The 41st diocesan convention, meeting Oct. 10 in Punta Gorda, gave its congregations a little financial breathing room in 2010 and restored convention voting rights to its deacons.

Clergy and delegates approved an adjusted $2.8 million budget for 2010, lowering the apportionment rate parishes pay to the diocese from 10 percent to 9 percent of their yearly income.

The changes, approved earlier that week by Diocesan Council, were presented to convention by interim CFO Anne Vickers. Responding to concerns voiced about parishes still reeling from the recession, she said the drop in revenue will be largely offset by the discovery that $493,000 in income from eight congregations who were late in filing their parochial reports were not figured into the original budget.

The new budget, approved by voice vote, also increases the amount of apportionment revenue expected to be uncollectable in 2010. The revised budget also defers a previously planned $100,000 “2020 Grant” during 2010. The two congregations already receiving grant money from that fund will not be affected.

Read it all.

(Please note: the inaccurate original article to which this offers corrections may be found here).

While I appreciate Adam Parker’s attempt to understand the larger issues surrounding the upcoming Special Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina, his recent article titled “Diocese to vote on split” in the Oct. 4 Post and Courier was unfortunately marred by errors of fact.

These errors are all the more troubling because they relate to the effect of the proposed resolutions, should the convention vote in favor of them.

The errors are doubly troubling because a simple phone call to the bishop or the diocesan staff could have quickly corrected any misunderstanding.

The issues are so complicated that I can understand why such errors might be made. Nevertheless, I believe that it is important to correct misimpressions that the article may have produced.

Read it carefully and read it all.

ACI welcomes the encouragement given by the Archbishop of Canterbury to the decision by the Diocesan Board and Standing Committee of the Diocese of Central Florida to affirm the first three sections of the Anglican Covenant. As we have previously stated, these sections entail substantial commitments to mutual responsibility and interdependence in the life of the Communion. While it is not ACI’s prerogative to release the full text of the letter, we are grateful for the Archbishop’s recognition that acceptance of the Covenant, in whatever form, is the means by which we declare our “intent to live within the agreed terms of the Communion’s life.”

We also acknowledge that endorsement by dioceses “would not instantly and automatically have an institutional effect (and so would not automatically affect the diocese’s legal relationship with the Province of TEC).” As the Archbishop notes, matters regarding the implementation of the Covenant in the Communion remain to be sorted out. No one can expect that the institutional effects will be felt “instantly or automatically.” But everyone recognizes that such effects, if not instant or automatic, are nevertheless certain.

By Resolution 14.11, the ACC earlier this year asked “the Secretary General to send the revised Ridley Cambridge Text, at that time [at the next meeting of the JSC], only to the member Churches of the Anglican Consultative Council for consideration and decision on acceptance or adoption by them as The Anglican Communion Covenant.” Should the other Instruments of Communion continue to defer to the ACC’s initial distribution of the Covenant (and that is a matter of comity among the Instruments, not necessity), we believe the Archbishop’s invitation to dioceses to “endorse” the Covenant while it is being considered under the ACC’s recommended procedures is welcome. We hope this invitation will be accepted by many TEC dioceses.

Read it all.

On Sept 17 the Diocesan Board and Standing Committee adopted a resolution stating, “We affirm Sections One, Two and Three of the Ridley Cambridge Draft of the Anglican Covenant, as we await the final draft of Section Four.”

The diocese also asked Dr Williams to “outline and implement a process by which individual Dioceses, and even parishes, could become members of the Anglican Covenant, even in cases where their Provincial or Diocesan authorities decline to do so.”

Dr Williams responded that “as a matter of constitutional fact, the ACC can only offer the Covenant for ”˜adoption’ to its own constituent bodies, (the provinces).”

“But I see no objection to a diocese resolving less formally on an ”˜endorsement’ of the Covenant,” he said. Such an action would not have an “institutional effect” but “would be a clear declaration of intent to live within the agreed terms of the Communion’s life and so would undoubtedly positively affect a diocese’s pastoral and sacramental relations” with the wider communion, he wrote.

Read it all.

