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BALLARAT BISHOPRIC ACT 1988 (BALLARAT DIOCESE)

No. 3
BALLARAT BISHOPRIC ACT 1988

Formerly known as the
Bishop’s Appointment Act and Vacancy of the See Act 1988
Amended by the Bishop’s Appointment Act and Vacancy of the See Amendment Act 1992

PART A
APPOINTMENT OF BISHOPS

1. There shall be a Board for the purpose of electing in the event of a vacancy of the See of Ballarat a Priest or Bishop in communion with the Anglican Church of Australia to be the Bishop of the Diocese of Ballarat and such Board shall be styled the Board of Electors and shall hold office until the election of their successors.

2. In the first Session of every Synod there shall be elected by and from the Members of the Synod six Clergymen and six Laymen to be a Board of Electors under this Act.

3. Any vacancy occurring in the Board of Electors shall be filled up at the next Session of the Synod by the election of such Clergyman or Clergymen or Layman or Laymen being members of the Synod as may be necessary to complete the Board but if the See becomes vacant before such next Session of the Synod the remaining members of the Board shall temporarily fill up vacancies in their number by the appointment of such Clergymen or Laymen being members of the Synod as may be necessary to complete the Board and members of the Board so appointed to fill vacancies shall remain in office until the next Session of the Synod and no longer.

4. When a vacancy in the See shall have occurred the Bishop Vicar General Commissary or person administering the affairs of the Diocese (hereinafter called the Administrator) shall forthwith notify the same to the Board of Electors and the Board shall with all convenient speed proceed to the election of a Bishop of the Diocese of Ballarat and on such election having been made shall forthwith report the result to the Administrator.

4A. The Board of Electors (notwithstanding the provisions of Section 4) may meet at any time after receiving notice of the Bishop’s intention to resign and may proceed with the election as provided for in Section 4 but shall not report the result thereof to the Administrator until after the Bishopric shall pursuant to Section 10 be deemed to be vacant.

5. Four Clerical and four Lay Members of the Board shall form a quorum.

6. When any such election has been made if effect cannot be given thereto the Administrator shall notify the same to the Board of Electors and thereupon the like proceedings shall be taken as are herein directed in the case of an original election and so on toties quoties until a Bishop has been elected and installed.

7. The members of the Board shall have power to decide as to all matters connected with the election but no election shall be valid unless at least four clerical members and at least four lay members of the Board present at the meeting vote for the same Priest or Bishop and certify in writing thereto to the Administrator.

8. In the case of a vacancy in the See if any Board of Electors shall for a period of twelve months fail to elect a Bishop and to notify such election to the Administrator such Board shall be dissolved and in its place a new Board of Electors shall be constituted in manner following:—The Administrator shall with all convenient speed for the purpose of electing another Board of Electors call a meeting of which at least one month’s notice specifying the objects thereof shall be given of the persons who at the time of such failure shall be members of an existing Synod or who if no Synod be then existing shall have been members of the last preceding Synod at the time of its dissolution and the administrator shall be President of such meeting the business of which shall be conducted according to the Standing Orders of the Synod as far as they may be applicable and the Administrator shall in the notice calling such meeting fix a day for proceeding to the election of a new Board of Electors and shall have and exercise all the powers conferred upon such Board.

9. Upon an election having been made the Administrator of the Diocese shall take the necessary steps for giving effect thereto in accordance with the rules for the time being in force within the Diocese for the confirmation and consecration of Bishops made by the General Synod of the Dioceses of Australia and Tasmania.

10. (1) In this Section ‘resignation date’ means the date nominated by the Bishop in his notice referred to hereunder and upon that date the Bishopric shall be deemed to be vacant.

(2) Whenever the Bishop shall desire to resign before he attains the age of seventy years he shall not more than six months before the resignation date give notice in writing to the Metropolitan of his intention to resign on the resignation date.

(3) The Bishop at the same time shall convene the Board of Electors and shall present or send to such Board his resignation in writing nominating the resignation date.

(4) An announcement by the Bishop of his intention to resign at some future date shall not be construed as a notice of intention to resign unless it be contained in a formal notice to the Metropolitan and the Board of Electors.

11. On the installation of a Bishop of Ballarat he shall make and subscribe a declaration in the form set forth in the Schedule hereto marked A.

12. When a Bishop of Ballarat shall have been installed he shall subject to all Acts of the Synod now or hereafter in force be a Bishop within the meaning of “The Church Constitution Act” and of the Act of the Parliament of Victoria numbered 454 and subject as aforesaid shall have and may exercise within the limits of the Diocese of Ballarat all the powers and authorities which a Bishop of the Anglican Church of Australia may lawfully exercise within his Diocese and he shall be for all purposes the successor of the Bishop of Ballarat.

