DWTX from Anaheim – Episcopal News Service — The House of Bishops has adopted Resolution B029, which calls for the elimination of the House of Deputies’ consent to bishop elections if they occur within 120 days of General Convention. All such elections would be approved by diocesan standing committees instead.
By way of explanation, the election of any bishop in The Episcopal Church must receive a majority of consents from bishops of jurisdiction and diocesan standing committees. However, when an election occurs within 120 days of a General Convention, the consent process goes to that body through its House of Bishops and House of Deputies.
Bishop George Councell of New Jersey said it is “fundamentally unwise to have two different groups doing the important work of discernment with respect to consent …Whatever the rationale was for this constitutional provision, it no longer seems to make any sense.”
Bishop Edward Little of Northern Indiana said he supported the change because “standing committees are in the discernment business … whereas at General Convention, we get caught up in this hurly burly of politics. The more careful discernment that can occur in dioceses gives us a more prayerful process.”
The resolution goes to the House of Deputies for consideration.
– Jerald Hyche
Tags: bishops, election by General Convention, House of Bishops