No , 1999

An Ordinance to permit the administration of Holy Communion by authorised deacons and lay persons.

Whereas

A. It is expedient to permit authorised deacons and lay persons to administer Holy Communion on Church Property.

B. The administration of Holy Communion by deacons and lay persons may not be permitted by the trusts on which certain Church Property is held and it is therefore desirable to amend the trusts on which that Property is held to clarify the matter.

C. By reason of circumstances which have arisen after the creation of the trusts on which the Church Property referred to in B. is held, it is inexpedient to carry out and observe those trusts and it is expedient to vary those trusts to permit the administration of Holy Communion by deacons and lay persons on that Property.

Now the Synod of the Diocese of Sydney Ordains as follows.

 

Part 1 - Introduction

1. Citation

 

This ordinance may be cited as the "Preaching and Administration of Holy Communion by Lay Persons and Deacons Ordinance 1999".

2. Definitions

(1) In this ordinance -

"Church Property" means church trust property held upon trust for the Anglican Church of Australia in the Diocese or in any part of the Diocese;

"Parochial Unit" means a parish, provisional parish or assisted provisional parish constituted under or recognised as such for the purposes of the Parishes Ordinance 1979;

"1981 Ordinance" means the Deaconesses, Readers and Other Lay Persons Ordinance 1981.

(2) Words and expressions used in this ordinance have the same meaning as in the schedule to the Interpretation Ordinance 1985 and clause 2 of the Church Administration Ordinance 1990.

3. Operation

(1) The provisions of Part 2 of this Ordinance and of the 1981 Ordinance, as amended by this ordinance, to the extent to which they are inconsistent with any other ordinance concerning the use of church property, prevail.

(2) In the case of Church Property held upon a trust which is inconsistent with the provisions referred to in subclause (1) it is, by reason of circumstances arising after the creation of that trust, inexpedient to carry out and observe that trust to the extent of such inconsistency and such trust is varied so as to permit the administration of Holy Communion by deacons and lay persons on that property on the terms specified in this ordinance.

 

Part 2 - Preaching and Administration of Holy Communion by Deacons

4. Interpretation

 

In this Part -

"church" means a building, being Church Property, duly consecrated or licensed for the celebration of divine service, the administration of the sacraments and the performance of any other rite or ordinance of the Anglican Church of Australia;

"minister" means -
(a) as applied to a church in a parish, the minister duly licensed to that parish as the incumbent thereof or the person (if any) appointed thereto under clause 59 of the Church Administration Ordinance 1990;

(b) as applied to a church in a provisional parish, the minister duly licensed to that provisional parish as curate-in-charge or the person (if any) appointed thereto under clause 59 of the Church Administration Ordinance 1990;

(c) as applied to a church in an assisted provisional parish, the minister or one of the ministers duly licensed to that assisted provisional parish;

(d) as applied to St Andrew's Cathedral, the Dean thereof; and

(e) as applied to a church situated within the Diocese but not situated in any Parochial Unit, the minister licensed to officiate thereat.

5. Authority

(1) The Archbishop may authorise a deacon to use a church to do any thing which, under this Part, requires the Archbishop's authority. Such authority may be revoked by the Archbishop at any time.

(2) An authority given under subclause (1) may be limited to a particular church or churches.

(3) An authority given under subclause (1) must not be contained in a licence.

6. Preaching and Administration of Holy Communion

(1) The minister of a church must not permit a deacon to preach a sermon in that church unless the deacon holds an authority from the Archbishop which authorises the deacon to -

(a) preach and administer Holy Communion in that church; or

(b) preach in all churches in the Diocese.

(2) The minister of a church must not permit a deacon to administer Holy Communion during a service in that church unless that deacon holds an authority from the Archbishop which authorises the deacon to preach and administer Holy Communion in that church and a vestry meeting has given approval to a deacon administering Holy Communion during that service and such approval has not been withdrawn.

(3) A vestry meeting of the Parochial Unit in which a church is situated or a vestry meeting of that church are taken to have given an approval for the purposes of subclause (2) if they have given general approval for a deacon to administer Holy Communion at a nominated service on any nominated day - such as, for example, the 8.00am service on any Sunday - and the service at which it is proposed that the deacon will administer Holy Communion is one which falls within the terms of that approval and the approval(s) of a parish vestry meeting with regards to a deacon will not take precedence over the decision(s) of a vestry meeting of a church in a parish in which divine service is held in more than one church.

7. The Cathedral

Clause 6 applies to St Andrew's Cathedral with the following modifications -

(a) a reference in that clause to the majority of the parish council of the Parochial Unit in which that church or a church is situated is to be read as a reference to the majority of the members of St Andrew's Cathedral Chapter; and

(b) each reference in that clause to the majority of the churchwardens of that church is deleted.