Central Florida also asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to “outline and implement a process by which individual dioceses, and even parishes, could become members of the Anglican Covenant, even in cases where their provincial or diocesan authorities decline to do so.”

In a Sept. 28 letter to the Rt. Rev. John W. Howe, Bishop of Central Florida, Archbishop Williams called the diocesan bodies’ endorsement a step in the right direction. However, he stated, “as a matter of constitutional fact, the [Anglican Consultative Council] can only offer the covenant for ”˜adoption’ to its own constituent bodies (the provinces).”

The archbishop added that “I see no objection to a diocese resolving less formally on an ”˜endorsement’ of the covenant.” Such an action would not have an “institutional effect” but “would be a clear declaration of intent to live within the agreed terms of the Communion’s life and so would undoubtedly positively affect a diocese’s pastoral and sacramental relations” with the wider communion, he said.

Read it all.

“As a result of the extraordinary legal expenses associated with the property litigation involving Grace Church in Colorado Springs our reserves have been substantially reduced. Such litigation totalled $2,900,000. The combination of withdrawals for litigation expenditures and the stock market decline have caused the Diocesan unrestricted reserves to decline from $4,900,000 at January 1, 2006 to $750,000 currently. This decline has also lead to a significant decrease in the investment income to be received from these reserves in 2010

Check it out (8 page pdf).

There are several articles in here that will be of interest.

In preparation for the special convention, the diocesan treasurer predicted that the tamped-down support of diocesan ministry””congregation apportionments plus standard dividends from investments””would not exceed $2 million annually.

“We are in a different financial place than where we were even six short months ago,” Bishop Gibbs wrote to the diocese in late March, signaling the necessity to sacrifice mission and ministry opportunities.

On April 2, the bishop made the first sacrifice. He dissolved five positions on the diocesan staff. One in the finance office was unfilled since convention approved the 2009 budget. The four others”” canon for Ministry Development and Transition Ministries, canon for Lifelong Learning, director of Stewardship and Planned Giving, and director of Payroll and Benefits””were full-time positions eliminated from that staff, effective at the end of May.

Read it all.

While each of the words can be unpacked to address our present situation, I believe we can state the above sentence, more succinctly””“We are to make Biblical Anglicans for a global age.” If you prefer the T-shirt version, it is “Making Biblical Anglicans for a Global Age”.

The Bishop continued in his address to unpack how that vision may be implemented.
In addition to elections to leadership positions, four resolutions were presented for a vote. Three of the four were not announced to the delegates ahead of time, but presented and read from the floor and distributed in written form immediately prior to our being asked to consider them and vote on them.

The three resolutions which were introduced from the floor seemed to me to be especially related to the pending issues in our national church. Thus, they were charged with meaning and implications and, not surprisingly, produced strong reactions. Ultimately two were passed. One was a resolution that reaffirmed our belief in the uniqueness of Christ. The second was a resolution in response to the election of Rev. Kevin Thew Forester to serve as Bishop of the Diocese of Northern Michigan. It states, among other things and in summary, that this Convention believes significant questions have been raised regarding the Rev. Forester’s faithfulness to the Doctrine of the Trinity as it is defined and articulated in the Nicene Creed; and because of those questions, the Convention recommends that the Bishop and Standing Committee withhold its consent to the consecration of the Rev. Forrester to the office of Bishop in the Episcopal Church.

One wonders why it is necessary to introduce resolutions such as these which are rooted in basic tenets of our Church. The fact that they are considered important enough to be voted on as resolutions by the Convention reminds me that now we cannot take our beliefs for granted, even within our Church.

Read it all.

Repeatedly I am asked, Al, as Rector of St. Michael’s Church, what is going to happen to us in all these debates and splits in the Episcopal Church? Is St. Michael’s leaving the Episcopal Church? Is the Diocese of South Carolina leaving? What are the options? Why do we care? Can’t we just keep our heads down here in South Carolina, after all, we seem to be doing fine!

