Whew. It’s time to gear up for the annual fall Diocesan Conventions spree. Forty-three conventions scheduled for October!!
We elves probably won’t have time to do the exhaustive coverage we attempted at least for part of the convention season last fall. We need readers’ help. PRIOR to your diocesan convention, please send us any important info on resolutions or budgets for your diocese. And then AFTER convention, send us info on what resolutions passed, your bishops’ convention address, etc. We’re counting on you!
Here are the list of October Conventions:
10/4/2007 – 10/7/2007 Alaska (St. Matthew’s Church – Fairbanks, AK)
10/4/2007 – 10/7/2007 Wyoming (Jackson, WY)
10/5/2007 – 10/6/2007 Colorado (St. John’s Cathedral – Denver, CO)
10/5/2007 – 10/7/2007 Montana (Copper King Hotel – Butte, MT)
10/5/2007 – 10/6/2007 North Dakota (Kelly Inn – Bismarck, ND)
10/5/2007 – 10/7/2007 South Dakota (Oacoma, SD)
10/12/2007 – 10/13/2007 Bethlehem (Cathedral Church of the Nativity – Bethlehem, PA)
10/12/2007 – 10/14/2007 Eastern Oregon (St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church – Prineville, OR)
10/12/2007 – 10/13/2007 Milwaukee (Italian Community Center – Milwaukee, WI)
10/12/2007 – 10/14/2007 Nevada (South Point Hotel – Las Vegas, NV)
10/12/2007 – 10/14/2007 Northern Michigan
10/12/2007 – 10/13/2007 Western Louisiana (Holiday Inn Convention Centre Hotel – Alexandria, LA)
10/18/2007 – 10/21/2007 Churches in Europe (American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Paris.)
10/19/2007 – 10/20/2007 Arizona (Sheraton Crescent Hotel, Phoenix)
10/19/2007 – 10/20/2007 California
10/19/2007 – 10/20/2007 Connecticut (Christ Church Cathedral – Hartford, CT)
10/19/2007 – 10/20/2007 Dallas
10/19/2007 – 10/20/2007 Eastern Michigan (St. John’s Church – Saginaw, MI)
10/19/2007 – 10/20/2007 Fond Du Lac (Liberty Hall – Appleton, WI)
10/19/2007 – 10/20/2007 Kansas (Kansas Expocentre – Topeka, KS)
10/19/2007 – 10/20/2007 Quincy (Christ Church – Moline, IL)
10/19/2007 – 10/20/2007 Rio Grande (Cathedral Church of St. John – Albuquerque, NM)
10/19/2007 – 10/21/2007 Spokane (Termplin’s Red Lion Hotel on the River – Post Falls, ID)
10/19/2007 – 10/20/2007 Western Kansas (Garden City, KS)
10/20/2007 – 10/20/2007 Southwest Florida (Venice Community Center – Venice, FL)
10/21/2007 – 10/21/2007 Puerto Rico (Coliseo Juan “Pachin” Vicens – Ponce, Santa EucaristÃa – Puerto Rico)
10/26/2007 – 10/27/2007 Hawaii (St. Andrew’s Cathedral & Prince Kuhio Hoten – Honolulu, HI)
10/26/2007 – 10/28/2007 Idaho (Idaho Falls, ID)
10/26/2007 – 10/28/2007 Indianapolis (Holiday Inn Conference Center – Columbus, IN)
10/26/2007 – 10/27/2007 Maine (Bangor Civic Center – Bangor, ME)
10/26/2007 – 10/27/2007 Michigan (Holiday Inn South – Lansing, MI)
10/26/2007 – 10/27/2007 Minnesota (St. Paul River Centre – St. Paul, MN)
10/26/2007 – 10/27/2007 Nebraska (corrected per comment below)
10/26/2007 – 10/28/2007 Northwest Texas (San Angelo, TX)
10/26/2007 – 10/27/2007 Rhode Island (The Biltmore Hotel – Providence, RI)
10/26/2007 – 10/27/2007 San Joaquin
10/26/2007 – 10/27/2007 Upper South Carolina (Christ Church – Greenville, SC)
10/26/2007 – 10/27/2007 Utah (Cathedral Church of St. Mark – Salt Lake City, UT)
10/26/2007 – 10/27/2007 Western Massachusetts (Springfield Sheraton – Springfield, MA)
10/26/2007 – 10/27/2007 Western New York
10/27/2007 – 10/27/2007 El Camino Real (Sherwood Hall – Salinas, CA)
10/27/2007 – 10/27/2007 Northern Indiana
10/27/2007 – 10/28/2007 Springfield (Trinity – Jacksonville, IL)
You can find a list of all conventions here: by date, by diocese.
