Report of the Diocesan Secretary Dr Roy Fidge on the XXVII Annual Synod of the Diocese of the United Kingdom held on 21 April 2018 at The Methodist Central Hall (by kind permission) – Westminster, London

bearer. The Venerable Raymond Thompson (Archdeacon of the Diocese) was the Master of Ceremonies. Mr Roy Hipkiss (St. Augustine, Painters Forstal) was Thurifer and Mr David Yates (Our Lady and St Edward Confessor, Bolton) was Crucifer. Dr Robert Wilson (Our Lady of Glastonbury, Bristol) and Mr Harry Bendelow (St Deiniol and St Asaph, Pembroke, Wales) acted as Acolytes. Dr Roy Fidge (St Mary and St Eanswythe, Dartford) was Sidesman and Steward. The Director of Music, Organist and Choirmaster, Janet Baldacci, directed a choir of volunteers.

The business of Synod:
Bishop Mead welcomed the Delegates to the XXVII Synod of the Diocese of the United Kingdom which marked our Twenty-sixth Anniversary. During the meeting Bishop Mead paid tribute to the late Leslie Hamlett, Archbishop of the Holy Catholic Church (Western Rite) and formerly first Bishop Ordinary of the ACC Missionary Diocese of England and Wales (1992-1997) and other members of the Diocese who had died during the year. A minute?s silence was observed.

The Diocesan Secretary, Dr Fidge (St Mary and St Eanswythe, Dartford) reported that two new Missions had been formed in the DUK (The Good Shepherd and St Tudwal, Conwy, Wales and St Anselm and St Odile, Sheffield) and the Diocese had finished the year with a modest increase in membership of 3% (an increase of five people).

Bishop Mead began his Charge with:
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. 2 Timothy 4:3-4.
He went on to say: We can rejoice and thank God for his goodness and mercy and the friendship and fellowship we have enjoyed over the past year. However, the primary purpose of my Charge is to look forward to the future.
Many of us remember when Churches were more full than empty, when Christianity was respected. St Anselm, whose feast we commemorate today was engaged in theologically and philosophically defending the Faith and the Church in his dealings with the world and the corruption in it.
In the 1960?s the young Bavarian theologian, Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI gave a series of lectures predicting a tough time for the Roman Catholic Church but it has become true for all of us. A restructured Church with fewer members and fewer places of worship, a minority Catholic Church with little influence over political decisions, socially irrelevant, humiliated and forced to start over but a Church that will find itself again and be reborn.

Today’s Church has been undermined, by reducing priests to social workers and all its work to sociology. From today’s crisis, will emerge a Church that has lost a great deal, Ratzinger affirmed. It will become small and have to start over again. It will no longer have use of the structures it built in its years of prosperity. The reduction in numbers will lead to it losing an important part of its social privileges. It will start off with small groups that will make faith central again. It will be a more spiritual Church, and will not claim a political mandate. It will be poor and become the Church of the destitute.
The challenge for us is to preach the Gospel and be faithful. To speak plain facts, Jesus offers life with real meaning much more than making money, having fun, being successful, and then ending up in a graveyard.
Jesus continually spoke of our immense value to God, telling us that God created us to be His children. He has planned an incredible inheritance that is ours for the taking. In His eyes, we are special. Acceptance of that in our fractured and lonely society can make a huge impact upon people who often feel without hope or alone. His primary mission was to save us from our sins.
The Gospel IS and ALWAYS will be relevant, we just need to be as convinced and as committed to IT in our generation as our forefathers were in theirs. The great non-Christian masses will realise that they live in a world of indescribable solitude and having lost sight of God they will perceive the horror of their poverty. Then and only then, Ratzinger concluded, will they see that small flock of the faithful as something completely new: they will see it as a source of hope for themselves, the answer they had always secretly been searching for. We must make it our business to ensure that we maintain the small flock, for we are the current generation of saints, the custodians, entrusted with the Faith once delivered.

In other actions:

The Rev Deacon Richard Mulholland (St Augustine, Canterbury) Diocesan Treasurer presented the Accounts for the year and Synod agreed a budget of £34,950 for 2018.

Dr. Roy Fidge (St Mary and St Eanswythe, Dartford) presented his Diocesan Secretarys Report on the work of the Council of Advice during the year.

Synod consented to the Bishops appointments of:
? Dr Frank Wiswall, (Original Province) as Chancellor
? Dr Roy Fidge (St Mary and St Eanswythe, Dartford) as Diocesan Secretary
? Mrs Samantha Hall (St Augustine, Painters Forstal) as Diocesan Treasurer
? Mr Andrew Hall (St Augustine, Painters Forstal) as Assistant Diocesan Treasurer
? Mrs Margaret Mead (St Augustine, Painters Forstal) as Historian and Archivist
? Mr Roy Hipkiss (St Augustine, Painters Forstal) as Safeguarding Officer
? The Reverend Gareth Parry (The Good Shepherd and St Tudwal, Conwy, Wales) as Assistant Safeguarding Officer
? The Rev Deacon Richard Mulholland (St Augustine, Painters Forstal) Risk Assessment Officer
? The Rev Canon Donald Walker (St Bede, Thames Ditton) as Chairman of the Board of Ministry
? The Rev Howard Marsh (Our Lady and St Edward Confessor, Bolton) as Northern Deanery Chaplain to the Anglican Catholic Fellowship
? The Rev Deacon Richard Mulholland (St Augustine, Painters Forstal) as Southern Deanery Chaplain to the Anglican Catholic Fellowship
? Mrs Samantha Hall (St Augustine, Painters Forstal) Endowment Investment Fund Secretary
? Mr Greg Nicholls (non-ACC) as Independent Examiner/Auditor

For the Council of Advice, House of Clergy, Synod elected The Reverend Roger Bell (Our Lady and St Edward Confessor, Bolton) for three years. The Bishops nominee for the House of Clergy was The Reverend Gareth Parry (The Good Shepherd and St Tudwal, Conwy, Wales). For the House of Laity Synod elected Mrs Margaret Bendelow (St Deiniol and St Asaph, Pembroke, Wales) and Bishops Nominee – Mr Andrew Hall (St Augustine, Painters Forstal)

. The Council of Advice is therefore as follows:

House of Clergy:
? The Reverend Roger Bell (Our Lady and St Edward Confessor, Bolton)
? The Reverend Anthony Chadwick (St Mary the Virgin, Hautot Saint Sulpice, France)
? The Reverend Canon Donald Walker (St Bede, Thames Ditton)
? Bishop?s Nominee: The Reverend Gareth Parry (The Good Shepherd and St Tudwal, Conwy, Wales)

House of Laity:
? Mr Roy Hipkiss (St Augustine, Canterbury)
? Br Juniper CGS (Our Lady of Glastonbury, Bristol)
? Bishop?s Nominee – Mr Andrew Hall (St Augustine, Painters Forstal)

Synod received Reports from the Bishop, Diocesan Secretary, Diocesan Treasurer and other Officers of the Diocese and all the Parishes and Missions in the Diocese.

Synod sent Loyal Greetings and Congratulations to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the occasion of her 92nd Birthday and Loyal Greetings to Archbishop Haverland.

This year the Bishops Award for outstanding Lay service to the Diocese was awarded to Mrs Margaret Bendelow (St Deiniol and St Asaph, Pembroke, Wales)

It was agreed that the XXVIII Synod of the DUK would be held on Saturday 4 May 2019 at a venue yet to be chosen.