Structure Amendments Proposed To Convention
Episcopal News Service. June 14, 1979 [79199]
NEW YORK -- Three amendments to the Constitution of the Episcopal Church relating to voting by Convention deputies, communicants, and retired bishops will be proposed to the triennial General Convention in Denver in September.
The Standing Commission on the Structure of the Church is recommending one constitutional amendment for the first time and two proposed amendments on second reading, both having been approved at the 1976 Convention.
In addition, the Convention's Joint Commission on Constitution and Canons is proposing an amendment that would provide for the use of the word "diocese" -- when used without qualification -- to refer to dioceses, missionary dioceses (overseas), and to all other jurisdictions which are represented in the House of Deputies, such as the Convocation of the American Churches in Europe.
Presented for its first reading will be a proposal to change the constitutional provisions for the "vote by orders," in the House of Deputies, and specifically in the way the "divided vote" is counted. If approved in Denver, there would have to be a second vote by Convention in 1982.
On most legislative matters, each of the 904 deputies has opportunity to vote as an individual. The affirmative vote of a majority of those present is required in most of those cases. However, there are circumstances in which voting is either required or properly requested "by orders." In such a vote, each diocese has one vote in the clergy order and one in the lay order -- each of which is composed of four persons.
A vote by orders is required to amend the Constitution or to adopt or revise a Prayer Book and when requested by the clerical or lay representation from three or more dioceses.
According to the Constitution, voting by orders requires a majority of all votes cast and provides that the total of all the affirmative votes shall exceed the total of other votes by at least one vote. A divided vote -- when the clergy or lay votes in a diocese are split two to two -- is not an affirmative vote and it is therefore counted as though it is a negative vote.
Under the proposed amendment to the Constitution, yes or no votes must be recorded in 60 percent of the dioceses eligible to vote. The recommendation further requires an affirmative majority of 2/3 of those voting yes or no. A divided vote would be construed as an abstention since the deputation in that order could not agree on a yes or no vote.
In 1970 the Convention approved a first reading of a similar effort to change the divided vote provision, but the amendment was defeated on its second reading in 1973 at Louisville. At that Convention, the House of Deputies called for the appointment of a special committee to make recommendations to the next Convention. In 1976 the Deputies tabled that committee's proposed amendment to provide a formula for counting votes.
Another proposed constitutional amendment -- which was approved by Convention in 1976 and is thus presented for a second and final vote -- provides for a seat and vote to every assistant bishop and withdraws the vote from retired bishops. Continuing to have seat and vote in the House of Bishops would be diocesan, coadjutor, and suffragan bishops; bishops elected to a position created by the Convention; and bishops who resigned for reasons of mission strategy as determined by action of the Convention or the House of Bishops, but who have not retired.
A third proposed amendment to the Constitution would permit communicants in border parishes who do not live within the geographical bounds of their dioceses to serve as lay deputies to General Convention. Under the Constitution now, a communicant who lives in Alexandria, Va., for instance, but whose parish is in the Diocese of Washington (D. C.), is not eligible for election as a deputy to Convention from that diocese. This amendment was approved in 1976 and the Commission will propose that the 1979 Convention adopt it on second reading.
A total of 37 amendments to the Canons of the Church are proposed by the two commissions, Structure and Constitution and Canons. There are also five recommendations for changes in the Joint Rules of the two Houses of Convention, two proposed changes in House of Deputies rules of order and one for the House of Bishops.
One possibly controversial issue will be a proposed new Canon which would reduce the size of the House of Deputies by one-fourth. The Structure Commission's recommendation is for the Convention to set a maximum of three deputies -- rather than four at present -- in each of the two orders to represent a diocese in the House of Deputies.
Over the past 15 years, until the 1976 Convention, recommendations have come to the Convention for proportional representation in the House of Deputies. In 1976 the Commission recommended three deputies in each order on the basis that the polity of the Episcopal Church recognizes the principle of equality among the dioceses. That proposal was defeated, though the matter of proportional representation was referred to the Commission for report in 1979.
The Commission again recommends to the 1979 Convention that the size of each deputation -- and thus of the House of Deputies -- be reduced by 25 percent. The Commission said that the present size of the House plus the erection of new dioceses places an increasing burden on the legislative process.
The Commission also points out that having three deputies in each order would virtually eliminate the problem of the divided vote.
The Structure Commission is also proposing that the presidents of the nine provinces of the Church need not be bishops. In the proposed canonical amendment, if the president of a province were not a bishop, then a bishop would be elected vice president so he could represent the province on the Presiding Bishop's Council of Advice and serve as President of the House of Bishops of the province.
In response to a referral from the 1976 General Convention, the Constitution and Canons Commission is recommending a new Canon to be designated "Of Assistant Bishops." This would regularize an office which has been created in several dioceses and is an alternative to electing a suffragan or coadjutor bishop. An assistant bishop would be appointed by the diocesan bishop with the standing committee's consent, rather than being elected by a diocesan convention.
The assistant bishop could be appointed from bishops now serving as diocesans, suffragans, or coadjutors; bishops who have resigned their posts and are qualified to perform episcopal acts in the Episcopal Church; and bishops of a Church in communion with the Episcopal Church, in good standing.
There are proposed amendments to the Canon that would reflect the changes in the Church's opening all positions to women as well as men. One omnibus resolution would substitute the word "person" for "man" wherever that expression appears in the Canons. Another general Canon would be added so that any terminology that might be considered by some to have exclusively masculine connotations would be understood to include the feminine gender.
If the Proposed Book of Common Prayer -- as approved by Convention in 1976 -- is adopted, the Canons would be amended to make this the Standard Book of Common Prayer.
A proposed change is the Joint Rules of the two Houses of Convention provides for calling joint sessions "for the purpose of debating major issues." The Structure Commission points out that it rejects the restructuring of General Convention as a unicameral body consisting of bishops, presbyters and lay persons. However, in recommending holding joint sessions to debate major issues, the Commission observes that often in debate one House does not understand the other Houses' rationale in adopting a certain resolution since the discussion has not been heard. The Commission says that such joint sessions would expedite the legislative process.
The Rt. Rev. Duncan M. Gray, Jr., Bishop of Mississippi, is chairman of the Joint Commission on Constitution and Canons, and Charles M. Crump, Memphis, Tenn., is chairman of the Standing Commission on the Structure of the Church.