Penny Mulvey
25 February 2025
Current lay and clergy members of the Diocese of Melbourne’s synod will gather at St Paul’s Cathedral on 23 and 24 May to elect a new archbishop. The meeting will be closed to the public.
The last time the two houses of synod (the House of Laity and the House of Clergy) came together to elect an archbishop was in 2006. It was a protracted and rancorous process requiring two separate meetings.
The diocese is currently without an archbishop, with Archbishop Freier retiring on his 70th birthday, as per the synod regulations, earlier this month.
Bishop Genieve Blackwell, as the administrator of the diocese, will, according to the Archbishop Election Act, meet with the Board of Nominators chair to determine who will be nominated to chair the election synod.
As specified in the Act, the most senior archdeacon (in order of most recent collation) who is not a candidate is to take the chair and put the motion that the person nominated as chair under subsection (1) be appointed to chair the election synod. The person appointed under subsection (2) becomes the chair of the meeting.
Read more: What does Melbourne need in a new archbishop? Board calls for your thoughts
Before finalising the list of candidates, the Board of Nominators is required to consult with the bishops of the province. The board must settle the list not sooner than six weeks after the date of its first meeting and not later than the day before the day on which an election synod commences.
The Board of Nominators will introduce each candidate to the two Houses. It is unknown at this stage how many candidates will be on the list. Following the introduction of a candidate, election synod members (not including members of the Board of Nominators) may address the meeting regarding that candidate. However, the conversation about each candidate cannot extend beyond one hour.
Once all the candidates have been introduced, there is opportunity for election synod members to debate the merits of the names before them. However, this debate is to go no longer than 30 minutes. This debate can be extended, or further extended, by majority resolution for a period, or further period, not exceeding 30 minutes but the total time must not exceed 90 minutes. At the end of this discussion, the meeting must proceed to an election.
Read more: There’s two paths for archbishop election – which should Melbourne choose?
In determining the proportion of votes received by a candidate the number of members present is:
- in a meeting that is solely in person, the number of members physically present at the time of the ballot; or
- in a meeting that is solely by videoconference, the number of members who are participants in the videoconference at the time of the ballot; or
- in a meeting that is both in person and by videoconference, the number of members physically present and who are participants in the videoconference at the time of the ballot.
To find out more about election synod regulations, see here.
For more faith news, follow The Melbourne Anglican on Facebook, Instagram, or subscribe to our weekly emails.
