
Last Friday, the General Synod of the Church of England met in York. The meetings lasted until Tuesday this week.
Since it is usually done via Youtube, the Mhinisteir and I were able to catch up before bedtime each night.
The first thing that struck me was that very few clergy were wearing their clerical shirts. By day two, even the ABC and the ABY had ditched their clerical attire. There were scores of them in bermudas. Some ladies were in their vest tops. It appeared very disrespectful towards the dignitaries who were present. Among them were the Archbishop of Congo and the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church.
In recent days, the weather here in the UK has been very hot but that can’t be used as an excuse. If the dignitary from the orthodox church can turn up in his full regalia day in and day out so can the ABC in his clerical shirt.
Another observation I made is that the knitter wasn’t in focus. Instead I got to see a cute man with a full head of dark curly hair. He usually appeared on the bottom right of the screen and was often dozing off! Pity he was oblivious to the fact that he was on camera. At other times, he would be looking at his mobile phone. I just assumed that he was catching up on his favourite TV programme!
It was only on the last day that I discovered that my cute man on the screen is the ABY’s new chief of staff! I look forward to seeing more of him in future Synod meetings!