General Convention Highlights
Diocesan Press Service. August 7, 1964 [XXIII-1]
"Grant that they may think clearly, speak directly, and act wisely."
So reads one of the prayers which will be offered on behalf of the 196 bishops and almost 700 clerical and lay deputies of the Church's 61st General Convention as they assemble for their two weeks of deliberation and decision.
The 61st triennial synod of the Protestant Episcopal Church meets this year in St. Louis from Oct. 11 - 23. While most of this time will be spent in the debates and conclusions, a high point will be the election of the next Presiding Bishop to. succeed the Rt. Rev. Arthur Lichtenberger, who is retiring.
On Sunday, Oct. 11, at 8 p. m., the opening service of General Convention will be held in Convention Hall at Kiel Auditorium. It will feature an address by the Presiding Bishop.
The next morning, following services of Holy Communion at Christ Church Cathedral near the Auditorium, the first sessions of both the. General Convention and the Triennial meeting of the Women of the Church will take place. That same evening at 8 o'clock a Promenade Concert will be given for all bishops, deputies and delegates to the Triennial and their wives and husbands at the City Art Museum. The following evening the concert will be repeated for the general public.
The first of several Joint meetings for the members of the House of Bishops, the House of Deputies and the delegates to the Triennial will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 9:30 a. m. at the City Opera House. At this session the Report of the National Council, the interim administrative body of the Episcopal Church, will be presented.
Two even occur on Wednesday, Oct. 14: At. 2 p.m. a group of ecumenical dialogs will be held at Eden Seminary (United Church of Christ), Concordia Seminary (Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod), and at Kenrick Roman Catholic Seminary - all in St. Louis.
At 6:30 p. m. in the Gold Room of the Sheraton-Jefferson Hotel an Ecumenical Dinner will feature addresses by two representatives of other Communions. The Very Rev. Paul C. Reinert, S. J., president of St. Louis University and personal representative of His Eminence, Joseph Cardinal Ritter, Archbishop of St. Louis, will speak in the absence of the Cardinal who will be attending the third session of the Vatican II Council. The Rev. Dr. James R. McCord, president of Princeton Theological Seminary (Presbyterian) and former president of the Consultation on Church Union, will be the second speaker.
At 8 a. m., Thursday, Oct. 15 the United Thank Offering Presentation will take place at a celebration of the Holy Eucharist in Convention Hall. The more than 500 delegates will at this time present their offering collected over the past three years.
Later that morning another Joint session will hear the report of the Committee on Mutual Responsibility and Interdependence, including formal resolutions to be presented to the whole Church by the 18-member Committee, which was appointed by the Presiding Bishop to prepare suggestions for the response of the Episcopal Church to the message of the Primates and Metropolitans of the Anglican Communion.
On Friday evening, the 16th, at 8 o'clock, the Rev. Canon M.A. C. Warren, Sub-Dean of Westminster Abbey and former general secretary of the Church Missionary Society of the Church of England, will deliver the address at the Missionary Service in the St. Louis Opera House. A "Feed The Hungry" dinner will precede this service.
Saturday, Oct. 17, will be a crucial time, for on that morning, following a celebration of the Holy Eucharist, the bishops of the Church will elect a bishop of the Church to be the next Presiding Bishop. The choice of the House of Bishops, meeting at Christ Church Cathedral in closed session will be made known in a sealed message to the House of Deputies, meeting in the nearby Opera House. If the latter House, also meeting in executive session, concurs, the choice will be made public.
The Rt. Rev. Cuthbert K.N. Bardsley, Bishop of Coventry, England, will give the address at an evangelistic service at the Opera House at 8 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 18. On Sunday morning, bishops, deputies, delegates and visitors will have the option of worshiping at the 28 Episcopal Churches in the city of St. Louis and the surrounding St. Louis county.
Monday morning means back to work - all day, until the evening when the eight provinces of the American Church will hold their respective dinners at hotels throughout the city.
Tuesday brings more work, beginning with an all-important joint session having to do with Program and Budget for the next triennial period. Tuesday will be the last day of the Women's Triennial, terminated at this early date to allow the delegates to attend some of the sessions in the House of Bishops or the House of Deputies.
An added feature of this General Convention will be an All-Seminaries Dinner on Wednesday evening, Oct. 21, at the Sheraton-Jefferson Hotel at which Nathan M. Pusey, president of Harvard University, will be the principal speaker.
Thursday, the 22nd, will be a full - and certainly rushed - day of work for both Houses.
The morning of Friday, the 23rd, will be spent if winding up the business of both Houses. At noon the closing service will be held in the Opera House. At this time a reading of the Pastoral Letter of the Bishops to the Church will be made.