GeneralConvention2022

This was not an easy convention (most of them aren’t). COVID forced the postponement from 2021 to 2022. Then in May, the convention was cut in half from 8 days to 4 days.  Presiding Bishop Michael Curry said they would consider “matters essential for the governance and good order of the church.” and save the rest for the next convention in 2024 in Louisville.

 It was all business – no receptions, exhibition hall or vendors or even photo sessions with the delegates. The normal 10,000 in attendance dwindled to 1,200. Despite this mandate, the lower numbers and the reduced time to consider business they had to weight in on 412 resolutions in 4 days which they did.

How did they do it ?. Planning

1 Legislative committees acted online with of the resolutions before gathering in Baltimore.

2 Bishops and deputies had floor debates only on more controversial measures or on actions that they wanted to raise to greater prominence.

3.They passed the resolutions in batches through consent calendars.

What major actions were taken ? This review will group resolutions into 5 areas

1. Book of Common Prayer
2. Racism
3. Social policy
4. Reacting to Gun Violence
5. Environment

Book of Common Prayer .

What General convention didn’t do ? A comprehensive Prayer Book revision is not a part of this. Instead the idea of a Prayer book that is broader adding other liturgies. Most importantly Convention would create a framework for this to happen for future evaluation by revising Article X the implementing part of the constitution for the prayer book which is used to change the Prayer Book. It will require a second reading at the next convention in Louisville in 2024 since it is a constitutional amendment.

The Book of Common Prayer for the first time under A059 would be “those liturgical forms and other texts authorized by the General Convention.” In other words, liturgies that are not in the current prayer book that could be elevated to “prayer book status,” whether they are replacing parts of the prayer book or standing on their own.  In the past they revised the existing Prayer Book under Article X. However, it has never specifically provided for authorized liturgies that are not proposed revisions to the existing book

Rt. Rev. Jeffrey Lee, bishop provisional of Milwaukee, chair of the House of Bishops’ Committee on Prayer Book, Liturgy & Music – “The idea of the prayer book [evolving from] a book bound and physically present in a pew to a curated collection of texts that lives online”

Only the 1979 BCP has currently been “authorized.” All of the other liturgies have been “approved” for trial use. Anything to be “authorized” has to still be approved by two successive General Conventions.

Over a dozen liturgical texts have been “authorized” – for trial use, experimental use, or simply “made available” These include Marriage Rites, Holy Eucharist: Rite Two expansive language, Enriching Our Worship Series, Book of Occasional Services, LitGuries from other communions with bishop permission, Daily Prayer for All Seasons. Propose changes must go into trial use status. The substitute left the specific process of authorizing new texts open to future canonical definition, focusing just on the constitutional change that would enable such work

The final version creates a working group to propose canonical changes that would clarify or alter the status of the rites that have been authorized for trial or experimental use over the last few decades. That working group will present those recommendations to the 81st General Convention, where A059 will come up for a second reading. It leaves in place the requirement that any prayer book changes must be approved by two successive General Conventions, and specifies that any changes must be authorized for trial use first.

The prayer book contains rites for both public and private devotion, as did the earliest versions of Thomas Cranmer’s, the original author. But now also  the adaptation¹ of liturgy is stated here: “The Book of Common Prayer in this Church will be communal prayer enriched by our church’s cultural, geographical, and linguistic contexts. “  This goes back to the original Prayer book which had to alter the English Prayer book “to fit the local conditions and circumstance.” Presumably. this would include new liturgies and those form prayer books around the world.

President Jennings of the House of Deputies reminded the  convention that,  even as Jesus calls us, he is already on the move. We are not simply called to be with Jesus, though that is important; we are called to follow him. The church is never allowed to remain stagnant or self-satisfied. We are caught forever in the exciting, frustrating, uncomfortable, and ultimately divine process of discerning the direction in which God is calling us as individuals and as a church.  

2 Racism

Resolution A125, for which the budget includes $400,000 in start-up funds for a new Episcopal Coalition for Racial Equity and Justice which would bring anti-racism training oversight to the province and diocese levels and creating a permanent foundation moving forward.

Episcopal Coalition for Racial Equity and Justice be charged with facilitating, coordinating, encouraging, supporting, and networking efforts of Episcopal dioceses, parishes, organizations, and individuals for racial justice and equity, and the dismantling of white supremacy”

Gay Jennings in her sermon said “And I am in hopes that the creation of the Episcopal Coalition for Racial Equity and Justice through the passage of Resolution A125, will be among the most significant actions this church has ever taken.

