The Convocations are assemblies consisting of bishops and clergy of the two provinces. They pre-date the General Synod (and its predecessor, the Church Assembly) by several centuries. When the General Synod was created in 1970, it took on most of their functions, but the Convocations still meet on a very occasional basis to consider matters of particular concern to clergy (e.g. in relation to their professional conduct prior to guidelines being issued in 2015).

The Convocations consist of an Upper House – made up of members of the General Synod’s House of Bishops – and a Lower House made up of the members of the General Synod’s House of Clergy, each from the respective province. The Chair of the respective provincial House of Clergy is known as the Prolocutor.

Convocation of Canterbury
Convocation of York

Source URL: https://www.churchofengland.org/about/general-synod/structure/convocations-canterbury-and-york