CUTS IN education spending for Protestant schools in the Republic, admissions policies at secondary schools in Northern Ireland, and the grim consequences for church finances of the credit crunch are to dominate discussions at the annual Church of Ireland General Synod which began in Armagh. This year, for the first time, the synod takes place over a weekend, to allow for the participation of those who might be unavailable during the week.
The church’s board of education, in its report to the General Synod, has described the “dismay and unprecedented concern’’ of all involved in Protestant schools “arising from the unexpected announcement of significant cuts’’ by the Government in the 2009 budget.
It was “a cause of great resentment on the part of many in our community’’ and was “without consultation or notice’’.
It noted that at post-primary level since 1967 such schools were designated as “block grant schools’’ within the free education scheme, a “long-established status [which] had received the public acknowledgement of successive ministers for education”.
The report also pointed out that “in vast tracts of the Republic of Ireland . . . the State is not, itself, providing free Protestant secondary schools”.
It recalled that last November all four main churches had intervened on the North’s 11-plus issue “out of a pastoral concern” amid “the growing confusion about transfer arrangements to post-primary education’’.
Guidelines for admission which did not allow for academic selection, issued by the Department of Education in Belfast, were “not legally binding’’ and many grammar schools had indicated that they planned to set up independent admission tests, it said.
The system of admission was “unregulated”, leaving parents and children “feeling bewildered by the uncertainties ahead”.
A report on the church’s 2008 finances disclosed that funds had dropped in value by 42 per cent, to €386 million, and accounts for last year showed a 12 per cent drop in the surplus of income over spending.
The report continued that “worrying as these figures are, they fail to reflect the true scale of the downward trend as the impact on the church’s income only began to be evident towards the latter part of 2008.
In reality, the negative economic effect will continue to reduce income further throughout 2009 and beyond.’’
A Bill is to be presented to the General Synod calling for an increase in contributions to the clergy pensions scheme.
It is proposed that these rise by 2-7.6 per cent per member from January 1st next and by 1.6-18.4 per cent for parishes/dioceses.
Another Bill proposes amending the Book of Common Prayer to include a declaration to address the church’s historic formularies, as “negative statements towards other Christians should not be seen as representing the spirit of the church today”.
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