Denver Preparing to Welcome General Convention to the Mountains in 2000
Episcopal News Service. February 6, 1998 [98-2077]
(ENS) While the decisions of last summer's General Convention in Philadelphia still reverberate throughout the church, the committee charged with planning the next convention met January 20-21 to set in motion plans for Denver 2000.
A convention which marks a millenium "gives us a significant opportunity to think of how convention might be a genuine gathering of the whole church, and a time of celebration and reorientation of our mission and ministry as we look to the future," said Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold in a letter to the Joint Standing Committee on Planning and Arrangements. He was not able to attend the meeting because he was conducting the funeral for the former suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Chicago, Bishop Quintin Primo.
The committee welcomed the Rev. Barnum McCarty of Florida, appointed by Griswold and Pamela Chinnis, president of the House of Deputies, to chair the committee in the next triennium.
Tom Osborn, who chairs the local committee, talked about the diversity of the diocese, "everything from pinstripes to cowboys." Bishop Jerry Winterrowd said that the church in Colorado is "healthy and growing." Echoing Griswold's comments, he said that the diocese was setting a goal of 10,000 participants in the convention Eucharist, trying to embrace as many people as possible throughout the diocese.
Winterrowd told the committee that the other dioceses in the province, including Navajoland, will be actively involved in planning the convention. He promised that it would be a "Western experience." While planning is still in the early stages, he said that people in the diocese were talking about a possible "hospitality experience," with mountain parishes hosting convention participants. And some are also talking about "a major youth meeting" that might coincide with the convention. The bishop said that his vision is of a convention that could be "a major gathering" with wide participation -- and with "spiritual dimensions for a new millenium, moving us beyond our divisive issues."
After considerable discussion of the convention calendar, the committee decided to hold a legislative session on Saturday but none on Sunday, giving deputies and bishops a day of rest.
The committee expressed disappointment with the plans for the open forums last year and quickly agreed with Chinnis that "one good one would be best." After some discussion, the committee accepted the offer by Episcopal Church Women to provide the speaker and format for a forum, after consultation with the presiding officers.
During an open discussion on last summer's General Convention, committee members noted considerable frustration in the legislative process around the issue of funding. They deplored the tendency to pass resolutions which have financial implications without laying the groundwork -- and then expecting to make changes at the convention. Treasurer Steve Duggan said that it was imperative that the convention "get out of the habit of last-minute meetings that try to make major changes in funding." He called it a "travesty" that leads to making decisions in "a sense of panic."
Several committee members asked about Colorado's passage of an anti-gay resolution a few years ago, later struck down by the state's Supreme Court. Osborn said that the city was "embarrassed," attributing the passage to organized efforts in rural and small town areas of the state. He said that the bishop was "actively involved in these issues" and was appointed by the governor to a commission dealing with the rights of same-sex relationships. He stressed that the church in Colorado was "working diligently for the rights of all people." Chinnis noted that the governor and local gay leaders had met with the committee that made the final selection of Denver as site of the convention.
The Rev. Don Nickerson, secretary of the church and executive officer of General Convention, said that the Diocese of California had submitted the first resolution (C001). It asks the standing commissions on stewardship and development and constitution and canons "to prepare such canonical provisions as shall limit the number of diocesan deputies with seat, voice and vote in approximate proportion to the percentage of Asking paid by their dioceses to the national church for the three prior years...."
"The mission of the church in the new millenium must not be impeded," the resolution offered in explanation. Pointing out that some dioceses reserve voice and vote for parishes which pay their assessment, it said that financial support for the national church "is an outward and visible sign of membership and properly required for participation in General Convention."
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