VIEWPOINT:

5:25a.m. At exercise room only to discover that on Saturday it opens at 6a.m.

5:30a.m. Walking on a boulevard lined with tall palm trees, flowing lemon day lilies, blooming crepe myrtle under a predawn sky—60 degrees (sorry West Texas)

7:30a.m. Prayer Book, Liturgy Committee (see remarks below)

9:00a.m. Legislative Session

11:15a.m. Worship Service

12:45p.m. Blessed lunch

2:30p.m. Nap

4:00p.m. Legislative Session

6:00p.m. Wonderful West Texas delegation

7:30p.m. Dinner with E in courtyard—60 degrees (sorry West Texas)

The Prayer Book, Liturgy Committee is making progress toward action on a resolution that will authorize Bishops, in their discretion, to bless same sex unions. I predict the resolution will be approved by the Committee and approved by the House of Deputies. I don’t have a clue how the House of Bishops will react to the resolution.

Ray Suarez of the Jim Lehrer News Hour gave the sermon at Eucharist today. He did a splendid, splendid job. By all means, read it on The Episcopal Church website. The worship services continue to be outstanding.

I got to visit with Helen McAllister today. She looks beautiful!

I met with the Custodian of the Prayer Book and the Chancellor to the President of the House of Deputies this afternoon. I think the issues regarding the resolutions affecting the Prayer Book will be resolved.

I am impressed with the work that is done at General Convention and continue to be proud that I am an Episcopalian.

9:00p.m. Exhausted. Crashing.

Keep praying for us. We need it!

Blessings,

Drew Cauthorn
Lay Deputy
St. Mark’s, San Antonio

VIEWPOINT – As each day goes by at General Convention, you get a sense that we are just around the corner from addressing some very serious matters.  As you know by now, the legislative process at General Convention works much like a legislative process.  Resolutions must work themselves through their respective committees before coming to the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops.  So obviously, the most controversial resolutions (repeal of B033, human sexuality, same sex blessings, mandatory pension for lay employees) take more time for consideration in their committees and thus, we don’t see them in the respective houses the first few days. 

The first few days, we mostly deal with consent agenda items (something that comes out of committee unanimously), rules of order and elections.  The Committee hearings, which I wrote about yesterday, are where all the action is at this point. 

I’m taking the long way around to tell you that I expect my remaining blogs will be of a more serious nature.  So I want to use this time to be thankful.  

First, the UTO gathering and Eucharist is tomorrow. Uvalde Food Pantry received a $45,000 grant from UTO to purchase the current Food Pantry facility.  UTO sent a film crew down to film the UFP volunteers and clients and we anticipate that the film will be shown at the UTO gathering tomorrow.  UFP is such a wonderful ministry!  In fact, I received a text message today that they distributed 30,000 pounds of food today in 3 hours at a Food Fair.  Wow! 

Next, I want to tell you how wonderful our Diocesan staff is here at Convention.  Nancy and Marjorie take care of absolutely everything!  I know they are up late writing stories, editing video, posting pictures, etc.  They have arranged our lunches, some dinners, our afternoon debriefings, and on and on.  Thank you so much for the work you do Marjorie and Nancy.  You are doing fabulous work!  Thank You.  

And finally, our deputation.  I have had the wonderful opportunity to meet people from around the country.  I’ve had conversation with many and gotten to know a few.  Call me biased, but we have, by far, the best delegation here.  I hear stories of disagreements among the deputation and especially disagreements between Deputies and their Bishops.  We, on the other hand, have a deputation that is a great and collegiate group.  No, we don’t agree on everything but we do respect one another and genuinely care for one another.  And, we have fun together.  We are also very blessed to have two bishops that are open and interested in our opinions but also have maintained an appropriate sense of humor. I am so very thankful to be here with this group.  

Our deputies that are serving on committees, Drew, David Read, Susan, Don and our Bishops Reed and Lillibridge have worked extremely hard in committee.  They often have hearings that start at 7:30 am and another session that doesn’t end until 9:00 pm.  I thank you for all your work.  

Overall, I just want to tell you all how privileged I feel to be here with this group.  They are deeply committed, talented in so many different ways and I am honored to serve with each of them.  DWTX, thank you for giving me this opportunity.  

God’s Peace,

Kelley Kimble
Lay Deputy, St. Philip’s, Uvalde

VIEWPOINT – I realize that “Another Fine Day” is an unconventional description of a day at General Convention–but it’s true. Not only am I privileged by getting to spend quality time with the wonderful West Texas deputation but I am getting to meet some of the finest people. I realize that much of what we do is tedious—and is it ever—but when all is said and done, we are doing valuable work in the service of the church. And, who is the church—why you and me and our kids and grandkids and their kids. See, I’m already starting to turn into a preacher!

I went to an early morning meeting of the Prayer Book, Liturgy and Music Committee. As you may recall from a prior post, a committee cannot discuss proposed resolutions until the committee has held public hearings on the resolutions. The Prayer Book Committee has now held public hearings on the same sex blessing/marriage resolutions. This morning, the Committee met for the first time to discuss those resolutions.