The short answer is, we follow the lead of our Bishop as he guides this diocese through icebergs. The reality is that the Episcopal Church continues to make decisions and take actions that are making it look more and more Unitarian than anything Christian. Because of that, over the past 24 months, there has been a veritable exodus out of the Episcopal Church by many individuals, churches and dioceses. So, what about the Diocese of South Carolina? Let me reflect on the above by telling you about the recent convention of the Diocese of South Carolina. I also urge you to read the accompanying article by our Junior Warden, Ann Hester Willis.

As you may know, each year, clergy and lay leaders from all over the Diocese of South Carolina join our Bishop for an annual convention to elect new leadership, address the state of the church and strategize about Kingdom ministry. This took place at Christ Church, Mount Pleasant on March 12-13. I urge you to look at the resolutions that were passed (which can be found on the diocesan website). Let me pause here and say how much I enjoy convention. We have amazing clergy leadership in this diocese and because of our crazy schedules, I find this is one of the only times annually I see all my fellow colleagues!

However, back to the above questions. There were specifically two events that shape my thoughts, the first being the resolution regarding the confirmation of the Bishop of Northern Michigan.

In the Episcopal Church, every diocese elects its own Bishop. However, that election must be confirmed by every other diocese in the United States. In other words, the Diocese of South Carolina has the right to vote against the election of another Bishop for reasons of theology, doctrine or any other concern.

The announcement of the election of the Bishop of Northern Michigan sparked controversy because he (the Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester) is also a practicing Buddhist, had received Buddhist “lay ordination” and is “walking the path of Christianity and Zen Buddhism together.” This craziness should not surprise any of us. He simply is the poster child for the continuing Unitarian drift in the Episcopal Church, a commonplace universalism that says among other things, all religions are the same. In fact, in a recorded sermon delivered on Trinity Sunday posted on the St. Paul’s Church, Marquette MI website, the Rev. Kevin Thew Forester preached the following: “One of the amazing insights I have found”¦is that, no matter what you name that source, from which all life comes””you can name that source God, Abba; you may name that source Yahweh; you may name that source Allah; you may name that source “the great emptiness;” you can name that source many things”¦ everything that is comes from the source. And you can name the source what you want to name the source. And our response to that is with hearts of gratitude and thanksgiving, to return everything back to that source, and there’s a spirit who enables that return”¦and you can be a Buddhist, you can be a Muslim, you can be a Jew, and that makes sense.”
While this sounds so palatable and comfortably cultural, it is not Christianity! John 14, in a passage that in many ways defines love, we hear these challenging words of Jesus: “I am the way the Truth and the Life, and no one comes to the Father but by me.” Yet Scripture has predicted these days we find ourselves in. In Paul’s second letter to Timothy chapter 3. Paul writes: In the last days, there will come times of stress. For men will hold the form of religion but deny the power of it. We find a similar word in Titus 1:16”¦they profess to know God, but they deny him by their deeds”¦And so it is in our denomination today. We have all the great vestments and pageantry, but more and more, emptiness with no solid theology.

By the way, the resolution passed which urged the standing committee to vote against the confirmation of this bishop.

The other event I wish to highlight is the Bishop’s Address. Again, you can read this on the website. Bishop Lawrence made an analogy that the Diocese of South Carolina could be compared to a motorcycle. The front wheel being Scripture and our Gospel Ministry. The back wheel is the mission of the diocese. However, as a diocese, we have a sidecar, an appendage and that sidecar is the Episcopal Church. Our denominational affiliation has been sidelined in this diocese because of the Unitarian/non Biblical direction of the Episcopal Church. What does this mean? After all, surely things will get even worse at the General Convention of the United States this summer in Anaheim, California. The answer is that for now, as a church within the Diocese of South Carolina, and as a diocese within the larger denomination, we continue to be part of the Episcopal Church USA, but with a bigger desire to remain part of the world wide Anglican Communion.

The reality is that unlike ever before, our Bishop now has options he will be weighing to guide us as a diocese. Options that include other provinces and partnerships connected with the worldwide Anglican Communion. So, it is back to what I stated earlier”¦the short and long answer to the first questions is that we follow the lead of our faithful Bishop who believes Jesus is who He says He is. Please keep Bishop Lawrence, his wife Allison and their family in your prayers.

