THE Church of Ireland General Synod should have met at Croke Park in May, but as with so many other events this year, the coronavirus pandemic forced its postponement.
Meeting at the home of the GAA would have been an historic first for the annual gathering of the Church of Ireland's decision-making and legislative body of laypeople, clergy and bishops.
Instead the General Synod will today meet online for the first time, with its its deliberations set to continue until tomorrow.
It will be the first General Synod presided over by Archbishop John McDowell since he became Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland in April.
The Synod will mark the 30th anniversary, today, of its decision to approve the ordination of women clergy. Around a fifth of all Church of Ireland clergy are women.
Much of the business before the Synod is administrative in nature - for example, one bill concerns including provisions in the Church's constitution to reflect changes in charity law, while it will also consider reports made by various committees.
The Representative Church Body, which is the Church of Ireland's central trustee body, has reported that its total funds increased during 2019 from €179.3 million to €203m.
Croke Park is still very much on the General Synod's agenda - it now hopes to meet there in 2022, with next year's meeting scheduled for Armagh in May.
