Before they arrived in Denver for the 73rd General Convention, deputies and bishops received a document from the Diocese of California titled "Holy Relationships and the Authority of Scripture," a response to the 1998 Lambeth Conference resolution on sexuality. The document was produced by the diocese's theological task force and is a diocesan response to the controversial resolution.

The 14-page report, followed by five appendices covering 22 pages, is thorough, thoughtful and predictable. After all, the Diocese of California has been one of the most vocal in lobbying for the church to bless same-sex relationships and the ordination of non-celibate homosexual persons. The California report presents little new information. The rejections of scriptural references to what appears to be homosexual behavior have been heard many times before, as has the accusation that the Lambeth treatment of scripture is "a literalist or fundamentalist approach to the Bible." If the diocese's intention was to change people's minds, it probably failed.