PART B
ABSENCE OF THE BISHOP AND
VACANCY OF THE SEE

13. It shall be lawful for the Bishop by writing under his hand registered in the Registry of the Diocese to appoint some person named therein being a Clergyman licensed in the Diocese to be Vicar-General or Commissary and such Vicar-General or Commissary shall and may during the absence of the Bishop from his See until such appointment be revoked and its revocation registered as aforesaid use and exercise do and perform from time to time according to the terms of such appointment all and every authorities powers acts matters and things whatsoever which the Bishop is or may be empowered or required to use exercise do or perform by virtue of any Act Resolution or Regulation of the Synod heretofore or hereafter to be passed and every authority power act or thing so used exercised done or performed by such Vicar-General or Commissary under or by virtue of such his appointment shall be as good as effectual to all intents and purposes as if the same had been used exercised done or performed by the Bishop. And in the event of there being no Vicar-General or Commissary appointed as aforesaid or in the event of his having been so appointed and of his dying or becoming incapable the said authorities powers acts matters and things shall and may be used exercised done or performed during such absence by the Archdeacon of some portion of the Diocese Senior in date of Collation for the time being or in his absence or incapacity and only during his absence or incapacity by such Archdeacon next in Collation and so in succession by the next Senior Archdeacon.

14. The Bishop shall resign his Bishopric upon attaining the age of seventy years.

15. In the event of a vacancy occurring in the See through the death or resignation of the Bishop of the Clergyman who at the time of such death or resignation held the office of Vicar General or Commissary as aforesaid (if any) or in his absence or incapacity and only during his absence or incapacity the Archdeacon of some portion of the Diocese Senior in date of Collation for the time being who shall be in Victoria or in his absence or incapacity and only during his absence or incapacity such Archdeacon next in Collation and so in succession the next Senior Archdeacon shall be the Administrator of the Diocese and use exercise do and perform from time to time all and every the authorities powers acts matters and things whatsoever which the Bishop is or may be empowered or required to use exercise do or perform by virtue of any Act Resolution or Regulation of the Synod heretofore or hereafter to be passed and every authority power act matter and thing so used exercised done or performed under the provisions hereof shall be as good and effectual to all intents and purposes as if the same had been used exercised done or performed by the Bishop until a new Bishop of the See shall have been installed.

16. The Administrator during the vacancy of a See shall be entitled to such portion of the income appertaining to the Bishopric as the Bishop-in-Council shall determine and the remainder of such income may during such vacancy of the See be applied by the Bishop-in-Council to the Bishopric Endowment Fund.

17. It shall be lawful for the Bishop to make provision for his absence from the Diocese or temporary incapacity in the following manner that is to say:—in addition to appointing a Vicar-General he may by writing under his hand registered in the Registry of the Diocese nominate certain Clergymen licensed in the Diocese to be Vicar-General Commissary or Administrator in the event of the Vicar-General or Administrator dying or being unable to carry out the duties of his office through absence sickness or incapacity.

18. In the event of the Vicar-General Commissary or Administrator in the absence of the Bishop being unable to fulfil the duties of his office through absence death or incapacity and only in his absence death or incapacity the Clergyman whose name first appears in the Bishop’s List of nominees before mentioned and in his absence or incapacity and only in his absence death or incapacity the second nominee of the Bishop and so on in succession the next nominee of the Bishop shall be the Administrator of the Diocese.

19. (1) Without prejudice to the special provisions of Section 8, the Administrator during a vacancy of the See may at his discretion convene and preside at meetings of members of Synod, being the persons who at the time of the See becoming vacant were members of an existing Synod or who if no Synod were then existing had been members of the last preceding Synod at the time of its dissolution.

(2) The Administrator shall give at least one month’s notice in writing of such a meeting to such members of Synod.

(3) Any meeting so convened may transact any business that might be transacted by Synod, save for the making of any Act, regulation or resolution to which the assent of the Bishop is necessary under Section 2 of the Church of England Act 1854.

(4) The provisions of the Synod Act 1988 (as amended from time to time), the Standing Orders Act 1988 (as amended from time to time) and the Election Regulations Act 1988 (as amended from time to time) shall apply to such meetings to the extent possible in the circumstances with such adaptations for that purpose as the Administrator with the agreement of the meeting shall determine.

20. For the purposes of Sections 13, 15, 17, and 18 of this Act, a person (other than the Bishop) shall be considered “incapable” or suffering from “incapacity” if he has so informed the Registrar by notice in writing supported by a medical certificate to that effect or the Council of the Diocese has so determined on the basis of the written opinion of at least two medical practitioners to that effect.”; and

21. This Act may be cited as the Ballarat Bishopric Act 1988.

SCHEDULE A

I A.B., do solemnly and sincerely declare my acceptance of the Constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia in Victoria as it is set forth in the Act of 18 Victoriae No. 45 commonly known as “The Church Constitution Act” and the Act to amend the same passed in the 36th year of the reign of her Majesty Queen Victoria and numbered 454 and that I will to the best of my ability give effect thereto and to the Acts passed in pursuance thereof until the same or any of them shall respectively be lawfully altered or varied.