By Mike Morrow, deputy
Does the church EVER change? Does General Convention do anything to impact people in the pews?
At my first General Convention in 2003, General Convention approved the election of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire, the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church. In 2006, the General Convention elected Katherine Jefferts Schori as Presiding Bishop. She was the first woman elected Presiding Bishop, and the first woman primate in the Anglican Communion. In 2015, the General Convention elected Michael Curry as Presiding Bishop, the first African-American elected Presiding Bishop.
In 2012, the General Convention approved same-sex blessings, and in 2015, following the U.S. Supreme Court decision that marriage is a fundamental right between any two adults, the General Convention changed the definition of marriage so as to allow any two adults to marry and approved new liturgies for marriage.
As a lifelong Episcopalian, growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, and even as recently as 15 years ago, I never would have dreamed that our church in the last 15 years, would embrace persons of different sexual orientations, embrace same-sex marriage, and elect a woman and an African-American as Presiding Bishop. The Holy Spirit continues to actively work in our church in order to make it more inclusive and to bring to fruition the gospel imperative that all persons are loved by God and equal in God’s eyes.
At this convention, we approved spending $2.8 million dollars for new church plants and to expand Hispanic ministries. The General Convention also called for the preparation of plans for a comprehensive revision of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and the 1982 Hymnal, and for those plans to be submitted to General Convention in 2018.
It is imperative for the church to provide resources to open new churches and to reach out to Hispanics, one of the fastest-growing ethnic groups in the United States. God calls us to reach out to all persons, and to share with them the love and example shown by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and to share with them the beauty of our worship as exemplified in the Book of Common Prayer and other worship options within our church.
At this convention, I served for the third time on the Committee on Constitution and Canons. Nine years ago, we wrote new disciplinary canons which, I believe, provided a good balance between the interests and rights of victims and the accused. We continue to fine tune those canons in light of the experience of dioceses that have used the new canons. I am blessed to be on a committee with many wonderful people who know the canons well and are also good friends. I know, as diocesan intake officer, I can call on any of them to assist me if I have any questions concerning the canons.
Finally, I want to thank all our deputies for their hard work, which often began at 7 a.m., and continued to 9 p.m., or even later. We were in session for 11 consecutive days, including Saturday and Sunday. Bishop Dean Wolfe had an extraordinarily busy schedule as a member of the Governance and Structure Committee, which wrestled with a number of issues regarding the structure of the church and General Convention. He also served as Vice-President of the House of Bishops. Although I was disappointed that more of the TREC (Task Force for Reimagining the Episcopal Church; ably co-chaired by Craig Loya) recommendations were not adopted, nonetheless some positive steps were taken.
It has been an honor and privilege to work with all the deputies and alternates who attended, including Dixie Junk, Laurie Lewis, Patrick Funston, Gar Demo, Andrew O’Connor, Bob Skaggs, Michael Funston, Ashley Petty, Sydney Webb and Jennifer Allen. Thanks also to Larry Bingham, a former seven-time deputy who attended at his own expense; his assistance and advice was greatly appreciated.
If you have any questions about General Convention, feel free to contact me at [email protected]. I would be happy to visit with anyone or any parish who would like to know more about General Convention. We also will provide a report on General Convention at our Diocesan Convention in October.
Does the church EVER change? Does General Convention do anything to impact people in the pews?
At my first General Convention in 2003, General Convention approved the election of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire, the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church. In 2006, the General Convention elected Katherine Jefferts Schori as Presiding Bishop. She was the first woman elected Presiding Bishop, and the first woman primate in the Anglican Communion. In 2015, the General Convention elected Michael Curry as Presiding Bishop, the first African-American elected Presiding Bishop.
In 2012, the General Convention approved same-sex blessings, and in 2015, following the U.S. Supreme Court decision that marriage is a fundamental right between any two adults, the General Convention changed the definition of marriage so as to allow any two adults to marry and approved new liturgies for marriage.
As a lifelong Episcopalian, growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, and even as recently as 15 years ago, I never would have dreamed that our church in the last 15 years, would embrace persons of different sexual orientations, embrace same-sex marriage, and elect a woman and an African-American as Presiding Bishop. The Holy Spirit continues to actively work in our church in order to make it more inclusive and to bring to fruition the gospel imperative that all persons are loved by God and equal in God’s eyes.
At this convention, we approved spending $2.8 million dollars for new church plants and to expand Hispanic ministries. The General Convention also called for the preparation of plans for a comprehensive revision of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and the 1982 Hymnal, and for those plans to be submitted to General Convention in 2018.
It is imperative for the church to provide resources to open new churches and to reach out to Hispanics, one of the fastest-growing ethnic groups in the United States. God calls us to reach out to all persons, and to share with them the love and example shown by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and to share with them the beauty of our worship as exemplified in the Book of Common Prayer and other worship options within our church.
At this convention, I served for the third time on the Committee on Constitution and Canons. Nine years ago, we wrote new disciplinary canons which, I believe, provided a good balance between the interests and rights of victims and the accused. We continue to fine tune those canons in light of the experience of dioceses that have used the new canons. I am blessed to be on a committee with many wonderful people who know the canons well and are also good friends. I know, as diocesan intake officer, I can call on any of them to assist me if I have any questions concerning the canons.
Finally, I want to thank all our deputies for their hard work, which often began at 7 a.m., and continued to 9 p.m., or even later. We were in session for 11 consecutive days, including Saturday and Sunday. Bishop Dean Wolfe had an extraordinarily busy schedule as a member of the Governance and Structure Committee, which wrestled with a number of issues regarding the structure of the church and General Convention. He also served as Vice-President of the House of Bishops. Although I was disappointed that more of the TREC (Task Force for Reimagining the Episcopal Church; ably co-chaired by Craig Loya) recommendations were not adopted, nonetheless some positive steps were taken.
It has been an honor and privilege to work with all the deputies and alternates who attended, including Dixie Junk, Laurie Lewis, Patrick Funston, Gar Demo, Andrew O’Connor, Bob Skaggs, Michael Funston, Ashley Petty, Sydney Webb and Jennifer Allen. Thanks also to Larry Bingham, a former seven-time deputy who attended at his own expense; his assistance and advice was greatly appreciated.
If you have any questions about General Convention, feel free to contact me at [email protected]. I would be happy to visit with anyone or any parish who would like to know more about General Convention. We also will provide a report on General Convention at our Diocesan Convention in October.