Introduction to the 81st General Convention
General Convention is the Episcopal bicameral legislature that produces policy from resolutions that come before it. Deputies from 110 dioceses in the United States and abroad which include lay leadership and diocesan bishops, as well as members of the Episcopal Church Women, and other visitors went to Louisville. The 81st General Convention took place June 23 – 28, 2024 in Louisville, Kentucky.
It was a busy week – 396 resolutions were part of the 6 days and only two were incomplete with no action taken
10 Key Actions
- Election of Sean Rowe as the next presiding bishop. He was elected the 28th Presiding Bishop on the first ballot, earning 89 out of 158 votes.
In his first sermon as presiding bishop-elect, the Rt. Rev. Sean Rowe said The Episcopal Church needs to be ready to tolerate uncertainty, make sacrifices and think differently about how the church should work so it can better share the Gospel of Jesus with a world that needs to hear it.
There were acknowledgements about old battles – racism, relations with others but also new ones to get the church moving forward – “We have to get it together. That’s going to mean laying some things down. The struggle ahead will require a tolerance for uncertainty, a willingness to make real sacrifices. We’ll actually need to let go of some of our grievances and hold more lightly our beliefs about how the church should work and who has a voice.”
Ultimately we are trying to do the same thing – “the transformation of the world by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.’
- Resolution C032 Treatment of indigenous children – “That the 81st General Convention of The Episcopal Church expresses remorse for the role The Episcopal Church played in the irreparable harm suffered by Indigenous children who attended Indigenous boarding and residential schools in the 1800s and 1900s. They offered a prayer “A PRAYER TO REMEMBER THE INNOCENTS “ and encourages its use. “that the 81st General Convention direct the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, in consultation with Indigenous communities in the Episcopal Church, to prepare appropriate biblical lessons, collects, and other liturgical resources commemorating the lives and suffering of these children,
- Convention acts on Book of Common Prayer and The Hymnal 1982 questions- Resolution A072
The Book of Common Prayer has a new constitutional definition: “Those liturgical forms and other texts authorized by the General Convention per this article and the Canons of this Church.”
Resolution A072 is a revision of Article X that was first approved two years ago by the 80th General Convention. Constitutional changes require affirmative votes at two successive conventions. The previous version of Article X of the Constitution laid out how the Book of Common Prayer can be revised, but it did not address the status of other authorized liturgies that are not proposed revisions to the existing physical book. Over a dozen liturgical texts have been “authorized” – for trial use, experimental use, or simply “made available” – by General Convention over the years. The resolution will take effect Jan. 1, 2025.
- Bishops and deputies also authorized two alternative versions of Prayer C in Holy Eucharist Rite II and a variety of alternative readings or parts of readings for the Good Friday liturgy that many see as antisemitic. The resolutions are A114 and A115, respectively.
In a related matter, the convention declined to take any action on Resolution D002, which would have reviewed the requirement that only baptized persons receive Holy Communion.
Bishops and deputies refused to authorize a new supplement to The Hymnal 1982 (Resolution A131) but passed Resolution A130 authorizing the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to spend the next three years developing a digital collection of alternative versions of hymns to address “colonialist, racist, white supremacist, imperialistic, and nationalistic language.
- Border changes
Bishops and deputies agreed to allow the dioceses of Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan to form the new Diocese of the Great Lakes, while Eau Claire, Fond du Lac and Milwaukee got the go-ahead to reunite as the Diocese of Wisconsin. The pertinent resolutions are C025 and D051, respectively.
Convention approved Resolution B006 to merge Micronesia, another area mission, with the Diocese of Hawaii.
Both houses agreed via Resolution C009 to Navajo Episcopalians’ request to elevate their area mission to a missionary diocese.
When Presiding Bishop-elect Sean Rowe spoke to the convention after his election, he pointed to signs of a hopeful future for the church in some of the collaborative experiments underway in some dioceses, including his own dioceses of Northwestern Pennsylvania and Western New York.
“We know that we cannot continue being The Episcopal Church in the same way, no matter where we live,” he said. “It’s time to reorient our church … to support dioceses and churches on the ground, where ministry happens.”
- Moving towards more full communion relationships
Bishops and deputies approved the next step toward full communion between The Episcopal Church and the United Methodist Church by adopting Resolution A049, saying that the convention “joyfully anticipate advancing towards full communion with The United Methodist Church.”
The convention “gladly” affirmed via Resolution A042 to authorize the continuing bilateral dialogue between The Episcopal Church and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Further afield, General Convention commended Sharing the Gifts of Communion (Augsburg Agreement) as the basis for a full communion relationship between The Episcopal Church and the Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern (ELKB) (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria)
- Disciplinary reforms -One of the top issues heading into Louisville was how the church might reform its Title IV Canons governing clergy discipline. General Convention routinely reviews and updates Title IV, though this year a series of proposals were specifically in response to concerns across the church that the current disciplinary process sometimes causes secondary harm to complainants and that bishops are not always held to the same disciplinary standards as other clergy.
The bishops’ and deputies’ Title IV committees were assigned 28 resolutions, and nearly all either were passed by both houses, with or without amendment, or were referred to an interim body for more study over the next three years. All the resolutions are listed here.
Several of the resolutions proposed by the Standing Commission on Structure, Governance, Constitution and Canons to improve accountability in the disciplinary process were passed. A053, for example, seeks to ensure the independence of the complaint intake officer, who should not also be tasked with providing pastoral care to complainants. A139 mandates an intake report be filed within 45 days of a complaint, while A140 mandates that a reference panel meet within 45 days of receiving the intake report to determine next steps. A054 clarifies the role and authority of the church attorney, and A055 clarifies the role of Title IV investigators. Although the Title IV Canons only pertain to clergy discipline, General Convention also asked the standing commission to study whether canonical changes are merited in response to disciplinary matters involving lay leaders, as specified in resolutions A146 and A147.
