Patrons of parochial Benefices may belong to the Association, as a number already do. The Patrons Consultative Group, of which the E.C.A. is a constituent part, has organised meetings and advice for Patrons. Patrons are again invited to St. Giles-in-the-Fields at 2p.m. on Monday 12th May 2008 for the Association's annual gathering of like-minded Church people. There is a Prayer Book Communion Service at 1p.m., and (reserved by contacting The Reverend John Masding in advance) a buffet lunch. There is no charge, but those who can, have made donations in the past. The speaker for 2008 will be the Bishop of London, our Patron. We are extremely fortunate that he is able to be with us, and look for an excellent occasion to which Members and Patrons may bring friends with great confidence.

Our speaker for 2007 was Dr James Behrens, a barrister and the author of the well-known guide for clergy and churchpeople, Practical Church Management. As well as being a Recorder, he is the Chancellor of the dioceses of Leicester and Bristol, and the Deputy Chancellor of the diocese of Bath and Wells. He is a Chartered Arbitrator, and CEDR Registered Mediator, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He has accepted a Vice-Presidency of the Association.

Previous speakers have included the Chairman; Professor Norman Doe, legal author and director of the centre for Law and Religion at Cardiff University; the Hon. Sir John Owen, D.C.L., lately High Court Judge and Dean of the Arches Court of Canterbury, Auditor of York; Dr. Peter Smith, barrister and expert on the law of Churchwardens, then Dean of the Faculty of Law at Exeter University; the Rev'd Dr. Andrew Macintosh, D.D., Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, Cambridge, lately President, who as Dean exercised the College's own extensive Patronage of its Livings; Ian Garden, Esq., a barrister member of the Archbishops' Council and General Synod, who served on the group preparing the Measure for Measures Report; Roger Evans, then an Under-Secretary of State, Sir Patrick Cormack, our Parliamentary Vice-President, and Mrs. Margaret Laird, Deputy Chairman, formerly Third Church Estates Commissioner. The 2005 Annual Address was given by Dr. Brian Hanson, LL.M., D.C.L., who so recently served as Legal Adviser to the General Synod and as Registrar of the Province of Canterbury, and in 2006 the Association was addressed by the Most Hon. the Marquess of Salisbury, P.C., D.L., himself a Private Patron, and in succession to the late Marquess also a Vice-President of the Association.

The E.C.A. is a constituent of the Patrons Consultative Group, which has published the "Green Guide" for Patrons of Livings to assist them in dealing with Benefice in their Patronage, and with Bishops and others concerned with the vacancy. Download a partial copy of the Guide below or buy as a booklet with an extra four pages of flow charts at a cost of £2.00. Please contact The Reverend John Masding.

View Patronage Guide

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