The closure of church buildings and vaccine mandates that were endorsed by the leaders of the Sydney Anglican Diocese have been upheld in a report from the Diocese’s Standing Committee prepared for this month’s Synod (Church Parliament). Referring to a Doctrine Commission report that set out “clear principles and circumstances where Christians must respectfully disobey the government” the report found that the decisions about Covid did not fall into that category.
Instead the report written by a committee chaied by Rev Nigel Fortescue found that “The consensus of the Committee is that the decisions made during the Pandemic fell into the grey area of ‘may’ rather than ‘must’ in the Diocesan Doctrine Commission report. This is the most challenging area to operate in, requiring tremendous wisdom and humility, as no clear pathway exists to make definitive calls.”
The Committee report includes a detailed timeline of the pandemic, the gioverment responses and how the diocese leaders made their decisions. But they also note the tensions between Christians during the pandemic. “One painful concern raised with the COVID-19 review Committee were conscience issues which arose amongst some Anglicans (both clergy and lay) over what they saw as a failure of the Diocesan senior leadership during the Pandemic when government directives were endorsed particularly inmrelation to the closure of church buildings and vaccine mandates which saw people stood down from positions or (temporarily) excluded from church. The result of this was a strained relationship between critics and the Diocesan senior leadership which resulted in varying levels of hurt, criticism and bitterness.
“On the other hand, Diocesan leadership were also receiving large volumes of correspondence expressing deep appreciation for their wise, thoughtful and godly leadership in following government directives, as well as in helping churches understand and conform to the directives. The Committee wrestled deeply with this both because of the passion expressed on both sides, but also because the issues raised are complex theologically, pastorally and practically.”
In some cases that passion persists. “As a result, while individual Christians may still disagree about particular decisions that were made (or not made), the attitude of all members of the Diocese should be one of respectful submission to,
and thankfulness for, our Diocesan senior leadership who were called upon to make these challenging decisions. In addition, because none of the decisions fell into categories which the Diocesan Doctrine Commission report would conclude are clear cut moments where godly resistance to government authority would be called for, to break Christian fellowship over these decisions is inappropriate, and reconciliation should be sought.”
In addition the report concludes that adhering to the government guidelines protected many vulnerable people. “Those at high risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19 and their families and carers benefited from mitigation efforts implemented by the state and federal government and accepted by the Archbishop and adopted (for the most part) by churches in the Diocese. Those in the high-risk category included people aged over 65; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders with underlying medical conditions; people with a weakened immune system; neurological diseases (e.g., stroke, dementia); chronic lung disease (e.g. severe asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease); heart disease; obesity; diabetes; chronic kidney disease; and pregnancy. Those who were moderately to severely immunocompromised were also high risk (e.g. chemotherapy, high dose corticosteroids, cerebral palsy, Downs syndrome). Those in aged care or with a disability that made social-distancing or hygiene measures difficult to observe were also at high risk.”
Sounding a note of realism the report writers reflects the need to make decisions rapidly made disagreement inevitable. they quote Archbishop Glenn Davies in a letter of 16 March 2020: “There will be difficult times ahead which will
test our commitment to the Lord and to his people. We shall face criticism from those who consider us alarmist, and from those who consider us irresponsible. However, what should characterise our actions are faithfulness to God and love of all people.”
The report is in Book 2 of the Synod papers – Supplementary Reports and Papers