The discussion was civil, frank and informed. I didn’t detect acrimony. Several of the Bishops on the Committee talked about the progress that had been made relationship-wise with the rest of the Anglican Communion since 2006, especially since Lambeth. One of the American Bishops, a rather stout fellow, said that when he met the Primate from Sudan, who is quite tall, the Primate gave him a big hug, lifted him off the ground and told him—“We don’t agree with you but we love you!”

It is my opinion that most of the Bishops on the Committee do not want GC to take action that will impede or imperil relationships with much of the rest of the Anglican Communion. Those Bishops made it clear to the Committee that it would be difficult to get the Bishops to pass resolutions authorizing same sex marriage.

Lay and clergy members of the Committee were equally frank with the Bishops. In my opinion, there is a strong desire among a majority of the lay and clergy members of the Committee to take action in this area—although it is not clear to me what precise action they want to take.

As a result of the discussion, the Committee appointed two subcommittees—one to work on the wording of a resolution that would stand a chance of passing in both the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies and the other to review Constitutional and Canonical Law. I am working with the Constitutional and Canonical Law Committee—we had our first meeting at 6:30pm.tonight.

We had a legislative session from 9:30a.m. until 11:15a.m.—boring!—and then another wonderful, inspirational Eucharist. They should charge admission to the worship services—they are that good. At Eucharist, I sat next to the Rev. David Luckenbach, who grew up in Corpus Christi, was on the staff at St. Luke’s, San Antonio, for awhile and now is the Rector of St. Marks on the Mesa in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Our West Texas deputation gathered for lunch. Betty Chumney joined us; she was honored (well deserved) by the Women of the Church at 2p.m. today. Then another legislative session, this one from 2p.m. to 6p.m. Finally, most of the deputation, including Bishop and Mrs. Fry, went to dinner together at a restaurant in Disney Downtown.

See. It really was a fine day!

Blessings,

Drew Cauthorn
Lay Deputy
St. Mark’s, San Antonio

Day 3, Bishop Reed

Bishop David Reed reports on full communion with the Moravian Church, the work of the Evangelism Committee, and hard decisions on budget. Click to listen.

DWTX from Anaheim — Deputies returned to their work as a “Committee of the Whole” Friday morning, July 10, as they heard from each other on what steps The Episcopal Church (TEC) should take next in regard to human sexuality.

On Thursday afternoon, deputies spent an hour talking one-on-one about their experiences. At the close of that session, deputies were each given a numbered token, and on Friday morning 50 of those token holders, chosen by lottery, were given two minutes each at a microphone.

In general, speakers lined up on either side of the question of what to do about resolution B033, passed at the 75th General Convention in 2006. That resolution asked TEC to “exercise restraint” in consenting to the election of openly gay bishops. The purpose of Friday morning’s discussion was to “inform” the World Mission Committee, to which several resolutions calling for the repeal of B033 have been assigned. Following today’s discussion, the World Mission Committee must still determine what it will do with several resolutions around the topic of human sexuality.

Basically, the arguments for or against repealing B033 fell into one of two lines of reasoning – is it a justice issue or is it a relationship issue? Those in favor of repealing B033 consider it a justice issue.

“I voted in favor of B033 three years ago,” said a deputy from North Carolina, “but only out of respect for [then] Presiding Bishop Griswold and [then Presiding Bishop elect] Bishop Jefferts Schori. “But I have changed my mind and my heart. B033 allows the church to discern who might have the gifts to teach the faith in this Church.” New Hampshire did not elect a gay bishop, he said, “It elected the best person for the job.”

Another deputy told of her life growing up in the church, when the doors were open to her until her mother declared her lesbian orientation. “Then the doors slammed shut,” said the deputy. They again slammed shut when the deputy discovered her own lesbian orientation. “B033 was another door slamming shut for me,” she said.

Deputy Louie Crew of the Diocese of Newark said that passing B033 “destroyed the credibility of every sign that says ‘The Episcopal Church Welcomes You’.” Several deputies admonished that the gay and lesbian community has sacrificed sufficiently, and that they should no longer carry the burden for the entire church.

But other deputies were not ready to repeal B033 or take any other action that would further split the Anglican Communion. “The irony of it is that this Convention seeks to celebrate ubuntu (togetherness) and yet is poised to rupture the communion even more,” said a Deputy from the Diocese of El Camino Real. He added that TEC has not made a theological case for the blessing of same-sex unions. “We take pride in our three-legged stool of tradition, reason, and scripture,” he said, “but we are going against scripture and using canonical procedures instead.”

Deputy David Luckenbach, formerly of St. Luke’s, San Antonio, and now in the Diocese of the Rio Grande, said in marriage counseling he was asked if he wanted to be right or wanted to be married. “In our part of the world,” he said, “B033 has been the catalyst for a cease fire. Not to throw anyone under the bus, but I would like to refrain from driving the bus over all of us.”

A deputy from Northern Indiana disputed the claim by some that B033 has accomplished nothing since it was passed. “It got our Presiding Bishop to the Primates Meeting, it got our bishops to the Lambeth Conference,” he said. “It has accomplished everything it was designed to accomplish.”

Committee work on all of the resolutions that address the topic of human sexuality continues in the days ahead with no indication of when resolutions might come to the floor of either house.