New Officers Hope Triennial Will Influence General Convention
Diocesan Press Service. June 6, 1975 [75216]
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Pam Chinnis and Dee Hann expect to preside at a Women's Triennial Meeting that will decide a new structure for itself and influence the General Convention of the church.
The two officers of the 1976 Triennial outlined their views of the national meeting following Mrs. Chinnis' talk recently to the women of the Diocese of Indianapolis on "The New Look of Triennial."
Mrs. Chinnis, Alexandria, Va., and Mrs. Hann, Indianapolis, were elected last December as presiding officer and assistant presiding officer respectively for the 1976 Triennial, which will run concurrently with the General Convention at the Minneapolis Convention Center.
"The purpose of Triennial is threefold," Mrs. Chinnis said. "To affect General Convention, to minister to General Convention, and to educate and worship for mission and wholeness." A special concern is to provide an environment where participants encounter each other and build community, she added.
The Triennial Meeting will run from Sept. 11, 1976 to noon Sept. 22, adjourning 24 hours ahead of the General Convention. Each diocese will send a maximum of five participants, with the assurance that the voting strength of each diocese will remain the same regardless of the number of people sent.
"As a body together we will be allocating United Thank Offering funds and working with UTO guidelines, providing an ongoing structure, and be a part of spiritual growth," Mrs. Hann commented. "Triennial has the freedom to raise the issues -- the hard questions -- facing the church," she said.
Questions about the forthcoming Triennial and the responses of the two officers follow:
Q. You have referred to diocesan representatives to Triennial as "participants" rather than "delegates." Why?
PAM: I prefer the term participant because the purpose of this Triennial is not to vote on particular issues confronting General Convention.
DEE: Participant asks for some response from the person there. Women have a responsibility to do more than report back to their dioceses. They have a responsibility to live out their experience (at Triennial).
Q. How are participants chosen?
PAM: Each diocese determines who the participants are. The people are representative of the life of the diocese. Some dioceses send uninstructed participants who are appointed by the Bishop; others send delegates from their House of Churchwomen instructed on issues.
Q. Are there differing opinions on the purpose of Triennial?
PAM: To a certain extent, yes; but the majority at the Louisville Triennial in 1973 asked for a flexible structure, and charged the planning committees to provide Christ-centered regular meetings at the time and place of the General Convention, to deal prayerfully and forcefully with all sides of the issues facing the church in order to make their convictions known to the General Convention. This direction was adopted from more than 35 resolutions on the future of Triennial, running the gamut from dissolving the meeting completely to adopting a constitution and setting up a national ECW organization.
DEE: Two committees, structure and program, were charged by the 1973 Triennial to develop plans for 1976. Structure committee will present a plan for an ongoing structure for triennial and design the structure of the 1976 meeting. Program committee has the responsibility of identifying the issues before the church and presenting them within a religious and educational framework, considering all sides.
Q. Why is there so much emphasis on structure for 1976 ?
PAM: When General Convention admitted women as deputies at Houston in 1970, many women felt the millennium had arrived. Most of the 1970 Triennial Meeting was consumed with debate over whether or not Triennial should continue now that women were "fully accepted" within the church. Some diocesan women's organizations were disbanding while others were calling into serious question their purpose and viability. The very valid question was raised as to whether women could, in good conscience, press for full integration while at the same time perpetuating a separate body. The 1970 delegates were charged to go home and do some real soul-searching as to whether Triennial should continue beyond 1973. The answer is "yes, " and the mandate is for an ongoing structure that is very minimal, very flexible, very innovative.
Q. How will this be presented?
PAM: A tentative structure proposal will be approved by the structure committee to be circulated to the entire church and voted on at Minneapolis. We anticipate that it will include provision for the election of a nominating committee and a presiding officer, a Triennial planning committee to arrange for each Triennial Meeting, and a Triennial action committee to implement actions of the Triennial and initiate actions between meetings.
