The annual council of the Diocese of Southern Virginia met in Williamsburg Feb. 13-15 to conduct business and share worship and fellowship.

The worship began with the Office for the Burial of the Dead, when the ashes of the sixth Bishop of Southern Virginia, the Rt. Rev. David Shepherd Rose, were interred in the floor of Bruton Parish Church. Bishop Rose, who served as suffragan, coadjutor and diocesan from 1958 until 1979, died in November. The worship concluded with a Sunday morning festival Eucharist, where the pastoral letter was presented by the Rt. Rev. David C. Bane, Jr., bishop coadjutor.

The keynote speaker for the council was the Rt. Rev. Stephen Charleston, former Bishop of Alaska and now chaplain at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. He spoke on what he saw as a coming renewal in the Episcopal Church, the Anglican Communion and all of Christianity. Speaking as "a Baptist preacher in purple," he related several stories from his days in Alaska as examples of a reawakening of spirit, vitality and hope he saw underway in the church.

During business sessions, it was announced that congregational pledges to the diocese increased about 7 percent over 1997, but the overall budget was up only about 3.7 percent because of some one-time occurrences that benefited the 1997 budget.

The most debate resulted from a resolution concerning how the church deals with the many variations in and expressions of human sexuality, both in the clergy and in the lay leadership. The final resolution, to affirm that God calls all Christians to high standards of sexual morality "contained in traditional teachings of the church," failed to pass after a very close vote. The ability to share in a pastoral and constructive way discussions about a difficult issue led Bishop Frank Vest to remark at the conclusion of the discussion, "In 25 years of debates on this issue, I've never been in a debate where more grace was shared. There were no winners and no losers here today."

The Rt. Rev. Zebedee Masereka spoke to council about his work as a priest and bishop in the Diocese of South Rwenzori in the Anglican Church of Uganda.

Bishop Masereka and his wife, Stella, are visiting the United States, supporting the work of African Team Ministries.

A budget of more than $1.6 million was adopted.