Worship Plans for General Convention Announced
Diocesan Press Service. March 23, 1973 [73079]
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Worship will be central in the life of the 1973 General Convention of the Episcopal Church which meets in Louisville, Ky., September 29 - October 11.
An Advisory Committee on Worship for the General Convention has been appointed by the presidents of the two Houses of Convention, the Rt. Rev. John E. Hines, Presiding Bishop, and the Rev. John B. Coburn, President of the House of Deputies.
The purpose of the Committee is to recommend to the Presiding Bishop, who bears ultimate responsibility for General Convention worship and who has elected to share it with the President of the House of Deputies, programs of worship at the Convention which will include all aspects from the opening Eucharist to the closing service.
At previous conventions arrangements for the opening service were largely delegated to the host diocese. Daily devotions were conducted separately by the chaplains in the House of Bishops and House of Deputies and Triennial meeting of the Women. Other services were scheduled at random by interested groups.
The Presidents of the two Houses have appointed a national committee, broadly representative of many elements in the Episcopal Church, to assist them in planning worship which they hope will be a unifying and inspiring influence.
The most striking obvious change will be the inclusion of daily corporate worship within the regular calendar of business for members of all three Houses (Bishops, Deputies and Triennial) as well as guests at 9:40 each morning. This will follow scheduled committee meetings and precede the legislative sessions.
Dr. Coburn said, "It is our hope that there may take place during those days in a variety of ways different expressions of a common spirit of worship consistent with our tradition and concern to meet the different needs of our people. We wish to make it as clear as we can that worship is central to the life and work of the Church in general and of this Convention in particular. "
One of the early recommendations of the Worship Advisory Committee was that a director be engaged for the opening service, to give unity and coherence in planning. Professor Robert Seaver, Episcopal layman who teaches at General Theological Seminary and is Professor of Drama at Union Theological Seminary in New York, has been named Director for the Opening Service. This will be a Eucharist at 4 p. m. September 29 in the Coliseum of the Exposition Center within which the In-Gathering of the Women's Thank Offering takes place.
David Koehring, Organist and Choirmaster at Christ Church Cathedral, Indianapolis, will be the Musical Director. The Rev. Alfred Shands of Louisville is liturgical consultant and Miss Vienna Anderson of Washington, D.C. is design consultant. The Rev. Herbert A. Donovan, Rector of Saint Luke's Church, Montclair, New Jersey, has been appointed Coordinator for the Daily Services.
Early services of Holy Communion will be held at seven each morning in chapels provided in the motel clusters where deputies and visitors will be housed, or in nearby parishes. Local Louisville parishes will arrange these.
Each of the two Houses of Convention will have its own noonday prayers. There will also be the less formal Eucharistic celebrations in the evening, as arranged by the Gathering Place and Associated Parishes.
A quiet but visible part of the General Convention will be a prayer chapel. This will be a specially designed tent located at the entrance to the Convention complex. A vigil of silent intercessory prayer will be maintained within by volunteers daily during the course of the Convention sessions.
The membership of the Worship Advisory Committee is as follows: The Very Rev. Allen L. Bartlett, Jr., Louisville, Ky., Chairman; the Rev. Canon Lee Benefee, Nashville, Tenn.; the Very Rev. William A. Dimmick, Memphis, Tenn.; Mrs. Richard Emery, New York, N.Y.; the Rev. Canon Charles M. Guilbert, New York, N.Y. (ex officio) ; Miss Janis Hawley, Louisville, Ky.; Mrs. Richard Hawkins, Lafayette Hill, Penn. (ex officio); the Rev. Dr. James Kennedy, Cincinnati, Ohio; the Rt. Rev. John Krumm, Cincinnati, Ohio; the Rt. Rev. David Leighton, Baltimore, Md.; the Rt. Rev. C. Gresham Marmion, Louisville, Ky. (ex officio) ; the Rev. Alfred L. Pedersen, S.S.J.E., Cambridge, Mass.; the Rev. Alfred R. Shands, III, Louisville, Ky.; the Rev. Dr. Massey H. Shepherd, Jr., Berkeley, Calif.; Mrs. Thomas Taber, Louisville, Ky. (ex officio) ; Mr. Bob N. Wallace, Louisville, Ky. (ex officio) ; the Ven. Frederic P. Williams, Indianapolis, Ind. , and the Rev. Richard C. Winn, Norristown, Penn.