Jenan Taylor
19 October 2023
Anglican hospital chaplains have welcomed Melbourne Synod’s decision to endorse a motion which will enable the exploration of alternative health chaplaincy ideas and funding options.
Almost 90 per cent of synod delegates voted in favour of the hospital chaplaincy motion, which asked Archbishop in Council to create a working group committed to exploring alternative models and funding options.
Motion seconder, the Reverend Christopher Morris described it as great “green light” for the Church to keep pursuing a valuable ministry.
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Mr Morris, who is a chaplain at the Alfred Hospital, said he felt very affirmed in the chaplaincy ministry to know that an overwhelming majority approved of health chaplaincy.
He said he was encouraged that AiC would have to come up with alternative ideas to keep the program going in some form.
The motion asked delegates to recognise the diocese’s financial challenges and regret its plan to cease funding hospital chaplaincy services.
It also asked them to endorse the importance of those services as a critical mission of the church, and to note that spiritual health care was a vital part of people’s care needs in health care settings.
Read more: Hospital ministry future clouded as funding cuts loom
Synod also debated and rejected an amendment to the hospital chaplaincy motion moved by Dr Muriel Porter.
The amendment sought to change the final clause of the motion, to instead call on AiC to urgently reconsider the diocese’s financial plan with the aim of continuing to fund hospital chaplaincy from 1 January 2024.
Dr Porter said hospital chaplaincy was needed especially in the modern age of hospitals, where people without community connections to parish clergy could still be ministered to.
Mr Morris said though the amendment proposal was unrealistic, it was a lovely sentiment and showed there were many people in the diocese who wanted the program to continue.
The diocese announced in April that it would stop financing the hospital chaplaincy program at the end of 2023.
An organisational and budget review of the diocese led to the decision.
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