Episcopal Church's General Convention Opens In September
Episcopal News Service. April 19, 1979 [79120]
DENVER -- The Episcopal Church's 1979 General Convention -- its 66th -- will convene here on September 9 with opening Eucharists in Colorado churches, organizing sessions of the two houses, and a service of preparation and intercession for the 235 bishops and 904 clerical and lay deputies.
For the next 11 days -- Sept. 10-20 -- the triennial, bicameral Convention will fall into a general pattern of early morning committee meetings followed by legislative sessions of the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies morning and afternoon, with open committee hearings on significant issues in the evenings. Several joint sessions of the two houses are proposed during the two weeks.
Sessions will be held in the Denver Convention Complex, 14th at Champa Street, Denver.
Following the first legislative meeting of the two houses in separate sessions at 3 o'clock Sunday afternoon, Sept. 9, bishops, deputies, and delegates to the Triennial Meeting of the Women of the Episcopal Church -- who will be meeting over much of the same period as the Convention -- will gather at 5:30 p.m. in the theater auditorium for a Service of Preparation and Intercession. The Rt. Rev, John M. Allin, Presiding Bishop of the three million-member Church, will be the preacher.
A highlight of the Convention for the representatives of the Church's 113 jurisdictions will be a sermon by the Most Rev. Edward W. Scott, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, and Moderator of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches, at the Convention Eucharist at 11 o'clock on Sunday, Sept. 16. A part of that service will be the presentation of the United Thank Offering -- expected to be over $1,000,000 -- which represents the women's gifts for furtherance of the work of the Church in many areas. The money is distributed as grants throughout the Anglican Communion.
Unlike the 1976 General Convention in Minneapolis when ordination of women to the priesthood and the revision of the Church's Book of Common Prayer were top agenda issues, there does not appear to be any overriding issue in 1979. The Minnesota Convention approved the ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate and adopted a revised Proposed Book of Common Prayer which is expected to receive a required second approval this September, thus becoming the Standard Book of Common Prayer.
A wide range of issues and problems will face the bishops and deputies, including human sexuality -- and especially matters relating to homosexuality -- ecumenism, evangelism, hunger and poverty, injustice, human rights, housing, education, lay ministry, community outreach, church music and The Hymnal, church structure, clergy deployment, the church in small communities, urban problems, world mission, and Venture in Mission.
High among the proposals to be considered for approval is the General Church Program and Budget for the next triennium, 1980-82. The Program, Budget and Finance Committee of the General Convention has asked for a joint session of the bishops and deputies for Saturday, Sept. 15, from 9:30 to 11:15 a.m., to make its presentation. An open hearing on their proposal will be held the following evening, Sunday, Sept. 16, at 8 p.m.
As required by canon, it is the Executive Council which proposes the triennial program and budget to the Convention, with the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget and Finance making its own recommendations at the Sept. 15 meeting.
The Executive Council will have the platform on Tuesday, Sept. 11, from 2 to 3:40 p.m. to make its proposal, subject to the approval of the tentative agenda. The Council will recommend a detailed 1980 budget which will be used as a guideline for 1981 and 1982 budgets.
Three special evening gatherings are planned for the bishops, deputies, women's delegates, and others in attendance. The first will be an hour, beginning at 5:45 p.m., on Monday, Sept. 10, when a reception and premiere of a new promotional film will be hosted by the board of the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief.
A Colorado Celebration is planned for Thursday, Sept. 13, at 8:30 p.m., with Ann B. Davis, the actress, coordinating the program. According to the Rt. Rev. William C. Frey, Bishop of Colorado, the evening is being planned as a celebration of the life of the Convention in Colorado.
The third special evening is Friday, Sept. 14, when John Denver, the singer, will give a benefit concert as part of Bishop Allin's request to the whole Church to join in a 24-hour "praise, prayer and fast" in remembrance of the hungry throughout the world. The 8:30 p. m. concert, which is sponsored by the Presiding Bishop's Advisory Committee on Hunger, will conclude the 24-hour remembrance. Proceeds from the concert will benefit the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief.
Monday evening, Sept. 17, has been set aside for a special program in an open hearing setting, on "societal values," which will emphasize, in part, the Church's concern for minorities. Presiding Bishop Allin will invite an appropriate speaker for the occasion.
The two houses will open each day's session with their own prayers, though daily Eucharists will start the day in the hotels and at other locations at 7 a. m. A joint devotional service for the two houses will convene at 9 a. m. on the final day of the Convention, Thursday, Sept. 20.
Associated Parishes, an organization devoted to advancing the liturgical movement in the Episcopal Church, will sponsor late evening Eucharists at the Denver Hilton Hotel, under the direction of the Rt. Rev. Frederick W. Putnam, Jr., Bishop of the Navajo Area Mission. A Prayer Chapel will be located on the mezzanine level of Currigan Exhibition Hall.
Registration of bishops, deputies, alternates, press, guests, and visitors will begin at the Denver Convention Complex Wednesday, Sept. 5 at 9 a.m. Registration facilities will be open usually from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. throughout the Convention, except that the beginning time on Sunday, Sept. 9 is 12 noon.
The Program, Budget and Finance Committee of the Convention will hold hearings, by invitation, Sept. 5-8. The 41-member Executive Council of the General Convention will meet Saturday, Sept. 8, from 9 a.m. to noon. House of Deputies committee officers and new deputies will meet at various times on Sept. 8.
Some 500 delegates to the Triennial Meeting of the Women of the Church will gather during part of the time the Convention is in session. The opening session will be Saturday, Sept. 8 at 3 p.m. The women -- and there are some male delegates -- will observe the 90th birthday of the United Thank Offering at a special service on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 9.
The Triennial Meeting will close at noon on Tuesday, Sept. 18, following a Eucharist celebrated by the Rt. Rev. Albert Van Duzer of New Jersey, the at. Rev. George D. Browne of Liberia, and the Rt. Rev. Hugo Luis Pina of Honduras. The Rt. Rev. Alexander D. Stewart of Western Massachusetts will preach at the final service for the women.
Mrs. Daniel (Betty) Connelly of Newport Beach, Calif., is Presiding Officer of the women's meeting.
Presiding Bishop Allin is President of the House of Bishops and Dr. Charles R. Lawrence of Pomona, N.Y.., is President of the House of Deputies. Vice Presidents of the two houses are the Rt. Rev. George M. Murray of Central Gulf Coast and the Very Rev. David B. Collins of Atlanta. The Rev. James R. Gundrum is Executive Officer of the Convention.
Some 20,000 bishops, deputies, women delegates, press, exhibitors, guests, and visitors are expected to attend part or all of the 13-day Convention.