–The Rev. Al Zadig is rector of Saint Michael’s, Charleston, South Carolina

Back in 2003, the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York consecrated a gay bishop and allowed others to perform same-sex blessings.

The Church of the Good Shepherd in Binghamton, an Episcopal parish at the time, disagreed with this move and severed ties. Last year, the Diocese sued for Good Shepherd to leave the church building on Conklin Avenue, and in December, a state Supreme Court judge ruled in their favor.

On Friday, both sides were back in court.

“We’ve kind of moved on as a congregation and this is almost looking backwards now. So we were dreading it but here it is,” said Father Matthew Kennedy, Good Shepherd’s head pastor.

This time, the feud centers around a will by former Good Shepherd member Robert Brannan. He died in 1986 and left behind money in a trust fund for his parish.

Read it all.

These two key dimensions of our vision, however, must be carried out with Another Fundamental Dimension of our diocesan life. Our constitution reads “The Church in the Diocese of South Carolina accedes to and adopts the Constitution and Canons of the Protestant Episcopal Church”¦.” The relationship is there””though we may understand how it needs to be carried out in different ways. Certainly many of us in this diocese, but let us remember by no means all, have been on a very different course from the policy setters at recent General Conventions. The Standing Committee and I, following the path trod by Bishops Allison and Salmon, have felt compelled on several occasions to differentiate ourselves from statements or actions of various leaders in TEC””such as compromises toward the Uniqueness of Christ; certain non-Canonical actions of the Presiding Bishop and the HOB; as well as the controversies regarding Human Sexuality. I anticipate the continued need for such differentiation in the months and years ahead.

Beyond differentiation there is important witness still left to do, and from which I believe God has not yet released us. I believe the House of Bishops, and the Executive Council, following the lead of General Convention 2006 has resisted the change that the Holy Spirit seems to be urging us toward as Anglicans””such as, the call toward a more responsible autonomy and inter-provincial accountability. Yet these bodies have fearfully protected the prior century’s polity and structure when 21st Century structures are needed. It continues to astonish me that so many leaders in our Church favor revision of our doctrinal and moral teaching and yet uphold relatively recent canons and polity with a fervor that would be admirable if held toward the fundamental teachings of Jesus Christ and the apostles. This heel-dragging protectiveness was shown clearly in New Orleans in 2007 when the HOB refused to adopt the Primates’ Communiqué from Dar es Salaam, arguing that it was contrary to the polity of our Church. The bishops were soon followed by the Executive Council, therein making it difficult if not impossible for the Presiding Bishop to follow through with the Primates’ directives. If we had received the Primates’ recommendation the four dioceses which have since left would be intact and in TEC today! Even more recently, this fear was shown afresh when individual bishops who seemingly have little respect for the Windsor Process and the Anglican Covenant accepted the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury to attend Lambeth and then spoke against any progress towards a Covenant. They will not be able to hold back the future of global Anglicanism permanently. Either Episcopalianism will repent of its unscriptural autonomy or it will spread its splintering tendencies of the last forty years throughout the Anglican Communion.

I believe our steadfastness will be of service within TEC””if only by challenging the structural conservatism of the theological innovators to face the changes of the future. Even more importantly it will be of service for the Anglican Communion as it moves towards the emerging structures God is providentially shaping.

Read it carefully and read it all.

This resolution just passed by majority vote–KSH.

Resolution R-4

Subject: A Resolution Requesting Withholding of Consent from the Episcopal Election in Northern Michigan

Offered by: the Very Rev. Craige Borrett, the Rev. Dr. Kendall Harmon, Christ Saint Paul’s, Yonges Island

That this Diocesan Convention believes significant questions have been raised regarding the Rev. Kevin Thew Forester’s faithfulness to the Doctrine of the Trinity as this Church has received it and as it is defined and articulated in the Nicene Creed; and

That on the basis of these questions Convention recommends that the Bishop and Standing Committee of the Diocese of South Carolina withhold its consent to the consecration of the Reverend Kevin Thew Forrester to the office of Bishop in the Episcopal Church; and

That this Convention strongly encourage the Bishops and Standing Committees of all other Episcopal Dioceses carefully and thoroughly to study especially those writings, statements, and sermons of the Reverend Kevin Thew Forester pertaining to the Doctrine of the Trinity and the nature of God.

