Archdeacon Stone reiterated the threefold mandate of the Primate’s Commission: to ask the question of what is needed now at the national level in the 21st century to effectively proclaim the gospel in sustainable and life-giving ways; to chart a path for transformation of General Synod structures and resources to assist churches and communities of the Anglican Church of Canada to proclaim the gospel; and to honour the ongoing journey with the Sacred Circle as described in the Covenant and Our Way of Life. She quoted the draft report, which sought “to communicate a sense of prophetic imagination, urgency, a refusal to ignore difficult conversations, and an invitation to embrace provocative risk-taking ideas. It is not limited by the ‘way things have always been done’ but rather embraces our current context and the hope-filled mission to walk on the road with Jesus alongside us as the gospel is proclaimed.”

The Primate’s Commission looked specifically at the work of General Synod, using as their guiding lenses and principles the baptismal covenant, the 1989 mission statement of the Anglican Church of Canada, and the five transformational commitments. In the draft report, they described six pathways for transformational change, which were linked to the seven hypotheses the commission had initially put forward to spark discussion among Anglicans on changing church structures. The pathways were not a direct carrying forward of the seven hypotheses, but rather the product of input from more than 200 Anglicans across Canada and feedback from 297 online surveys, which aimed to encompass broader ideas the commission had identified in the course of engaging with Anglicans.

The six pathways were as follows:

1. Organizational Structure Pathway

In a church one-quarter of its former size and shrinking, this pathway described how General Synod could initiate a process to reduce the size of church governance structures in the Anglican Church of Canada by 75%. The Primate’s Commission proposed that the officers of General Synod (Primate, General Secretary, Treasurer, Prolocutor, Deputy Prolocutor, two officers at large, Chancellor and Vice Chancellor) be given a mandate and resources to propose a major revision to organizational structures, which would be proposed for implementation at the 2028 meeting of the General Synod.

Steps to be taken by General Synod would include creation of a working group to develop a proposal for a new organizational structure in the Anglican Church of Canada and the convening of a Constitutional Convention.

2. Management Overview and Restructuring Pathway

General Synod would initiate a management review and restructuring process with recommendations to be presented and implementation process instigated by 2028. This process must be led by an unbiased team, which the Primate’s Commission thought might most appropriately be a third-party outside consultant.

The aim of the management overview would be to increase clarity internally about task prioritization, evaluation and accountability structures; as well as to increase clarity externally about the capacity, role, functions and scope of staff work at the Office of General Synod and their relation to committees and dioceses. Together with Pathway 1, the overview would also consider changes to the role of Primate.

3. Inclusion and Diversity in Decision Making Pathway

To increase the effectiveness of General Synod as an instrument that enables Anglicans to proclaim the gospel in an increasingly diverse country, the Primate’s Commission said, decisions of national importance needed to be made by legislative bodies more widely representative of the Canadian population. Review and adaptation of canons and regulations were necessary to ensure wider participation in the work of the church nationally. This would include communicating these expectations to dioceses as they prepare to elect and recommend participants in various General Synod activities.

The Primate’s Commission proposed that CoGS, upon the nomination of officers of General Synod, appoint a national diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) team so that principles of DEI could be enfolded within the life of the Anglican Church of Canada.

4. Communications Pathway

General Synod should establish a clear and public mandate for communications as soon as possible, tasking the Communications Committee and director of communications with examining the current mandate, format, and funding model of the Communications Department for approval by CoGS within the 2025-2028 triennium.

The review should include voices from across country and attempt to gather input on whether the Anglican Journal is valued as a “journalistic enterprise”, or if its most important role is that of a communications tool that connects Anglicans across the country.

5. Walking Together in Partnership: Indigenous Church (Sacred Circle) with the Historic Settler Church Pathway

The development of partnership processes that enable open communication and dialogue between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Anglicans engaged in the work of General Synod and the work of Sacred Circle, the Primate’s Commission said, would assist in continuing mutual hope to walk together in the future. They suggested methods of decision-making that included a commitment to create a safe space for mutual understanding, education and listening, as well as conflict resolution to further enable success.

The commission sought to define the nature of church-to-church partnership through the development of a working group comprising Indigenous and non-Indigenous Anglicans that would look specifically at ways to walk together in partnership from where Anglicans in Canada are now to where they want to be.

