Executive Officer of Convention Reports to Council
Diocesan Press Service. September 25, 1974 [74248]
GREENWICH, Conn. -- Bishop Scott Field Bailey, Houston, Tex., interim executive officer of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, reported to the national Executive Council that several joint commissions have recently met and organized.
Bishop Bailey, who is also Suffragan Bishop of Texas and Secretary of the house of Bishops, said that the Joint Commission on the Church in Metropolitan Areas, has elected Bishop Robert Varley of Nebraska its chairman.
Other agencies which have recently met are: the Joint Commission on the Church in Small Communities, Bishop William Davidson of Western Kansas, chairman; the Standing Liturgical Commission, Bishop W.R. Chilton Powell of Oklahoma, chairman; and the Council on Ministry, Bishop Robert R. Spears of Rochester, chairman.
Bishop Bailey reported that the special meeting of the House of Bishops in Chicago, August 14-15, to deal with constitutional and canonical matters relating to an intended service of ordination of 11 women deacons to the priesthood in Philadelphia on July 29, had cost his office $4,000.
He confirmed the firm sites for the next two meetings of the triennial General Convention of the Church: 1976 in Minneapolis/St. Paul, and 1979 in Denver, Colo. lie said that the tentative site of the 1982 convention is Milwaukee, and that a meeting place for 1985 is being sought.
Bishop Bailey said that "the overall cost of General Convention is beginning to decline." He said that the cost to the national church for the 1973 convention in Louisville, Ky., was $150,000, with no cost to the local diocese; and for the 1970 convention in Houston, 'Tex., $150,000, with the Diocese of Texas bearing an additional cost of $206,000. He said that the 1976 convention will probably cost the national church about $175,000.