Explanation:

The Rev. Kevin Thew Forester has been nominated and elected to serve in the office of bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan.

We are well to be reminded that a bishop in the Church of God is “to be a guardian of the Church’s faith, to lead us in confessing that faith…”(BCP pp. 519 from “The Consecration of a Bishop”)

However, in a recorded sermon delivered on Trinity Sunday posted on the St. Paul’s Church, Marquette MI website, the Rev. Kevin Thew Forester preached the following:

…One of the amazing insights I have found in the interfaith dialogue is that, no matter what you name that source, from which all life comes””you can name that source God, Abba; you may name that source Yahweh; you may name that source Allah; you may name that source “the great emptiness;” you can name that source many things, but what all the faiths in their wisdom have acknowledged in the interfaith dialogue is that, you and I, we’re not the source. We receive from the source, and what we are asked to do is give back to the source. In other words, what the interfaith dialogue has recognized is that there is a Trinitarian structure to life. That’s what I’m driving at this morning. We make the Trinity much too complex. The Trinitarian structure of life is this: is that everything that is comes from the source. And you can name the source what you want to name the source. And our response to that is with hearts of gratitude and thanksgiving, to return everything back to that source, and there’s a spirit who enables that return. Everything comes from God. We give it back to God. And the spirit gives us the heart of gratitude. That is the Trinitarian nature of life. And you can be a Buddhist, you can be a Muslim, you can be a Jew, and that makes sense. And we all develop more elaborate theologies, but the truth is we live and have our being in a God who asks only one thing of us: to grow into people who give thanks that God is our center, God is our life, that we are one with God. And as we grow into realization, that we are one with this God who lives in us, and the only thing God asks us is to give back everything in thanksgiving, we live. It’s what the Syrians said, “we will know what redemption truly is, we will come alive, we will be made to live,” because we will know””not because someone told us””because we know that God gives us life. And all God asks of us is “give it back to Me in return.”

There are simply too many theological questions raised here to be confident that this is someone who will preach and uphold the apostolic Trinitarian Faith.

This resolution failed on a roll call vote by orders–KSH.

Resolution R-3

Subject: A Resolution Requesting that General Convention 2009 be Suspended

Offered by: the Very Rev. Craige Borrett, the Rev. Dr. Kendall Harmon, Christ Saint Paul’s, Yonges Island

That this Diocesan Convention, while valuing and affirming the importance of meeting together in our common life for the upbuilding of the body, nevertheless asks that the Executive Council and the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church voluntarily agree not to hold General Convention 2009 (and thus not meet in General Convention until 2012) and that all dioceses agree to abide by this request as an act of mutual submission to one another; and

That all the money which is saved by this event suspension be given to a ministry focused on meeting the needs of the poor and in accordance with the Millenium Development Goals

Explanation:

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21).

There are three reasons the Episcopal Church needs to do this. First, the last two General Conventions have been deeply divisive not only for our common life in the Episcopal Church but for the life of the Anglican Communion. As Archbishop Rowan Williams once wisely said, when times of friction and misunderstanding are high, sometimes a temporary withdrawal can promote more perspective and the possibility for healing.

Second, we are in the midst of a serious massive global economic crisis. In such a time, many companies in America are canceling their conventions so as to show greater prudence and stewardship to their employees and shareholders, and as a witness to the importance of simpler living by all.

Thirdly, this is a time to undertake creative and unusual initiatives. The Episcopal Church is in many ways stuck. It has been rightly said “if you do what you have always done you get what you have always gotten.” It is time for a change.

Some may object that this is something we cannot do because of our polity as a church. But polity is made for the church, not the church for polity. If any community really wants to do something, they can make it happen, and this would be a powerful witness to our willingness to sacrifice for our own common life and that of the Anglican Communion going forward.

This just passed by an overwhelming majority–KSH.