6. Ministry in Remote Northern Communities Pathway

Anglicans across the country, the Primate’s Commission said, hunger for a clear and transparent understanding of who the Council of the North is and reasons why the Council of the North is the only grant-funding ministry of General Synod. Furthermore, they identified a need to understand that the delineation between Council of the North and Sacred Circle is becoming increasingly important.

The commission sought to invite Council of the North to examine the ways in which its context had changed, including through a review of structures outlined in the 2008 Handbook of the Council of the North and subsequent edits, and development of new procedures and self-understanding to guide the council in the future, particularly as it relates to Sacred Circle.

Archdeacon Stone invited CoGS to discuss in table groups what they thought General Synod members would affirm and embrace in the commission’s report, what they would resist, and what officers of General Synod elected in 2025 would need to hear from General Synod to support the next steps of this work and future implementation.

In their responses, table groups said they thought General Synod would generally approve the need to update organizational structures, reduce spending, and support DEI initiatives moving forward. They appealed for General Synod to read the report with an open mind. One table said there was a need to clarify how much of these changes were drive by mission and how much by the fact that the church is about to run out of money, and whether this financial aspect should be made clearer to Anglicans. Another table noted that pathways can lead in unexpected directions, and that General Synod should be open to the Holy Spirit guiding the church in ways that might take members by surprise.

A table suggested that General Synod would not support a “chainsaw approach” to making cuts and that a 75% cut to staff might not go over well. Archdeacon Stone clarified that the 75% figure was a provocative statement to encourage conversation, and not a recommendation. CoGS voted on a motion to commend the draft report to General Synod, which carried.

Resolution

That this Council of General Synod:

• Commend to General Synod the document Creating Pathways for the Transformational Change of the General Synod; and
• Urge the next Officers and Council of General Synod to begin actively pursuing the pathways outlined in that document.

Members took a break from 3:15 to 3:45 p.m. 

Strategic Planning Implementation Group Membership

Archdeacon Tanya Phibbs, deputy prolocutor, put forward a motion on membership of the Strategic Planning Implementation Group, which carried.

Resolution

Be it resolved that this Council of General Synod ratify the membership of the Strategic Planning Implementation Group through the 2025-2028 triennium as follows:

• Janet Marshall (chair) – Toronto
• Stephen Fields (CoGS member through June 2025) – Toronto

Appointed by ACIP:

• Dorothy Patterson – Huron
• Travis Enright – Edmonton

Other members:

• Jasmine Chandra – Fredericton
• Bishop Anna Greenwood-Lee – Islands and Inlets
• Clara King – Calgary
• Angela Morgan – Eastern Newfoundland
• Bishop Rachael Parker – Brandon
• Andrew Stephens-Rennie – Kootenay
• Kyle Wagner – Nova Scotia and P.E.I.
• Rhonda Waters – Ottawa

Ex Officio:

• Primate
• General Secretary
• Prolocutor
• Deputy Prolocutor

Strategic Planning Implementation Group

Janet Marshall, congregational development officer for the diocese of Toronto, reviewed how the church had developed the five transformational commitments to guide its strategic planning, which were the outcome of a deep listening process from 2020 to 2023. The Strategic Planning Working Group had led consultations in which more than 1,200 Anglicans were directly involved through 12 listening groups, 14 visits to diocesan and provincial synods and councils, two meetings with the national House of Bishops, eight updates with CoGS, four consultations with senior General Synod staff, and a number of diocesan pilot projects.

The Primate’s Commission and its six pathways had followed the work of the Strategic Planning Working Group, Marshall said. Now CoGS had ratified the membership of a new Strategic Planning Implementation Group, which would hold its first meeting at the end of April. Marshall invited table groups to reflect upon their own experiences of turning commitments and priorities into action. In their responses, table group representatives offered strategies such as habit formation, being mindful of timelines, ensuring everyone in the group is committed to goals, and prayer.

Sessional Officers and Committees Appointments

Canon (lay) Ian Alexander, prolocutor, presented a motion appointing officers and members of General Synod sessional committees. He clarified the distinction between sessional committees, which operate during meetings of General Synod, and standing and coordinating committees that function between meetings. The motion carried.

