After altering a draft grievance policy discussed at Sydney Synod last year, Standing Committee has approved its return to the Synod floor in October.
The policy was created in response to reports about bullying in parishes in 2008.
One of the original sponsors, Canon Sandy Grant, says a change to the 2009 draft is that there will now only be three steps in the conciliation process.
The first is between the parties themselves, the second is at a local or parish level and the third at a regional level. A suggested fourth level, which involved the Archbishop, has been removed from the policy on the advice of the Safe Ministry Board.
Another change is that rectors are no longer the default conciliator because "there was a desire to have more flexibility," Canon Grant says. "The rector is still responsible for finding the conciliator at the local level, although if [the complaint] involves the rector or his family it automatically moves to the regional level."
One hotly debated issue at Synod last year was whether anonymous complaints should be received. Standing Committee's decision was that anonymous complaints could not be handled fairly.
Yet Canon Grant says, "a wise rector may not completely dismiss the significance of such complaints in other forums".