Resolution R-2

Subject: A Resolution on the Uniqueness of Christ

Offered by: the Very Rev. Craige Borrett, the Rev. Dr. Kendall Harmon, Christ Saint Paul’s, Yonges Island

That this Diocesan Convention, while valuing and affirming the importance of cultural and religious diversity, affirms that the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ is for all and must be shared with all including people from other faiths or of no faith and that to do anything else would be to fail to love them as our neighbor; and that to this end, this Convention:

(a) recommits itself to living out daily the Baptismal Covenant’s call to “proclaim by word and example the Good news of God in Christ;’’ and

(b) urges all Christians to encourage sensitive and positive sharing of faith with people of all faiths and none whilst being willing to learn from and be enriched by people of other faiths.

Explanation:

In the beginning of the 21st century we live in a global village in which the world is indeed flat and there are many spiritual and religious ideas competing together for people’s attention. It is more important than ever that we as Anglicans affirm, speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15), the unique claim that Christ and his cross has on the whole world, a claim we have been given by the apostles and by those earlier Christians in history on whose shoulders we now stand.

In their most recent General Synod in February 2009, the Church of England passed a resolution which read:

That this Synod warmly welcome Dr Martin Davie’s background paper ”˜The witness of Scripture, the Fathers and the historic formularies to the uniqueness of Christ’ attached to GS Misc 905B and request the House of Bishops to report to the Synod on their understanding of the uniqueness of Christ in Britain’s multi-faith society, and offer examples and commendations of good practice in sharing the gospel of salvation through Christ alone with people of other faiths and of none.

This resolution also allows us to support our sisters and brothers in the Church of England who rightly see the importance of “the uniqueness of Christ” in a multi faith world.

(This just passed by majority vote–KSH).

Resolution: Proposed Anglican Covenant

Be it resolved, that the 218th Convention of the Diocese of South Carolina express its support for the development of an Anglican Covenant, as a means of encouraging dioceses and provinces of the Anglican Communion to practice a responsible autonomy and inter-provincial accountability, for the mutual enrichment of our common life in Jesus Christ through the abiding fellowship of the Holy Spirit and through the bonds of affection; and

Be it further resolved, that this, the Diocese of South Carolina, encourages The Episcopal Church (TEC) to embrace this Covenant process, even if the process necessitates restraint in the area of human sexuality, and urges that the various dioceses of TEC demonstrate responsible autonomy in their common life and practice towards the various dioceses and provinces of the Communion in this regard; and

Be it further resolved, that this convention respectfully requests the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primates, and the Anglican Consultative Council to allow dioceses lying within provinces which may chose not to abide by such a Covenant to sign their support of such a covenant, and be recognized as full members of the Communion; and

Be it further resolved, that as the Diocese of South Carolina did choose at its Diocesan Convention in 1785, to organize as a diocese, (one of the first seven dioceses in these United States to so organize in that year), and to send delegates to the first General Conventions to organize the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America, and thereby freely associate its clerical and lay members with the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society””presently known as TEC; so this same Diocese does also assert its authority to freely embrace such a Covenant in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury, and to seek to remain a constituent member of the Anglican Communion, should the Instruments of Unity allow such diocesan association

Submitted by the Standing Committee and the Bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina

Two workshops will be held at St. Andrew’s, Mt. Pleasant, on March 12, prior to 218th Diocesan Convention. The Rev. Dr. Leander Harding will teach a workshop on “Becoming a Healthier Pastor,” for clergy from 10 a.m. until noon. After a break for “lunch on your own,” a second workshop, “Becoming a Healthier Church,” will be offered to clergy, lay delegates and lay leaders from 2 to 4 p.m. The workshops are open and no registration is necessary.

Dr. Harding teaches Pastoral Theology and is Head of Chapel at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylania. Ordained for 25 years, he has served in rural, suburban and urban parishes.

Read it all and pray for Dr. Harding and those participating.

It starts tomorrow.

Delegates to a special convention of the Diocese of Northern Michigan held February 21 at St. Stephen’s Church, Escanaba, elected a new bishop and created a support team that will share in episcopal oversight, something unique in the Episcopal Church.

The Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester, who was announced in January as the single candidate for bishop, was elected on the first ballot. In Northern Michigan voting is not carried out by lay and clergy orders, but rather by individual delegate votes and a congregational vote that represents the combined majority vote of a congregation’s delegates. Thew Forrester received 67 of 76 total delegate votes cast. Of the 23 congregations represented, 21 voted for Thew Forrester.

Read it all.

Meeting in special convention on Feb. 7, nearly 140 delegates in the Diocese of Fond du Lac ventured into the arena of online meetings in order to complete work on the budget left unfinished during the annual convention last fall.

“Trying something new is always a challenge, but using new technology can be downright scary for some people,” said the Rt. Rev. Russell Jacobus, Bishop of Fond du Lac. “Even so, we’ve had mostly positive response to the online meeting.”

The purpose of the special convention was to consider approval of a 2009 budget. The annual convention failed to approve it because of concerns about mission strategy and youth ministry. After receiving reports from task forces appointed to address those concerns, a line-by-line review of the budget was made by the finance committee. Delegates registered online, participated in practice sessions, and discussed issues during pre-convention meetings, held both in-person and online.

Read it all.

Read them all.

The Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester, rector of St. Paul’s, Marquette, and St. John’s, Negaunee, was put forward by the diocesan search team to stand for election as bishop/ministry developer under the “mutual ministry model” used by the small, rural diocese on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. A priest of the diocese since 2001, Fr. Forrester also serves as ministry development coordinator and newspaper editor for Northern Michigan.

In recent years, he also was a practicing Buddhist, according to the former Bishop of Northern Michigan, the late Rt. Rev. James Kelsey.

In his Oct 15, 2004 address to the diocese’s annual convention, Bishop Kelsey took note of some of the milestones among the lives of members of the diocese. After recognizing recent university graduations, the bishop said Fr. Forrester “received Buddhist ”˜lay ordination’,” and was “walking the path of Christianity and Zen Buddhism together.”

Read it all.

“There is a time to take that step and follow Christ,” said Matt Johnson, a delegate from Grace Episcopal Church in The Plains, Va. “I think this is one of those times. Yes, these relationships have integrity and are blessed. For 20 years, we have been talking about this. Let’s go do it.”

Frank Baxter, 70, a Front Royal resident who said he had been in a 24-year “committed relationship,” agreed.

“I would like to see the diocese accept us as full members of this church while we are still on the green side of the grass,” he said.

But opponents said the “relationships” could apply to any sexual partnership.

“I can envision that relationship with one of those persons married to someone else,” said a male delegate from Church of Our Saviour in Charlottesville. “What do we do about that?”

“I think we’re going to open some doors we do not wish to open,” said delegate Ann Davis from Louisa. “A 30-something woman told me her understanding of monogamy means ‘one at a time.’ There is nothing here about these relationships being ‘lifelong.’ ”

Read it all.

Find them all here. Of special interest is this one:

R-4a: Blessedness of Covenanted Relationships
Adopted as amended.

Resolved, that the Diocese of Virginia recognizes our responsibility to respond to the pastoral needs of our faithful gay and lesbian members in a spirit of love, compassion and respect, and in so doing seek to fulfill our baptismal commitment to respect the dignity of every human being; and, be it further

Resolved, that accordingly the 214th Annual Council of the Diocese of Virginia affirms the inherent integrity and blessedness of committed Christian relationships between two adult persons, when those relationships are “characterized by fidelity, monogamy, mutual affection and respect, careful, honest communication, and the holy love which enables those in such relationships to see in each other the image of God” (Resolution 2000-D039 of the 73rd General Convention of the Episcopal Church).

Submitted by:
The Rev. James A. Papile
The Rev. Jacqueline C. Thomson
The Rev. Denise A. Trogdon
The Rev. A. Patrick L. Prest
John Schwarz, Lay Delegate, St. Anne’s, Reston
Carol Grish, President, Region V
Thomas J. Smith, Lay Delegate, St. Anne’s, Reston
Charles Sowell, Lay Delegate, St. Anne’s, Reston
Martha Furniss, Lay Delegate, St. Anne’s, Reston
Terry Long, Lay Delegate, Holy Comforter, Richmond

Endorsed by:
Region V
The Vestry of St. Anne’s Episcopal Church, Reston
The Vestry of the Church of the Holy Comforter, Richmond
The Vestry of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Richmond

Also, please see BabyBlue’s comments here.