Resolution

That this Council of General Synod appoint the following sessional committees for General Synod 2025:

Agenda Committee: Canon Laura Walton, ODT (chair), the Rev. Wilson Akinwale, the Ven. Katherine Bourbonniere, the Rev. Canon Stephen Fields, Commander the Ven. Jennifer Goose, the Most Rev. Lynne McNaughton, Dorothy Patterson, Colleen Walker

Certification of Minutes Committee: General Secretary, Prolocutor, Honorary Clerical and Lay Secretaries, Professor David Bell (crossover member)

Credentials Committee: General Secretary, Deputy Prolocutor, Isabel Weeks (crossover member)

Expenditures Committee: The Rev. Canon Patricia Dorland (chair), General Secretary, Cathy Armstrong, the Very Rev. Dr. Tim Dobbin, Michael Wolff

Nominating Committee:

B.C. and Yukon: The Rt. Rev. Clara Plamondon (chair), the Very Rev. David Thiessen, Meg Stevens

Canada: The Most Rev. David Edwards, the Ven. Terry Caines, Edith Marshall

Northern Lights: The Rt. Rev. Rachael Parker, the Rev. Canon Iain Luke, Cathy Armstrong

Ontario: The Rt. Rev. Kevin Robertson, the Ven. Kathryn Otley, Adam MacNeil, O.N.

Resolutions Committee: The Rt. Rev. Nigel Shaw (chair), Professor David Bell, the Rev. Matthew Brown, Dion Lewis, Helen Love, the Ven. Bill Mous, the Rev. Canon Nicola Skinner, Hannah Wygiera

Canadian Companions of Jerusalem Revised Terms of Reference

Andrea Mann, director of Global Relations, presented a motion on revised terms of reference for the Canadian Companions of Jerusalem, which she said better reflected the body and its work leading the Anglican Church of Canada’s partnership with the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. CoGS voted to pass the motion.

Resolution

That the Council of General Synod approve the REVISED Terms of Reference for the Canadian Companions of Jerusalem.

Anglican-United Coordinating Commission Terms of Reference

CoGS approved an amended motion endorsing terms of reference for the coordinating commission between the Anglican Church of Canada and United Church of Canada.

Resolution

Be it resolved that this Council of General Synod endorse the proposed Terms of Reference for the Anglican-United Coordinating Commission, contained in Appendix 17 of the FWM report to this CoGS meeting.

Members broke for hospitality and dinner from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Alongside Hope/PWRDF

Su McLeod, youth engagement coordinator of Alongside Hope—formerly the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF)—and Heather Wilks Jenkins, a second-year University of Waterloo student and ecclesiastical province of Ontario representative on the Alongside Hope Youth Council, spoke about the youth council’s work as a living expression of faith responding to the needs of the world.

Ms. Jenkins said she was inspired to work on the Alongside Hope Youth Council as a way of getting involved with other people of her generation and developing a feeling of connection with others, adding that the council gave young people a meaningful way to share Christ’s love in the world. She described experiences of youth in Alongside Hope, such as attending the Sacred Beginnings gathering for Indigenous youth; participating in a climate conference; attending the Hunger on the Hill training and advocacy event organized by the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, which provided an opportunity to meet with politicians in Ottawa and learn about policies in the development sector; joining an Alongside Hope delegation to Kenya; and taking part in diocesan youth camps.

Another aspect of the youth council’s work, Ms. McLeod said, is developing social justice resources for young people. A recent example is Walking in a Good Way, which highlights reconciliation and right relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and emerged out of youth council’s experience at Sacred Beginnings—seeking to promote mental wellness in the face of trauma and affirm both traditional Indigenous and Anglican spiritual practices.

Ms. McLeod and Ms. Jenkins invited CoGS to share any engagements they had had with the Alongside Hope youth council and opportunities they saw in their parishes or dioceses to work together with them. Council members expressed a desire to hear more stories from young Anglicans sharing their work within and outside the church.

Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee 2025

Shannon Neufeldt, member relations and network coordinator for KAIROS Canada—an ecumenical organization of which the Anglican Church of Canada is a member—spoke about the 2025 Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee, part of the Jubilee 2025 global initiative that seeks to address the growing debt crisis and inequality.

More than 100 countries in the Global South are currently facing a debt crisis worsened by climate change and rampant inflation, Ms. Neufeldt said, encompassing 3.3 billion people or 40% of the world’s population. For many, existing debt is impossible to pay and has become a crushing burden on future generations, hindering efforts to develop their countries and respond to the climate crisis. Wealthy countries like Canada, Ms. Neufeldt added, exploit these countries and owe them and Indigenous people around the world an “ecological debt”.