All the T19 diocesan convention posts will be under this category link
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Update: We’re putting together an Excel Spreadsheet. It will have any links we find to the diocesan convention website, proposed resolutions, and then post-convention materials (final resolutions, bishops’ speech) if/when they are posted online. Here’s the link.
We’ll try to update it regularly. (So far we just have a few links for this weekend’s conventions. But we will add more over the weekend)
Nebraska’s is actually the last weekend of October, not November 11th as listed on the website.
What do you mean? Isn’t Kevin going to be streaming live from each one? 😉
In accordance with the provision of Article V, Sections 1,2, and 3 of the Constitution of the Diocese of San Joaquin, notice is hereby given that the Forty-eighth Annual Convention of the Diocese of San Joaquin will convene at St. James’ Cathedral, Fresno, California December 07-08, 2007.
Rocks…nice quote from Fulton Sheen.
Dio. Olympia’s convention is in November; I’m either a delegate or an alternate.
The 134th Annual Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark will be held on Friday, January 25 and Saturday, January 26, 2008
Just an additional note to Dallas: After the 7:30 PM Thursday night Eucharist, commemorating 150 years for St. Matthew’s Cathedral (to be held at the Cathedral, 5100 Ross Ave., Dallas) the convention then moves out to Southfork Ranch (3700 Hogge Rd., Parker) for two days of “bidness.”
South Dakota lists giving to the national church as a top budget priority…
http://northernplainsanglicans.blogspot.com/2007/10/is-your-church-using-your-money-well.html
The WV Diocese had their convention [url=http://www.wvdiocese.org/diocesanconvention/default.asp]last weekend[/url]. The only thing that I’ve heard about it so far is that it was “uneventful”. 🙁
DeeBee – we will hear a lot of that. Many dioceses are depending upon ignorance and apathy, so they just don’t report much.
And, if a camera were to pan the room at many conventions, you would see a very tired, aged, quiet bunch of people who were good sports and got sent to the thing by their parishes because nobody else wanted to go.
“It’s THAT season again… Diocesan Conventions Galore”
Another symptom of ECUSA’s glorious representative polity:
most churchgoing Episcopalians don’t know about their diocesan conventions until well after the conventions are over.
That is not in itself problematic, but it underscores the narrow base of participation in this polity. It’s also one element of why radical revisionist views supported by perhaps one-tenth of ECUSA’s membership command absolute majorities in the House of Deputies.
When I was at St. Andrew’s Panama City (FL) I tried each year for twelve years to be nominated for either delegate or alternate for Dio. Con. I never made it beyond being nominated. The same people were sent each year, which made the whole ‘nomination process’ a joke.
Re the Dallas convention: The problem with JR Ewing living at South Fork is that you never saw him trying to get from there to Downtown Dallas (about 25 miles) during rush hour on Central Expressway (before it was rebuilt and vastly improved). But then, JR probably had a helicopter to take him downtown. 🙂
In Dallas, we have a one constitutional amendment. It’s effect is to allow the diocese to change it’s accession clause with only one convention if the Episcopal Church, USA stops being a full, consitutient part of the Anglican Communion. We voted on this last year and this is the second reading.
Additionally, there are two (so far) resolutions. The first is to resume payments to 815 2nd avenue and ERD. The second resolution is to support the MDGs (and I am one of the co-sponsors to this resolution). I know there are those here who think of the MDGs as wrongheaded, but I believe that their goals are good, even if they are supported by 815 and the UN. They fall right in line with Matthew 25 and I believe international outreach and mission are great forms of “covert (and sometimes not so covert) evangelism.”
YBIC,
Phil Snyder
LibraryJames,
The same is true in San Joaquin, and I have been one of those that is “electable”. It’s not just a liberal thing. It’s a truism of an organization. One way to make it change for you is not to become something you are not, because the same people will still get elected. You will need to “work” the organization to buck the trend. And there are ways, obviously. What’s happened to TECusa is a good example.
RGEaton
Northwestern Pennsylvania’s convention is November 2, not October 7.
Thanks WilliamS for the info, I’ll change the date for NW PA. All the info on dates above is as listed on the TEC website. I was wondering, however, when I saw NOTHING on the dio NW PA website just now.
I’ve updated the spreadsheet linked at the end of the entry above. It has a few links for this weekend’s conventions, but I found virtually nothing of any import. We’ll have a few snippets of info we found from two dioceses posted on the blog tomorrow.
