The Significance of the declaration of assent

Abstract

The Bishop of Chester chaired the working party which produced the report Clergy Discipline (Doctrine). The report's recommendation that a draft Measure be introduced into General Synod, based upon the working party's proposals, was narrowly defeated in the House of Clergy in the General Synod in July 2004. The House of Bishops has subsequently resolved to return in due course to the matter, with a view to introducing revised proposals. At the heart of any process will be the interpretation of the current Declaration of Assent. The Bishop's address on this subject delivered at the 2004 Ecclesiastical Law Society Day Conference (before the Synod's rejection of the immediate proposals) is here reproduced, with minor modifications. The paper explores the primacy of Holy Scripture in the determination of the doctrine of the Church, as expressed in the Declaration of Assent and the Church of England (Worship and Doctrine) Measure 1974. Possible recourse to formal doctrinal discipline is considered in this context, in relation both to the current Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963 and any proposed revision. The nature of the judgment which a court or tribunal would need to make in relation to an issue of doctrine is then assessed. This leads to the conclusion that while an up-to-date procedure for such cases is required, they are likely to continue to be at least infrequent, and quite possibly, as in the twentieth century, non-existent.