Q. In addition to structure, what will be important elements of Triennial?
DEE: We will consider the UTO grants and approve guidelines for continuation of the UTO Committee. Very important will be the charge to explore the issues facing the church and participating in the life of the General Convention.
Q. Since Triennial meets at the same time as General Convention, are you planning to be a lobbying group at the Convention?
DEE: No, not lobbying in a negative sense. But our charge from the 1973 Triennial is to deal with issues facing the church and make our convictions known to General Convention. We have an opportunity to raise issues and explore them outside the crisis of the legislative process. Also, we hope to educate ourselves on the General Convention process and influence actions through participation in regular hearings and committee meetings.
Q. Why was the time of Triennial expanded from five to eleven days?
PAM: The structure committee felt that if one of the main purposes of Triennial is to affect General Convention, then we should be there. General Convention tends to fritter away the first week. By the time action starts, the women are gone. For example, Prayer Book debate alone will take two days in 1976. Also, women felt they were so programmed in Louisville that they couldn't get to the House of Deputies.
DEE: This will give us the flexibility to be able to recess Triennial to hear and participate in actions of General Convention. Some dioceses will invite women to be involved in caucuses of deputations and cluster arrangements of deputations in hotels will form a working community for the entire convention. Also, we will have more time for orientation for new people on how both Triennial and General Convention work.
Q. A major criticism of General Convention is that it is too long and too expensive for most people to attend. Won't the same criticism now apply to Triennial?
DEE: It is the responsibility of General Convention to deal with this legislatively. Although the criticisms are valid, I feel Triennial presence for the entire Convention is necessary to achieve our purposes.
Q. How will Triennial affect the people in the parishes ?
DEE: Again, we must all live out the experience. We have a responsibility to do more than just report back home. Women who participate in Triennial will be able to do effective work at home, but more importantly they will have had opportunity for personal growth and further development of mission and ministry.
PAM: Triennial will be a time of enrichment through exposure to different ideas, cultures, points of view, and an experience of Christian fellowship and worship. It will certainly broaden our understanding of and enhance our commitment to our ministry. If each of us touch several other lives when we return home, the effectiveness of Triennial is furthered. For example, in 1973 one group introduced Triennial resolutions at their diocesan convention for debate and action.
Q. How were you two elected?
PAM: As the structure committee worked on the kind of meeting they wanted in 1976, it became clear that in the absence of any structure, they must have officers before the Triennial meeting began in September 1976. They agreed to canvass each diocese and women's group president for nominations and then elect a presiding officer and an assistant presiding officer separately from the nominees. The elections were last December by a three-fourths majority of the 14 members present and voting.
Q. How was the structure committee chosen?
PAM: Both the structure and program committees consist of 16 members. Five of each were elected by the 1973 Triennial and nine were elected from the provinces.
Q. How have the committees been working together?
DEE: Very well. Actually there are three committees involved: Structure, Program, and U. T. 0. Communication has been excellent as we plan for 1976 and a meeting of the three together has been held.
PAM: I couldn't ask for a better relationship with the committees or with the staff at the Episcopal Church Center in New York. Mo Mulica is the staff person assigned to Triennial and she is a creative, enabling resource person. Barbara Lucas, who will staff the office at Triennial, has kept the mechanics of our committee meetings running smoothly. Also, the women elected to the committees are pros. They bring to the meetings warmth, insight and creativity, plus skills in group work.
Q. What happens between now and Triennial?
PAM: Dee and I will be on the road a lot developing interest in Triennial, and we are designing visiting teams that will be available to each province or diocese to talk about Triennial.
Q. If people want to get in touch with you about Triennial or the visiting teams, where can they write?
PAM: Mrs. Carter C. Chinnis
2203 Belle Haven Road
Alexandria, Va. 22307
DEE: Mrs. E. Carl Hann
5218 Laurel Hall Drive
Indianapolis, Ind. 46226
![[thumbnail: #75216 Women's Trie...]](/e-archives/ENS/photographs/thumbnails/75216_thb.jpg) |