The Diocese of Fort Worth will now move to All Saints Episcopal Church on Friday afternoon, Nov. 16th. Holy Eucharist is at 2:00p. Convention convenes in the Nave immediately following the Mass. Guest Preacher is the Rt. Rev. Frank Lyons, Bishop of Bolivia. The session concludes by 6:00p and Hospitality and Dinner is at Ridglea Country Club beginning at 6:30p.
The Convention reconvenes on Saturday, Nov. 17th, at Will Rogers Memorial Center with MP at 8:30a, followed by business session at 9:00a. Convention will continue until all business is concluded per the agenda. Recess for Noonday prayer and lunch is from 12:00n until 1:30p.
That is not in itself problematic, but it underscores the narrow base of participation in this polity.
I am going to mine this year – I’ve never been to one before, never known anything abou them. From what I’ve heard my bishop keeps things nicey nicey and irrelevant, but I’m going to experience our sainted “polity” firsthand.
Ah, I see that Nevada’s is once again in a casino.
{sigh}
Here’s one of the workshops for Dio of CT:
The World Peace Village
Throughout Diocesan Convention, the World Peace Village will be located in the Cathedral House auditorium, surrounding a 22’ canvas labyrinth. During the workshop session, hear how this interactive learning experience can be brought to your parish as you explore the prayer practices of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Native Americans through the lens of peace and sacred objects used in worship. You may also walk the labyrinth, praying for peace in our world. A variety of resources for children, youth and adults about various faith traditions and teaching about peace will also be displayed.
The most significant resolution for Dio of CT: Repudiating B033 (and therefore the NO statement and the JSC report; though this was drafted before NO.)
Resolution #3 — Concerning the Election of Bishops
RESOLVED: That this 223rd Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut affirms the precedence of the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church to Resolutions of General Convention, and will faithfully adhere to Title III.1.2 which states that, “No person shall be denied access to the discernment process for any ministry, lay or ordained, in this Church because of race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, disabilities or age”; and, be it further
RESOLVED: That this Convention dissents from Resolution B033 of the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, which states
Resolved, That the 75th General Convention receive and embrace The Windsor Report’s invitation to engage in a process of healing and reconciliation; and be it further
Resolved, That this Convention therefore call upon Standing Committees and bishops with jurisdiction to exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion;
and, be it further
RESOLVED: That this Convention strongly encourages our Bishop and Standing Committee to consent to the consecration of all qualified candidates duly elected to the Episcopate; and, be it further
RESOLVED: That this resolution be forwarded by the Secretary of this Convention to the Secretary of General Convention.
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Among the other resolutions: get out of Iraq, minimum sick days, and increased state rental assistance.
Connecticutian [#21]: Any chance of Bp. Smith giving peace a chance?
#22:
To save a reasserter the trouble of pointing it out 🙂 I’ll note that the third “Resolved” clause implies giving prompt consent to Mark Lawrence.
Also, in regard to “out of Iraq,” I’ve come to the conclusion that conventions would be a lot quicker and more productive if there were a general ban on what I think of as “We like puppies” resolutions. Resolutions that do nothing more than endorse or condemn something the convention has no power to affect are just a waste of everyone’s time.
Ross – about 16 years ago, I was at a Diocesan Convention in Dallas where there was a resolution that sin was bad and we needed to repent. I was troubled, not by the fact that the resolution was there, but that there was [b]debate[/b] on it!
YBIC,
Phil Snyder
San Joaquin’s convention has been rescheduled to December 7-8.
For anyone interested in Maine’s convention, the entire 44-page booklet of logistical details, nominations, resolutions, and budget can be found online at http://www.diomaine.org/documents/2007%20booklet%20corrected.pdf
Only six resolutions. Nothing all that argumentative, compared with some conventions I’ve attended. And nothing surprising to find on the agenda of a TEC diocesan convention– with the possible exception of Resolution #2: “Diocese of Maine Calls Upon the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Queen of England to Revoke the 1496 Royal Charter Issued to John Cabot and His Sons.”
The Charter might or might not have been cited in a land claims settlement a couple of decades ago that has turned out to be a disaster for Maine Indians. But I think the principal issue here is that the Charter was never formally revoked, and injustices that continue today can be traced to the “doctrine of discovery” giving the English crown the right to conquer and occupy lands inhabited by “heathens and infidels.”
Diocese of San Diego – http://www.edsd.org/pages/18-CONVENTION/18-convention.htm
Date: February 8-9, 2008
Location: St. Margaret’s, Palm Desert, Palm Desert CA
Theme: Empowered for Ministry
Keynote Speaker: The. Rt. Rev. Michael Curry, Bishop of North Carolina