The Acts of Convention

House of Bishops

The House of Bishops Committee on Education presented its Report #5 on Resolution A029 (Open Dialogue on Difficult Issues) moved adoption with amendment.

Original Text of Resolution:

(A029)

Resolved, the House of Deputies concurring, That the 74th General Convention of The Episcopal Church commit itself to foster moral deliberation on social questions, seeking to be a community where open, passionate, and respectful deliberation of challenging, contemporary issues is expected and encouraged; engage those of diverse classes, genders, ages, races, cultures and perspectives in the deliberation process so that our limited horizons might be expanded and our witness in the world enhanced; address the issues faced by the people of God, in order to equip them for their discipleship and citizenship in the world; and be it further

Resolved, That the 74th General Convention direct the Peace and Justice Ministries Office and Ethnic and Women's Ministries to collaborate in developing models and trainers, lay and ordained, across the Church to guide conversations on difficult issues facing Americans today; and be it further

Resolved, That up to $28,000 be allocated from the Program Budget for this work including $6,000 for planning the process and printing materials; $20,000 to bring trainers from dioceses and provinces together to learn the process and $2,000 to sustain the process.

Committee Amendment:

Resolved, the House of Deputies concurring, That the 74th General Convention of The Episcopal Church commit itself to foster moral deliberation on social questions, seeking to be a community where open, passionate, and respectful deliberation of challenging, contemporary issues is expected and encouraged; engage those of diverse classes, genders, ages, races, disabilities, engaging cultures, sexual orientation, and perspectives in the deliberation process so that our limited horizons might be expanded and our witness in the world enhanced; address the issues faced by the people of God, in order to equip them for their discipleship and citizenship in the world; and be it further

Resolved, That the 74th General Convention direct the Peace and Justice Ministries Office and Ethnic and Women's Ministries and, where appropriate, the Committee on Anti-Racism of the Executive Council and other groups to collaborate in developing models and trainers, lay and ordained, across the Church to guide conversations on difficult issues facing Americans our church and societies today; and be it further

Resolved, That the General Convention request the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget, and Finance to consider a budget allocation of $28,000 up to be allocated from the Program Budget for this work for implementation of this resolution, including $6,000 for planning the process and printing materials; $20,000 to bring trainers from dioceses and provinces together to learn the process and $2,000 to sustain the process.

The Bishop Suffragan of New York, withdrew her amendment from the previous day and proposed a new amendment to replace the second resolve.

Proposed Amendment:

Resolved, That in addition to the curricula identified and developed in accordance with Resolution A009 of the 73rd General Convention which provide guided conversation around sexual orientation, in particular "Room For Grace Dialogue", the 74th General Convention direct the Peace and Justice Ministries Office and Ethnic and Women's Ministries and, where appropriate, the Committee on Anti-Racism of the Executive Council and other groups to collaborate in further developing models and trainers, lay and ordained, to guide conversations on difficult issues facing our church and societies today and to promulgate their use; and be it further

Motion carried

Amendment adopted

A vote was taken on Resolution A029 as amended.

Motion carried

Resolution adopted with amendment

(Communicated to the House of Deputies in HB Message #54)