Ms. Neufeldt described the long history of jubilee as a way of cancelling debts, caring for people and the land, and ending poverty and inequity. The Jubilee 2025 movement seeks to build on the success of the global Jubilee 2000 campaign a quarter-century earlier, which had led to the cancellation of $100 billion worth of debt in 36 low-income countries. A petition for Jubilee 2025 makes three calls to creditors and world leaders:

1. Debt cancellation for unjust and unsustainable debts;
2. Global financial reform to prevent future crises; and
3. A debt resolution framework within the United Nations that is transparent, binding and fair.

The concept of Jubilee is mentioned throughout the Bible. While Jubilee 2000 is one of the most successful ecumenical campaigns ever in Canada, Ms. Neufeldt said, it was an incomplete victory. Despite the cancellation of billions of dollars in debt, the root causes of the debt crisis are still in place. Creditors who cancelled debt often demanded that in exchange, low-income countries privatize key sectors of their economy to qualify, repeating the injustice of “structural adjustment” programs. As a result, 25 years later countries of the Global South face another debt crisis.

Among those who have endorsed Jubilee 2025 are Pope Francis, the World Council of Churches, the ACT Alliance, the World Forum on Theology and Liberation, the Lutheran World Forum and others. Canada plays a significant role in the current debt crisis, Ms. Neufeldt said. It is home to many of the world’s extractive companies and the second-highest emitter of greenhouse gases per capita in the world. With a voice at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund and many Canadian creditors likely holding sovereign debt, she added, Canada can also play a role in alleviating the debt crisis. In June, it will host the G7 in Kananaskis, Alberta. Ms. Neufeldt described Canada as a leader in cancelling its own bilateral debt in Jubilee 2000 and said it could do so again. Canada currently holds $9 billion of bilateral debt, representing 0.39% of its GDP.

Jubilee 2025 will present its petition to numerous organizations at different points throughout the year. Key global dates for the campaign include:

• May 24 – 10th anniversary of Laudato si’, Pope Francis’ encyclical on development and the ecological crisis
• June 15-17 – G7 meeting in Alberta
• June 30-July 3: Financing for Development (FFD) in Spain
• November 10-21: COP30 in Brazil
• November 16: Jubilee of the Poor
• November 22-23: G20 in South Africa

The Jubilee 2025 campaign includes several calls to action:

• Sign the petition. Jubilee 2025 has set a goal for 10 million people to sign around the world and 100,000 in Canada, whether on paper or online. Participants should collect as many signatures as possible before the G7, share the petition link (kairoscanada.org/jubilee-2025-canada/petition-turn-debt-into-hope) with family, friends and colleagues, and bring paper petitions to community events.
• Attend a book study on Robin Wall Kimmerer’s new book The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, which will take place online April 22 (Earth Day), April 29 and May 6.
• Relay of Light: Posting about the campaign on social media May 24 at noon, or attending events in person.
• Gather by joining the G7 Jubilee People’s Forum June 12-15 in person in Calgary, which will provide a learning and training opportunity for grassroots activists and feature Indigenous and global partner speakers. The G7 Jubilee Day of Action will take place on June 15 with public demonstrations in cities across Canada and around the world in G7 countries.
• Make a pledge by offering creative ideas on the public pledge page for Jubilee 2025 Canada at kairoscanada.org/jubilee-2025-canada/jubilee-pledges.

Ms. Neufeldt encouraged CoGS members to sign the petition, which is nearing 1,000 signatures in Canada. She said while the campaign has received a good response from many who were open to the idea, “people don’t yet feel that hope” and Jubilee 2025 was still looking for people who could bring the campaign forward in creative ways.

Key Messages

Archbishop Germond asked CoGS members to reflect in their table groups on key messages they had heard throughout the day that could be shared with the church when they return to their parishes, dioceses and ecclesiastical provinces.

Council highlighted their excitement at what youth are doing with Alongside Hope. They found the six pathways identified by the Primate’s Commission to be compelling ideas for the national church to consider. Members were pleased that an implementation group was helping the church move forward with its transformational commitments. They were excited about continuing work with the Canadian Companions of Jerusalem and planned to spread the word about Jubilee 2025.

Compline

CoGS ended the day with compline.

Members enjoyed an evening social from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m.