Resolution A127. Confronts racism in terms of  Indigenous boarding schools

Resolution A126  which would have the Standing Committee on Liturgy and Music to study the language of the Book of Common Prayer and report back on colonialist, racist and white supremacist, imperialist and nationalistic language and content and develop proposals for amending text

Resolution A052 clarifies the mandate of the Executive Council  Committee on Anti-Racism and Reconciliation.

Resolution C058 requires the Executive Council to respond to the church’s racial audit of leadership.

Resolution A086 would allocate money toward making a priority the development and support of programs that respond to eco-justice concerns, address environmental racism, and work to alleviate environmental burdens on Indigenous communities, and to provide training and financial aid and other resources for the work

3. Social policy

Convention passed Resolution D083 “affirming that all Episcopalians should be able to access abortion services and birth control with no restriction on movement, autonomy, type, or timing.

The Convention adopted resolutions to offer paid family leave and health insurance to lay and clergy church employees through the Denominational Health Plan. 

Resolution A003 urges but does not require, dioceses to adopt uniform paid family leave policies for all employees. 

Resolution D034 created a new task force to provide advice about the Denominational Health Plan, which is provided through Church Pension Group and which churches and dioceses are required to provide to clergy and some lay employees. The task force will provide the 81st General Convention in 2024 with options to reduce health insurance costs across The Episcopal Church.

4. Gun Violence

Convention spoke out against gun violence, passing resolutions B003 on ghost guns, B006 urging advocacy for state legislation against gun violence and B007 commending investment in community violence intervention to prevent gun violence.

The convention occurred in the midst of 19 children killed in Uvalde, Texas on May24  and  a gunman in Highland Park Illinois killed a gunman in Highland Park, Illinois, killed seven people at an Independence Day parade,

5. Environmental

A088 Commit to the pressing work of addressing Global Climate

Reiterates that “climate change is not only a scientific concern or environmental issue, but what the United Nations calls “the defining issue of our time… at a defining moment” (UN Secretary General, September 10, 2018), an all-encompassing social crisis and moral emergency that impacts and interconnects every aspect of pastoral concern including health, poverty, employment, racism, social justice, and family life and that can only be addressed by a Great Work involving every sector of society

t General Convention reaffirmed that the Episcopal Church shall support and advocate for policies, programs, pastoral responses, and theologies that work to ensure no community – especially financially impoverished communities, frontline residents, migrants, and BIPOC communities (Black, indigenous, and people of color) – shall bear a disproportionate impact of the environmental, health, and economic threats of climate change;

D064: Endorse and Encourage Green Deal Legislation

Most notably the addition of a “question to the Parochial Report regarding how each parish is reducing their carbon footprint and to share those results as a whole with the Episcopal Church.”

It also opens a conversation about “adding portions relating to environmental stewardship in the Canons of the Episcopal Church” and resolves “that this Convention transmit a message to each diocese of The Episcopal Church with a copy of this resolution before each Diocesan Convention following the 80th General Convention.”

Adding Sustainable development goals rose to the attention of Convention:

1. Zero Hunger
2. Good Health and Well-being
3. Quality Education
4. Gender Equality
5. Clean Water and Sanitation
6. Affordable and Clean Energy
7. Decent Work and Economic Growth
8. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
9. Reduced Inequality
10. Sustainable Cities and Communities
11. Responsible Consumption and Production
12. Climate Action
13. Life Below Water
14. Life on Land
15. Peace and Justice Strong Institutions
16. Partnerships to achieve the Goal

Resolution A020 “encourage[s] all parishes, dioceses, and jurisdictions” to not only learn about and teach these goals, but to undertake “self-audits to assess how their existing mission work and ministries already address the SDGs.” 

A087: Net Carbon Neutrality by 2030

A087 sets for the Episcopal Church a “goal of net carbon neutrality in its operations and the work of staff, standing commissions, interim bodies, and General Convention by 2030,” in line with the UN’s Decade of Action on the SDGs. It also encourages “parishes, dioceses, schools, camps, and other Episcopal institutions to pursue their own goal of net carbon neutrality by 2030.

One amendment is worth highlighting. At the resolution’s Legislative Hearing, Bishops Bascom (Kansas) and Lattime (Alaska) collaborated on additional language regarding land use. First, the amendment “request[s] the diocesan bishops of every diocese to begin to build networks of landowners and creation trustees in each diocese who will devote portions of their land [to various sustainability projects].” Second, that “The Episcopal Church support and advocate for the subsistence rights of Indigenous people and policies that protect and preserve land and resources solely for subsistence use.”