Read it all (43 page pdf).

In this jurisdiction, last fall I accepted the recommendation given to me that I grant the status of postulancy for Holy Orders to a person who is in a committed same-sex relationship. That recommendation came to me from the respective local discernment committee, the Diocesan Committee on the Priesthood and the other evaluative processes we require. I accepted this recommendation in my personal conviction (echoed by several canon law and General Convention veterans across the country with whom I spoke) that this conforms both to the language and the intent of the Canons, guaranteeing equal accessto the processes of discernment for all ministries in the Church, whether lay or ordained.

Just as pointedly, that very same canon clearly states that no “right” to ordination is established by that provision. Accordingly, I informed everyone concerned that as things stand now in the House of Bishops and in our discussions throughout the Communion, I do not feel free at this time to ordain persons who are in same-sex relationships. In the interests of disclosure and clarity, personally I hold this necessity rather uncomfortably. However, significant parts of our larger Church, both left and right, are not ministering through these issues with much charity or restraint, and so I think it is extremely important for the bishops to respect what is in place right now (this includes my continuing support for the Windsor Report and its resulting processes). It is my hope that from this position we will be better able to take a responsible lead and continue to make progress in building up the common life of the whole Church. Nonetheless, I support discernment on anyone’s part as to just how the Holy Spirit is moving in their lives””no exceptions. This postulant has my personal commitment to do all I can to support that discernment.

Some of that landscape changed, however, when only recently I received and read the report from our Windsor Continuation Commission. That group, with Bishop Lee’s approval and direction, has established a formalized listening process as a pilot project to aid the whole of our diocese in discernment through the issues of human sexuality and the witness of the Church.

Given this, I have decided not to move forward with this postulant in the ordination process until this diocesan effort is conducted and the results are collected and given to me so as to become part of my own eventual discernment as bishop. I do remind you, however, that such results are not “binding” on the diocesan bishop, and so this process is not some sort of vote that will decide the matter in one way or another.

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A major obligation of leadership is to recognize changed circumstances and to respond imaginatively and realistically to those circumstances. All of us recognize that we live at a time of economic recession. That reality is reflected in the significant number of congregations in our diocese that have reduced their pledge to what we do together in the diocesan budget. As diocesan bishop, it is my responsibility to face those changed circumstances and to respond accordingly. The position I hold is a significant part of our budget. I have decided, therefore, to resign as Diocesan Bishop effective October 1, 2009. That means that my absence for the last quarter of this calendar year will provide a 25% reduction in the cost of the position of diocesan bishop and will bring some relief to the stress on our budget. My resignation will occur several months earlier than I had originally anticipated but I believe it is an appropriate and necessary response to the realities we face. I am exploring the possibility of ministry in some other form after I leave Virginia as I begin my transition towards retirement.

While Bishop Johnston will become the Diocesan Bishop on October 1, 2009, his liturgical investiture as the 13th diocesan bishop will occur at the 215th Annual Council at the end of January 2010, when the Presiding Bishop will be present.

I cannot refer to these plans to leave the Diocese of Virginia without placing them in the context of thanksgiving for you, the clergy and the lay leadership of the Diocese of Virginia. I thank God daily for you and I am grateful for the privilege of serving among you.

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But the central theme of this year’s convention is a little different.

“Our theme is ‘All Are Welcome’ and we’re passionately committed to being a church where all are welcome,” [Bishop Michael] Curry said.

A portion of the weekend’s convention focuses on proposed resolutions. And this year delegates are tackling a rather controversial subject.

“We’re vested with power by the state of North Carolina to act in the contract of marriage. On the other side as a church and the Episcopal Church, the other thing we do is to bless that union of people,” said Randall Keeney, priest at St. Barnabas church in Greensboro.

But Keeney is proposing a resolution that would encourage clergy to decline to act as agents of the state in the actual legal contracting of civil marriage.

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