- Middle East – – A substitute version of Resolution D013that was hammered out by a conference committee after fierce debate in both houses, emerged as a compromise that addresses more broadly the decades-old conflict and recent violence. While deploring the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas as “an indefensible act of terrorism,” the resolution states that the Israeli government “continues to commit acts and pass laws that result in fragmentation, segregation, and dispossession against the Palestinian people and the Occupied Territories.”
The convention also amended and passed Resolution D056 to remove a reference to “ongoing genocide” as it called for a ceasefire in Gaza. It also rejected A010, which would have labeled Israel an “apartheid” state for its treatment of Palestinians.
- Resolution A092. Access to ordination and deployment. In addition, the House of Bishops adopted a resolution from the Communion Across Difference Committee what states, “No person shall be denied access to the discernment process or to any process for the employment, licensing, calling, or deployment for any ministry, lay or ordained, in this Church because of their conscientiously-held theological belief that marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman, or that marriage is a covenant between two people.” This was a concerted effort to acknowledge the Church’s theological differences on the issue of marriage and to protect the careers of individual clergy who hold opposing views.
- Creation Care
D030 Create a Task Force in Imagining a Church Grounded in Creation Healing as Christian Ministry
Resolved, That in the event that this 81st General Convention approves the formation of a Standing Commission on environmental matters, the duties assigned to the Task Force created below shall be assumed by the Standing Commission and no Task Force shall be formed;
Resolved, That this General Convention direct the creation of a Task Force on Creation Healing as Christian Ministry with 16 members, to include 2 bishops, 2 priests, 2 deacons, and 10 laypersons, and shall include among the 16 members at least eight (8) people of color, including at least four (4) indigenous members in that number; and be it further
Resolved, That the Task Force so formed shall do the following work and report the results by November 2026 to Executive Council and to the 82d General Convention:
A021 Create a Care of Creation Loan Program for Episcopal Dioceses
Resolved, That the 81st General Convention of The Episcopal Church (TEC) direct Executive Council to allocate $3 million in unrestricted TEC endowment funds as a loan portfolio to establish and fund a Care of Creation loan program for dioceses to use to help fund capital projects to assist TEC dioceses, institutions, and congregations in moving their operations towards carbon net zero compliance by 2030 (2022-A087), and that $30,000 annually be allocated to pay for professional underwriting review of such proposed loans launch this effort; and be it further
Resolved, That this General Convention direct the Executive Council to assign responsibility for oversight of these assets to its Economic Justice Loan Committee (EJLC) for such loans; and be it further
Resolved, That in implementing this loan program, the ELJC will consult with the Task Force on Creation Care and Environmental Racism (or its successor) and will employ EJLC best practices developed to date by the Treasurer’s Office.
B002 Build Eco-Region Creation Networks for Crucial Impact
They cited the 2022 resolution A087 “Net Carbon Neutrality by 2030,” which encouraged the church e ambitious goals for reducing the church’s carbon footprint, mitigating climate change voted to promoting action and accountability around 1) nature-based solutions, 2) renewable energy solutions, 3) agrarian, food justice and outdoor ministries – three areas where there is a) demonstrated passion and leadership and b) potential for dramatic, collective action and impact. This convention would look for implementation of these goals.
The church would form three new regional networks, to be called “Eco-Region Creation Networks”, based on shared ecosystems and watersheds. The Eco-Region Creation Networks link people, projects and properties dedicated to nature-based solutions to slow climate change through preserving and restoring plant communities appropriate to their bioregion; modeling transformative agriculture and food systems; and tackling issues of water quality and supply, and are to include the pilot Episcopal Grasslands Network (which includes the dioceses of Kansas, Western Kansas, Nebraska, Northwest Texas, South Dakota, North Dakota, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana and Rio Grande);
A Renewable Energy Network that connects and resources dioceses, faith communities, projects and leaders dedicated to reducing carbon by accelerating renewable energy use, including but not limited to solar energy. This renewable energy network would build on the church’s existing partnership with the Episcopal Renewable Energy Non-profit, established by the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin. They would advance the strategic development of a network devoted to agrarian, food justice and outdoor ministries (welcoming existing Provincial, Good News Gardens, and Episcopal Agrarian Ministry.
The new Eco-Region networks and Renewable Energy networks can be established through a letter to the Presiding Bishop’s office, copied to provincial Presidents, from bishops of three dioceses describing their particular eco-region, current sites, and creation actions planned, and that each network identify a diocese within the network to serve as the administrative center to disburse funds and manage the network;
These networks would share the following actions – host online and in-person gatherings to exchange best practices, share encouragement, maintain accountability and learn from experts; consciously incorporate the presence, concerns and experience of non-U.S. Episcopal communities; coordinate access to critical resources, including the Episcopal Asset Map, Restor, or other mapping tools to track progress on emission-reduction, carbon sequestration, increased biodiversity, water quality and scarcity, agricultural transformation, etc.; share, when appropriate, financial and tangible resources; pray regularly for one another and the specific areas of creation care and justice to which they are called; and support one another if extreme climate events occur.
Each network would engage a Creation Justice Fellow and/or Consultant who partners with Episcopal Church Creation Care staff to support the network in the following ways: produce communications that inform and celebrate efforts across the network; collect data about the participating members, projects and properties; plan and implement gatherings; write grant proposals and provide other administrative support as needed
Each diocese in The Episcopal Church be encouraged to establish a Creation Care Commission, if no such diocesan commission already exists, to work in consultation with the aforementioned networks to pursue locally discerned goals for advancing toward net carbon neutrality by 2030