Disciple: Welcome to the 78th General Convention
By Summerlee Walter
More than 300 bishops and 800 clergy and lay deputies will gather on June 25 in Salt Lake City, Utah, when the 78th General Convention of The Episcopal Church convenes. During the nine-day gathering, the House of Bishops and House of Deputies will elect the next Presiding Bishop, pass an operating budget for the coming triennium, and consider the recommendations made by the Task Force on the Study of Marriage and the Task Force for Reimagining The Episcopal Church (TREC), among other resolutions. Educational resources regarding the major topics facing the General Convention are available on the Diocese’s General Convention page.
ELECTING A PRESIDING BISHOP
Current Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori’s September 2014
announcement she would not consider a second nine-year term as Primate of The Episcopal Church guarantees that the General Convention will elect a new presiding bishop this summer. The current draft schedule indicates the election will occur on June 27, with the installation happening sometime in the fall before the new presiding bishop’s official November 1 start date.
The Joint Nominating Committee for the Election of the Presiding Bishop (JNCPB) will announce the slate of nominees in early May. Bishops on the slate will be drawn from those whose names were submitted to the JNCPB by any member of the Episcopal Church before the September 30 nomination deadline.
TREC WRAPS UP
The Task Force for Reimagining The Episcopal Church (TREC), which included
our own bishop diocesan, the Right Reverend Michael Curry, and young adult Jonathan York, will present its findings during Convention.
In June 2012, TREC was charged by the 77th General Convention with creating a plan to reform the Church’s structures, governance and administration. According to a December 15, 2014, statement released by the task force, their report and proposed resolutions include discernment surrounding “reimagination of dioceses, clergy preparation, the use of our sacred buildings” and other topics. Members of the task force outlined some of their findings in a recent panel discussion available through the General Convention resource page housed on the diocesan website.
THINKING ABOUT MARRIAGE
The 77th General Convention in passed a resolution creating the Task Force on the Study of Marriage to “to identify and explore biblical, theological, historical, liturgical and canonical dimensions of marriage;” to address pastoral issues surrounding clergy minsitering in states that recognize civil marriage for same-sex couples; and to consider Resolution 2012-D091, which suggested replacing “man and woman” and “husband and wife” language in the marriage canons of the Episcopal Church with the language of “two people.”
In a Please Note interview with Bishop Curry, the Right Reverend Andrew Waldo, bishop of the Diocese of Upper South Carolina and a member of the task force, described how the group discerned that it had been asked to answer two questions: “What makes a marriage holy? What makes a marriage Christian?”
The task force released its report on February 3. It includes a series of seven essays addressing the biblical and theological issues surrounding marriage, its history, relevant canon law, marriage as vocation and the changing norms surrounding marriage. The task force also submitted two resolutions, one to amend the current marriage canon and the second to extend its work into the next triennium.
The proposed revision to The Episcopal Church’s marriage canon, Canon 18.1, directs the focus of the canon away from the general purposes of marriage and toward the vows made in the marriage rite contained within The Book of Common Prayer. The proposed text also uses gender-neutral language.
Follow all of this summer’s General Convention happenings on the diocesan website and on social media with #GC78.
Summerlee Walter is the communications coordinator for the Diocese of North Carolina. Contact her.
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