General Convention in Philadelphia Faces Full Agenda
Episcopal News Service. June 6, 1997 [97-1788]
Genie Carr, Free-lance Writer
(ENS) Some of the weightiest issues facing the Episcopal Church will be on the agenda as bishops and deputies gather for the church's 72nd General Convention in Philadelphia, July 16-25.
Held every three years, the 10-day General Convention serves as the supreme legislative body for the church, addressing resolutions that shape the church's ministry, policy and even structure.
The slate of topics for this convention will include the election of a successor to Edmond Browning as presiding bishop; the enforcement of canons on women's ordination; restructuring of the church; human sexuality; and adoption of full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
"Depending on which diocese you talk to, some issues are more important than others," said Pamela P. Chinnis, president of the House of Deputies. Restructuring, for example, will have critical implications for the church's mission and ministries, but "people are so emotional about human sexuality," she said.
Many of the issues to be discussed and decided at General Convention have generated strong arguments and feelings. The "underlying theme," Chinnis suggested, is "a deep desire to keep the church together, so we don't come apart in Philadelphia."
Money looms in the discussion about proposals for eliminating some interim bodies of General Convention, but the decisions about which committees to retain raise fundamental questions about what the church's mission should be. Also, while fewer national church entities working between General Conventions might be more efficient, the reduced number of committee members could also result in a less-diverse perspective.
The proposed budget for the 1997-2000 triennium is $120.6 million. One proposal would change funding from dioceses from a graduated formula to a flat 20 percent of diocesan income.
Approximately 900 clergy and lay people in the House of Deputies and probably 200 to 225 bishops in the House of Bishops will attend the General Convention, said the Rev. Donald Nickerson, secretary of convention. They will come from 113 dioceses, which now include a new diocese in eastern Michigan and also include Navajoland, an "area mission" that is counted as a diocese because it has a seat and vote at General Convention.
Each diocese can send up to four clergy and four lay deputies. Along with visitors, exhibitors, family members and others, that can add up to 10,000 people over two weeks. "The election of a presiding bishop brings in more people," Nickerson said.
The numbers require years of advance planning and a large city with many hotel rooms. "We need 2,500 rooms at a minimum," Nickerson said. The convention space itself must include at least five large rooms for the meetings of the House of Bishops, the House of Deputies, and the Triennial of the Episcopal Church Women, as well as for exhibitions and worship.
Held in conjunction with General Convention, the Triennial draws national representatives of the ECW together, this year under the theme, "Enlarge the Site of Your Tent."
The diocese in which the convention is held also has to round up 1,000 or more volunteer convention workers. Barbara Ogilby, the communications officer for the Diocese of Pennsylvania who chairs the diocesan local arrangements committee for General Convention, said that 1,200 people have signed up as volunteers for the 10 days of the convention -- and another 200 or so people have worked for two and three years on committees planning logistics and events.
In Philadelphia, some committees will begin meeting on Monday, July 14, though the convention officially opens with Eucharist at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, July 16. Except for Sunday, July 20 -- when participants will be encouraged to attend local places of worship -- days will begin early with legislative committee meetings at 7:30 a.m. Legislative sessions for both houses will be held most mornings and afternoons, with committee meetings and other events occurring after dinner.
The election for the next presiding bishop will be held Monday, July 21, in a special session of the House of Bishops. The House of Deputies will subsequently consider whether to ratify the election.
The four nominees for presiding bishop were selected over a two-year period by the 29-member Joint Nominating Committee for the Election of a Presiding Bishop. All the nominees had the same background checks required for active clergy and others in the church's leadership roles.
The presiding bishop will have a term of up to nine years (reduced from 12 years by the General Convention). The bishops nominated are: Frank Griswold III of Chicago, Robert Rowley, Jr., of Northwestern Pennsylvania, Richard Shimpfky of El Camino Real (California) and Don Wimberly of Lexington (Kentucky).
Election and confirmation of the presiding bishop are only two of many legislative duties of the two houses at the convention. Bishops and deputies will see between 400 and 500 resolutions that they will consider, amend, debate, revise, reject, approve, defeat or simply avoid.
