(Press alert) House of Bishops Meets in Washington, D.C., in September
Episcopal News Service. August 23, 1990 [90217]
The House of Bishops will meet at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., September 14-20. Contact the press office for press accreditation (phone 800-334-7626 or FAX 212-949-8059). Let us know who will be covering the meeting and for what time period. If you have any special needs we must know about them beforehand.
Although the agenda is not firm yet, we plan an opening press conference with the presiding bishop and several guests on Friday afternoon, September 14, and a closing press conference at the end of the legislative session on Thursday afternoon, September 20. There will be a press briefing every morning by two bishops, giving an overview of the work of the House. Other "key players" will be available to the press on an individual basis or during impromptu press briefings.
Other items on the agenda at this point:
- The first legislative session will be held on Saturday afternoon at 5:00 P.M. and will probably include election of a new vice president of the House of Bishops to succeed the late Bishop John Walker of Washington.
- Robert Bellah, author and sociologist from the University of California, will speak during the plenary Monday morning on "Cultural Barriers to the Understanding of the Church and Its Public Role."
- Tuesday morning's session will feature a major public policy address by the presiding bishop, followed by a short press conference.
- The legislative session on Tuesday afternoon would probably include the draft of any pastoral letter proposed by the House of Bishops.
- Wednesday will be spent on Capitol Hill, with briefings in the morning and individual appointments with legislators in the afternoon.
- The Thursday morning plenary will deal with ministry issues.
- The final legislative session on Thursday afternoon would probably deal with a final statement and resolutions and motions.
Noon meditations will be given by Elizabeth Templeton of Edinburgh, Scotland, a theologian who served as a consultant at the 1988 Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops. Verna Dozier, a retired theologian, will speak to bishops' spouses on "A Variety of Gifts for Ministry."
At this time four resolutions have been filed with the General Convention Office. Bishop William Wantland of Eau Claire will ask the House of Bishops to "affirm and support the statement of February 20, 1990, made by the presiding bishop and his Council of Advice in regard to the ordination of Robert Williams by the bishop of Newark on December 16, 1989."
Another resolution, from the Diocese of New York, will ask the house to condemn the invasion of Panama and demand that the U.S. government use international organizations to "settle its disputes with other countries in Latin America, insist that our government continue to provide generous amounts of aid to Panama, and convey the action of the House of Bishops to the President of the United States and the Secretary of State."
A third resolution, submitted by Bishop Walter Dennis of New York, will ask the house to "support the proposition that the ceremonial use of peyote in the religious rites of bona fide Native American churches is a religious practice that should be protected."
Bishop Dennis also submitted a resolution "on behalf of certain women theologians in the Episcopal Church" that asks churches to consider the responses when they study the report of the Archbishop of Canterbury's Commission on Communion and Women in the Episcopate (the Eames Report, named for the chairman of the commission).
Further information on the actual agenda items will be available in future issues of Episcopal News Service.
If you have any questions, or think you might be covering this meeting, please give us a call.