The Acts of Convention

House of Deputies

Special Order of Business

The House of Deputies Committee on Dispatch of Business presented its Report #31 on a Special Order of Business for consideration of Resolution A160 (Expression of Regret) and moved adoption.

Motion carried

Special Order adopted

(Communicated to the House of Bishops in HD Message #148)

The House of Deputies Committee on Dispatch of Business moved, at the request of the Special Legislative Committee, to reduce the presentation time in the Special Order for Resolution A160 by five minutes and to add five minutes to the presentation time in the Special Order for Resolution A161.

Motion carried

The House of Deputies Special Legislative Committee presented its Report #5 on Resolution A160 (Expression of Regret) and moved adoption of a substitute.

Original Text of Resolution:

(A160)

Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring, That the 75th General Convention of The Episcopal Church join the House of Bishops’ March 2005 “Covenant Statement” in expressing “our own deep regret for the pain that others have experienced with respect to our actions at the General Convention of 2003 and we offer our sincerest apology and repentance for having breached the bonds of affection in the Anglican Communion by any failure to consult adequately with our Anglican partners before taking these actions.”

Committee Substitute:

Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring, That the 75th General Convention of The Episcopal Church, mindful of “the repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation enjoined on us by Christ” (Windsor Report, paragraph 134), express its regret for breaching the proper constraints of the bonds of affection in the events surrounding the General Convention of 2003 and the consequences which followed; offer its sincerest apology to those within our Anglican Communion who are offended by our failure to accord sufficient importance to the impact of our actions on our church and other parts of the Communion; and ask forgiveness as we seek to live into deeper levels of communion one with another.

Deputy Jennings of Ohio moved to amend the resolution.

Proposed Amendment:

In the first resolve clause, delete the words “breaching the proper constraints of” and replace with the word “straining.”

The President announced that the time for debate under the Special Order had expired.

Debate terminated

A vote was taken on the amendment. The voice vote being inconclusive, the President called for an electronic vote.

Results of the electronic vote on the amendment were: Yes, 530 votes (63.5%) and No, 305 votes (36.5%).

Deputy Dice of Southern Ohio moved to extend debate by 15 minutes.

Motion carried

Amendment adopted

A vote was taken on the motion to extend debate by 15 minutes.

Motion defeated

Debate terminated

A vote was taken on substitute Resolution A160 as amended. The voice vote being inconclusive, the President called for an electronic vote. Results of the electronic vote: Yes, 563 votes (67.8%) and No, 267 votes (32.2%).

Motion carried

Substitute resolution adopted with amendment

(Communicated to the House of Bishops in HD Message #151)