Work on a code of ethics for those who work in the diocese is resuming, Diocesan Council was told last month.
The code will cover both paid workers, including clergy, as well as volunteers. It is likely to be based on "A Call to Human Dignity," a statement of principles passed at the national General Synod this year.
Diocesan Council was asked by the diocesan Task Force on Codes and Principles of Ethics to endorse the national document, but a decision was put off for a month after several council members said they needed time to study it.
The Task Force began work on a code four years ago, but met with opposition from several members of the clergy who objected to their work on a number of grounds.
"Our absence of a formal policy and guidelines for ethical behaviour of all the baptized, including clergy, leaves the diocese in a vulnerable position, both legally and morally," the Task Force warned the council.
Members of the group include the Revs. Lynne McNaughton, Anglican chaplain at the Vancouver School of Theology; Wendy Fletcher, a professor at VST; Paul Borthistle, diocesan Director of Parish Support Ministries; Executive Archdeacon Ronald Harrison; and Dean Peter Elliott.
In other business Diocesan Council voted to give the leadership Christ Church, Hope, a month to consider the appeals of a number of parishioners who felt they had been improperly struck from membership in the parish before a controversial vote at a parish Vestry (general membership) meeting.
The number on the parish membership role dropped from 180 to 62 within the space of seven months for allegedly either failing to attend services or support the parish.
Two wardens and the rector, the Rev. Archie Pell, plus lawyer Cheryl Chang appeared before council requesting additional time, along with Joan Sjovold, who had circulated a petition among those who had been dropped from the Christ Church roll.
The council voted for the second time by the required three-quarters majority to recommend that the bishop close the parish of Emmanuel in Richmond. The Rev. Silas Ng and most (if not all) of his parishioners announced earlier this year they were leaving the Anglican Church of Canada and the diocese.
Chancellor George Cadman said that the cleric and wardens of the parish had been served notice that they had a right to be heard before Diocesan Council acted under Canon 13 to recommend closure, and failed to respond. However, the parish will not be closed until Bishop Michael Ingham so decides.
Diocesan Council approved in principle the diocese's participation in an `Interspiritual Centre' to be build in a new residential development in False Creek, Vancouver. Several Christian denominations and other religious groups have expressed interest in participating.
The council voted to increase the minimum stipend for clergy by 1.9 per cent, in line with inflation. The minimum will now begin at $26,200 for new clergy and increases to $34,500 after 15 years.
In addition full-time clergy also must receive housing or a housing allowance, a $7,000 annual car allowance, and several other benefits. Many parishes in the diocese top up the minimums, some considerably