C015: Carbon Sequestration – Creates An Internal Carbon Offset Program

Resolution C015 is a partner resolution with A087 above that provides specific guidance on the establishment of an internal carbon offset program. Carbon offset programs at large are understandably controversial: the assets traded in many programs are impossible to track, and many carbon offsets, when purchased, do not come to fruition. This is precisely why C015 is central to achieving net carbon neutrality in the Episcopal Church by 2030. An internal offset program would be thoroughly vetted and ethically allocated.

 

1. A Change in generations

From Gay Jennings – “But what I am proudest of are the people I have had the opportunity to call into leadership. There has been a generational change in our church. The houses of General Convention are more racially diverse than they have ever been. A new generation of young leaders is on the rise in our legislative committees, thanks, in part, I would like to think, to the creation of additional leadership positions which I filled exclusively with younger deputies. At this convention we are focusing special attention on the House of Deputies Committee on the State of the Church, which was composed almost entirely of millennial leaders.”

2. Videos from the Episcopal Church – the GC Show. Here is an example

https://media.episcopalchurch.org/video/gc80-show/?mc_cid=955c49c016&mc_eid=bb9fa5686d&wchannelid=u0ozx2qu3w&wmediaid=raaza08md1

Looking at Congregational Vitality in  a different way – “that goes beyond average Sunday attendance, and really in terms of how lives are being transformed and how we can walk in God’s footsteps out in our community.

Another example from NC

3. Navigating the changes during the Pandemic

Six resolutions came about to help The Episcopal Church adapt to changes in society and find new ways of supporting the church’s mission and ministry, from experimenting with creative uses of technology to rethinking how congregations report membership and financial data.

“Little did we know when we began this work that a global pandemic would place the church in the midst of the greatest adaptive challenge of our lifetimes,” the Rev. Chris Rankin-Williams, chair of the committee, told deputies …“The pace of congregational decline across the country has been accelerated by the pandemic, and there is great uncertainty about the future and financial viability of many of our churches

“We are truly navigating off the map. With the depth of challenges, the solution is not clear,” he said. The resolutions the committee proposed were intended “to position the church to address adaptive challenges and evaluate the experiments that are necessary to create our future.”

• A097 calls for an evaluation of the 80th General Convention’s use of technology to hold all of its legislative hearings and meetings online, possibly offering a model for future church governance meetings.
• A098 creates a task force to study how communication and collaborative tools can enhance the work of the church’s interim bodies.
• A099 relates to the church’s capacity to collect and study data on its adaptive efforts. The resolution specifically cites the need to fund “significant professional research expertise and capacity.” This is the only resolution of the six that wasn’t adopted, as the House of Deputies instead voted to refer the proposal back to an interim body to study further, for consideration at the 81st General Convention in 2024.
• A132 creates a task force to study “indicators of 21st century congregational vitality and how The Episcopal Church can collect data that measures those indicators.”
• A155 creates a task force to revise the financial page of the parochial report, filed every year by dioceses and congregations. Updating the parochial report form to better summarize congregational life was a top priority of the Committee on the State of the Church.
• A156 creates a task force to consider ways The Episcopal Church can re-evaluate how it counts membership to better align with how people today connect with the church including “a wide range of cultural and regional contexts.”

 4. Bishop Curry

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2022/07/08/presiding-bishop-invites-episcopalians-to-look-to-their-roots-during-gc80-opening-eucharist/

https://anglican.ink/2022/07/08/opening-address-to-the-80th-general-convention-of-the-episcopal-church-by-presiding-bishop-michael-curry/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=opening-address-to-the-80th-general-convention-of-the-episcopal-church-by-presiding-bishop-michael-curry

Preaching on the Book of Isaiah and its descriptions of the Babylonian exile, Curry compared that age of disorientation and turmoil to the past few years in the United States and the unprecedented disruption they have wrought

As a response to that , the Church was preparing  evangelistic campaign reaching into the secular, non-Christian culture of America. “It was an attempt to take the way of love that we’ve been living with and working at and share this with the wider culture beyond the red doors of the church, to share something of the reality of this Jesus and his way of love, to share something of the reality of the possibilities that his way of love opens for all of God’s children

‘But as we were getting ready to do this, someone stopped us and asked, “Have we asked people in the society, who do you say Jesus is?” Maybe have we asked ourselves that? Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that may be one of the most important questions even for the Christian. Who is Jesus Christ for you today? So we contracted with the Ipsos group, a global marketing group that does this kind of research. We partnered with them, and they conducted a poll of the American population. It was a comprehensive poll, which actually gave us a snapshot into the American population across all races, ethnic groups, all religious groups, all political groups, across geographical territories.

