The Acts of Convention

Resolved, That Title I, Canon 16 be amended to read as follows:

Sec. 1(a). All persons who have received the sacrament of Holy Baptism with water in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Spirit, whether in this Church or in another Christian Church, and whose baptisms have been are duly recorded in this Church, are members thereof.

(b). Members sixteen years of age and over are to be considered adult members.

(c). It is expected that all adult members of the Church, after appropriate instructions, will have made a mature public affirmation of their faith and commitment to the responsibilities of their Baptism and will have been confirmed or received by a Bishop of this Church or by a Bishop of a Church in communion with this Church.

Sec. 2(a). All baptized persons members of this Church who shall for one year next preceding have fulfilled the requirements of the Canon "of the Due Celebration of Sundays," received Holy Communion in this Church at least three times during the preceding year unless for good cause prevented, are to be considered communicants of this Church members of this Church in good standing.

(b). For the purposes of statistical consistency throughout the Church, communicants sixteen years of age and older are to be considered adult communicants.

Sec. 3. All such members in good standing who have been confirmed by a Bishop of this Church or a Bishop of a Church in communion with this Church, or, who have been received into this Church by a Bishop of this Church, and who shall, unless for good cause prevented, have received Holy Communion at least thrice during the next preceding year, are communicants in good standing.

All communicants of this Church who for the previous year have been faithful in corporate worship, unless for good cause prevented, and have been faithful in working, praying, and giving for the spread of the Kingdom of God, are to be considered communicants in good standing.

Sec. 4 (a). A communicant or baptized member of this Church in good standing, removing from one Parish or the congregation in which his or her membership is recorded, to another, shall be entitled to receive and shall procure from the Rector or Minister of the Parish or Congregation of his or her last enrollment or, if there be no Rector or Minister, from one of the Wardens, a certificate of membership addressed to the Rector or Minister of the Parish or Congregation to which removal is desired, stating indicating that he or she is duly registered or enrolled recorded as a communicant or baptized member (or adult member) in the Parish or Congregation from which he or she desires to be transferred, and recorded as a "baptized member" or "confirmed member" of this Church and whether or not such a member:

the Rector or Minister or Warden of the Parish or Congregation to which such communicant or baptized member may remove shall enroll him or her as a communicant or baptized member when such certificate is presented, or, on failure to produce such certificate through no fault of such communicant or baptized member, sufficient in the judgment of said Rector or Minister. Notice of such enrollment in such Parish or Congregation to which such communicant or baptized member shall have removed shall be sent by the Rector or Minister thereof to the Rector of the Parish from which the communicant or baptized member is removed.

Upon acknowledgment that a member who has received such certificate has been enrolled in another congregation of this or another Church, the Minister or Warden issuing the certificate shall remove the name of the person from the parish register.

(b). The Minister or Warden of the congregation to which such certificate is surrendered shall record in the parish register the information contained on the presented certificate of membership, and then notify the Minister or Warden of the congregation which issued the certificate that the person has been duly recorded as a member of the new congregation.

Whereupon the person's removal shall be noted in the parish register of the congregation which issued the certificate.

(c). If a member of this Church, not having such a certificate, desires to become a member of the congregation in the place to which he or she has removed, that person shall be directed by the Minister of the said congregation to procure a certificate from the former congregation, although on failure to produce such a certificate through no fault of the person applying, appropriate entry may be made in the parish register upon the evidence of membership status sufficient in the judgment of the Minister or Warden.

(d). Any communicant of any Church in communion with this Church shall be entitled to the benefit of this section so far as the same can be made applicable.

Sec. 4. Every communicant or baptized member of this Church shall be entitled to equal rights and status in any Parish or Mission thereof. He shall not be excluded from the worship or Sacraments of the Church, nor from parochial membership,

Sec. 5. No one shall be denied rights or status in this Church because of race, color, or ethnic origin.

Sec. 6 When a A person to whom the sacraments of the Church shall have been refused, or who has been repelled from the Holy Communion under the rubrics, or who desires a judgment as to his or her status in the Church, shall may lodge a complaint or application with the Bishop, or Ecclesiastical Authority. No Minister of this Church shall be required to admit to the sacraments a person so refused or repelled without the written direction of the Bishop or Ecclesiastical Authority, it shall be the duty of the Bishop or Ecclesiastical authority unless he or it The Bishop or Ecclesiastical Authority may in certain circumstances see sees fit to require the person to be admitted or restored because of the insufficiency of the cause assigned by the Minister. If it shall appear to the Bishop or Ecclesiastical Authority that there is sufficient cause to justify the refusal of Holy Communion, however, appropriate steps shall be taken to institute such an inquiry as may be directed by the Canons of the Diocese, and should no such Canon exist, the Bishop or Ecclesiastical Authority shall proceed according to such principles of law and equity as will insure an impartial investigation and judgment. decision; but no Minister of this Church shall be required to admit to the sacraments a person so refused or repelled without the written direction of the Bishop or Ecclesiastical Authority.

Sec. 7. No unbaptized person shall be eligible to receive Holy Communion in this Church.; and be it further

Resolved, That the foregoing amendment shall take effect on the first day of January, 1986.