8. Other Churches

Except as provided by clause 7, clause 6 applies to a church situated within the Diocese but not situated within any Parochial Unit with the following modifications -

(a) all the matter after the word "church" where thirdly appearing in subclause (2) is deleted; and

(b) subclause (3) is deleted.

9. Application

This Part does not affect any authority issued to a deacon prior to the date of assent to this ordinance.

 

Part 3 - Preaching and Administration of Holy Communion by Lay Persons

10. Amendment of 1981 Ordinance

 

The 1981 Ordinance is amended as follows -

(a) clause 5 is deleted and the following clause is inserted instead -

"Authorities
5. (1) The Archbishop, or an Assistant Bishop on his behalf if so authorised by the Archbishop, may authorise a lay person to use a church to do any thing which under clause 15(1)(c) or (d) requires the authority of the Archbishop or an Assistant Bishop and may, at any time, revoke that authority.

(2) An authority given under subclause (1) may be limited to a particular church or churches.";

(b) in clause 15 -

(i) the matter "(1)" is inserted before the words "The minister of a church";

(ii) in paragraph (b) the words "or to deliver a sermon in that church" are deleted;

(iii) at the end of paragraph (b) the full stop is deleted and the matter "; or" is inserted instead;

(iv) after paragraph (b) two new paragraphs are inserted as follows -

"(c) permit a lay person to preach a sermon in that church unless the lay person holds an authority from the Archbishop or from an Assistant Bishop on his behalf if so authorised by the Archbishop which authorises the lay person to -

(i) preach and administer Holy Communion in that church; or

(ii) preach in all churches or in any particular church in the Diocese.

(d) permit a lay person to administer Holy Communion during a service in that church unless -

(i) that lay person holds an authority from the Archbishop or from an Assistant Bishop on his behalf if so authorised by the Archbishop which authorises the lay person to preach and administer Holy Communion in that church;

(ii) a vestry meeting of the parish in which that church is situated or a vestry meeting of that church have given their approval to that lay person administering Holy Communion during that service and such approval has not been withdrawn."

(v) a new subclause (2) is inserted in the following terms -

"(2) The majority of the parish council of the parish in which a church is situated and the majority of the churchwardens of that church are taken to have given an approval for the purposes of paragraph (d) of subclause (1) if they have given approval for the lay person to administer Holy Communion at a nominated service on any nominated day - such as, for example, the 8.00am service on any Sunday - and the service at which it is proposed that the lay person will administer Holy Communion is one which falls within the terms of that approval and approval(s) of a parish vestry meeting with regards to a lay person will not take precedence over the decision(s) of a vestry meeting of a church in a parish in which divine service is held in more than one church.";

(vi) a new subclause (3) is inserted in the following terms -

"(3) Paragraph (d) of subclause (1) and subclause (2) apply to St Andrew's Cathedral with the following modifications -

(a) a reference in that paragraph or subclause to the majority of the parish council of the parish in which that church, or a church, is situated is to be read as a reference to the majority of the members of St Andrew's Cathedral Chapter; and

(b) each reference in that paragraph and that subclause to the majority of the churchwardens of that church, is deleted; and

(vii) a new subclause (4) is inserted in the following terms -

"(4) Except as provided in subclause (3), paragraph (d) of subclause (1) applies to a church situated within the Diocese but not situated within any parish as if all the matter after "church" where secondly appearing was deleted.

11. Application

The amendments made to the 1981 Ordinance by clause 10 do not affect any authority issued under clause 5 of the 1981 Ordinance prior to the date of assent to this ordinance and, in relation to any such authority, the 1981 Ordinance continues to operate as if clause 10 of this ordinance had not been made.

12. Sunset

(1) This Ordinance ceases to have effect on the 5th anniversary of the date of assent (the 'termination date').

(2) On the termination date -

(a) the 1981 Ordinance reverts to the form it would have had if this Ordinance had never come into effect; and

(b) an authority given under or as a consequence of this Ordinance which is effective immediately prior to the termination date continues to have effect according to its terms except in so far as it authorises the person to whom the authority was given to administer Holy Communion in a church.

I Certify that the ordinance as printed is in accordance with the Ordinance as reported.

N M CAMERON
Chairman of Committees

We Certify that this Ordinance was passed by the Synod of the Diocese of Sydney on 19 October 1999.

C J MORONEY
M A PAYNE
Secretaries of Synod

I Assent to this Ordinance.

Archbishop of Sydney

..... /...... /1999