Eighty-four percent of the American population says that Jesus is an important spiritual figure worth listening to. Eighty-four percent across all groups

Then we asked them, “What about Christians? What about the church?” Well, they answered. Among non-Christians in particular, those who are not Christian, 50% associated Christians with the word hypocrisy; 49% with the word judgmental; 46% with self-righteousness; and 32% with arrogance. And then, nearly half of non-Christians in America—hear this—nearly half of non-Christians in America believe that racism is prevalent among Christians in the church.

 Remember, 84% of the people surveyed across the board find Jesus attractive, something about him compelling. Eighty-four percent. The problem is there’s a gap between Jesus and his followers. Are you with me? And it’s that gap that’s the problem. It’s that gap that undermines our efforts to commend this Jesus and his way of love to a wider culture, to those who don’t have a religious background. Walking the way of unselfish, sacrificial love as Jesus taught us, closes the gap. Following the way of this Jesus, until his footprints and our footprints become indistinguishable, begins to close the gap

The study will be used to inform an upcoming social media evangelism campaign designed to bring Jesus’ message into secular American society – “to share this with the wider culture beyond the red doors of the church,” he said. 

5. Stats! Stats! Stats!

Two women will lead the House of Deputies for the first time in history

Julia Ayala Harris is the youngest person to be elected president of the House of Deputies. She is also the first Latina to be elected to that post. 

The Rev. Rachel Taber-Hamilton of Olympia is the first ordained woman and the first Indigenous woman to be elected vice president of the House of Deputies. 

The Hon. Byron Rushing of Massachusetts is the longest-serving deputy — serving in 16 conventions since 1973. At this convention he concludes serving as vice president of the House of Deputies. 

The senior bishop here is Arthur Williams, Diocese of Ohio, who was consecrated bishop suffragan 35 years ago on October 11, 1986. 

In the House of Bishops, there are 122 bishops and four bishops-elect. Of them, 38 are first-time bishops at a General Convention and 34 are women. Three of the four bishops-elect are women

 

1. Prayer Book conceptual change

What General convention didn’t do ? A comprehensive Prayer Book revision was not on the agenda.

Instead the idea of a Prayer book that is broader adding other liturgies and may go beyond a printed book.

The Book of Common Prayer for the first time would be “those liturgical forms and other texts authorized by the General Convention.” In other words, liturgies that are not in the current prayer book that could be elevated to “prayer book status,” whether they are replacing parts of the prayer book or standing on their own. In the past they revised the existing Prayer Book under Article IX. Article IX has never specifically provided for adding authorized liturgies that are not part of the revision of the entire book . Now, they will be revising Article IX to broaden the prayer book to include authorized liturgies .

Over a dozen liturgical texts have been “authorized” – for trial use, experimental use, or simply “made available.” These include Marriage Rites, Holy Eucharist: Rite Two expansive language, Enriching Our Worship Series, Book of Occasional Services, Liturgies from other communions with bishop permission, Daily Prayer for All Seasons. Proposed changes must still go into trial use status and be approved over two General Conventions.

The substitute left the specific process of authorizing new texts open to future canonical definition, focusing just on the constitutional change that would enable such work.

Why is this important?

The struggle in the past has been a comprehensive edit of the entire book, a massive task. This allows for associated liturgies that stand on their own but become prayer book content and not worry about the existing content.

2. Tackling racism on the local level

The Convention created Episcopal Coalition for Racial Equity and Justice, a voluntary association of Episcopal dioceses, parishes, organizations, and individuals that will be charged with facilitating, coordinating, encouraging, supporting, and networking efforts of Episcopal dioceses, parishes, organizations, and individuals for racial justice and equity, and the dismantling of white supremacy as part of the goal to become the “beloved community.”

There is an implementing structure intended and associated funding. “Resolved that the Presiding Bishop and President of the House of Deputies appoint a Constituting Group for the development, implementation, and creation of the Episcopal Coalition for Racial Equity and Justice, whose work includes determining and proposing all necessary organizational, canonical, legal, and other actions necessary to constitute formally and oversee said Coalition.”

It would bring anti-racism training oversight to the province and diocese levels and create a permanent foundation moving forward where we can learn from each other on what works.

Why is this important? This brings needed resources in content and support to this effort depending on how many join into the group.

The racism of the church is one of the shortcomings identified in an extensive survey. A quote from the survey talk from Bishop Curry at General Convention. “Among non-Christians in particular, those who are not Christian, 50% associated Christians with the word hypocrisy; 49% with the word judgmental; 46% with self-righteousness; and 32% with arrogance. And then, nearly half of non-Christians in America—hear this—nearly half of non-Christians in America believe that racism is prevalent among Christians in the church.”

Related is D044 the creation of an independent Reparations Fund Commission, creating a fund from the Episcopal church assets. The magnitude of this fund and date for accomplishing the target amount will be determined by the Commission.