Thinking allowed

Vestments, robes and canon law

on Monday, 14 July 2014 at 7.29 am by Simon Kershaw
categorised as liturgical news, liturgy

The Gen­er­al Syn­od, meet­ing at York, on Sat­urday debated the man­dat­ory use of robes and vest­ments for clergy at some ser­vices. The record of the pro­ceed­ings states:

Private Mem­bers’ Motions

Can­on B 8 (GS 1944A and GS 1944B)

The Revd Chris­toph­er Hobbs (Lon­don) moved:

‘That this Syn­od call on the Busi­ness Com­mit­tee to intro­duce draft legis­la­tion to amend the law relat­ing to the ves­ture of min­is­ters so that, without alter­ing the prin­ciples set out in para­graphs 1 and 2 of Can­on B 8. the wear­ing of the forms of ves­ture referred to in para­graphs 3, 4 and 5 of that Can­on becomes option­al rather than mandatory.’

The motion was voted on and passed by the Syn­od. The three amend­ments were not carried.

The audio of the even­ing ses­sion is avail­able here.

The press reports this as the Church sweep­ing away the rules and allow­ing clergy to wear what they like

• The Mail — Church gives OK to vicars in shellsuits

• The Express — Church gives its bless­ing for vicar dress-down Sundays