A forum on the 17th will focus on spirituality. It will feature Esther de Waal of Wales, a widely known writer on Benedictine and Celtic traditions; Madeleine L'Engle, a member of the Episcopal Church who is an award-winning author and popular retreat leader; and the Rev. Martin Smith SSJE, superior of the Episcopal Church's Society of St. John the Evangelist in Boston and chaplain to the House of Bishops.
The 550-page Report to the General Convention ("Otherwise Known as The Blue Book") contains a six-page index of resolutions that come from national committees, commissions, boards and organizations of the Episcopal Church. Those are the "A" resolutions.
Participants will also deal with three other kinds of resolutions:
- "B" -- proposed by bishops;
- "C" -- proposed by dioceses and provinces; and
- "D" -- proposed by deputies.
Except for "A" resolutions, which are alphabetized, each resolution is numbered according to its type and the order in which it is received, starting with B-l, C-1 and D-l.
Each resolution first goes to one of 27 legislative committees of either the House of Bishops or the House of Deputies. Nickerson said, "Issues of liturgy or ministry tend to go first to the House of Bishops. Issues of national or international affairs, social or urban issues, or program and budget tend to go first to the House of Deputies."
The presidents of the two houses decide before the convention opens which resolutions will go where; at convention, Nickerson is the main traffic cop.
A committee of one house will receive a resolution for "action"; at the same time, the sister or "cognate" committee of the other house will receive it for "information." The committees often meet together.
Committees will often include recommendations for action when they report out resolutions to their houses, but the bishops or deputies "debate and vote on the resolution, not the committee report," Nickerson said.
When one house approves a resolution, it is sent to the other house for "concurrence." If the houses concur, the resolution becomes official. If the second house amends the resolution, it goes back to the first house, which must decide whether to accept the amendment.
Convention participants will have a break from legislative work on the evening of July 23, in a tour of six Philadelphia cultural institutions during a "Parkway Night Out." Among those included will be the Philadelphia Museum of Art, one of the nation's most prestigious, as well as the Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Franklin Institute and the Please Touch Museum.
Like previous General Conventions, the 72nd will be "about" far more than governance. Worship will precede each legislative session -- a time for praise and for grounding participants in the reason they are where they are, doing what they are doing.
With some 3,000 worshipers including bishops, deputies, Episcopal Church Women Triennial delegates and visitors, the worship space has to be... really big.
Worship and Bible study will be held in an exhibit hall the size of a football field at 9:15 a.m. daily, except for Saturday and Sunday July 19 and 20 and Friday, July 25. Continuing the theme of his administration, the presiding bishop has chosen part of the Baptismal Covenant as the theme of General Convention. "By water and the spirit" will be reflected at the entrance to the worship space by a baptismal pool and Paschal candle.
A variety of groups will provide music for worship. Among them will be the Princeton Singers with English choral music; the Absalom Jones Choir of the Diocese of Pennsylvania with primarily African-American inspired music; hymns from the Miserable Offenders recording duo from New York City; the Lady Chapel Singers of St. Mark's, Philadelphia, with music composed by women; the choir from Philadelphia's All Souls' Church for the Deaf; Schola Cantorum, a girls' choir from Leipzig, Germany; and local singers.
The Rev. Clay Morris, the liturgical officer at The Episcopal Church Center in New York, said that the convention will also introduce music from the new hymnal supplement, Wonder, Love and Praise, and will sing materials from the new Hispanic hymnal.
Morris said that after the Liturgy of the Word at most of the daily Eucharists, in lieu of a homily, participants gathered at round tables will have a Bible study. For Eucharist, stations will be at the front of the room and participants will go up to receive the elements.
That is less time-consuming than it sounds. In 1994, Morris said, stations served "2,500 people in about 10 minutes."
At the Opening Eucharist on July 16, the presiding bishop will be the celebrant, and Archbishop Robin Eames of the Church of Ireland will be the preacher. The General Convention Eucharist and United Thank Offering Ingathering will be at 2 p.m. July 19 with Browning celebrating and Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey preaching. The Closing Eucharist will be at 9:15 p.m. July 24 with Browning as the celebrant and the presiding bishop-elect preaching. National officers of the Episcopal Church Women and United Thank Offering will be commissioned.
The final worship service will be Morning Prayer on Friday, July 25, the day of the final legislative session.