(ENS) In another step toward the Episcopal Church’s 76th General Convention in Anaheim, California, the process of forming legislative committees has begun.
Deputies have until September 30 to express three preferences for appointment to one of 23 committees.
While a preliminary review of those completed forms will begin next week, according to House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson, no appointment decisions will be made until after the deadline. Anderson will appoint deputies to the committees and Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori will appoint bishop members.
To aid the appointment process, deputies also have been asked to outline their previous General Convention experience as well as their experience in the wider Episcopal Church. “It’s likely that first-time deputies without wider church experience won’t be appointed” to the committees, Anderson said.
There is a lot to learn about General Convention, she said, and first-time deputies can find themselves overwhelmed and feeling like observers rather than active participants. Anderson said this can be especially true when first-time deputies are named to legislative committees.
I’ve never been an accountant, supervisor, or pastoral theologian. Am I qualified to manage millions of dollars, hold leaders to account, set agendas, or decide theological issues? Why YES! I went to General Convention!
I would think that delegates with similar diocesan convention experience would be qualified to sit on General Convention committees……or is that experience not considered to be sufficient for Ms Anderson?
I feel excluded by the inclusive Church.
Exclusivism: Not listening to [b]my[/b] voice.
Should I feel bad about being considered “unqualified” according to Bonnie Anderson?
This reminds me of the Massachusetts legislature, which is controlled by about a dozen leaders. It is more democratic than Mao’s China…
So why couldn’t these training/indoctrination “forums” be held before GC, enabling first-time deputies to participate fully? Must be to make sure the indoctrination/group-think takes hold and to weed out any who prove resistant to it, pointing out that the empress has (figuratively!) no clothes. Maybe the Global South and Southern Cone bishops and Rowan could take part in these forums as observers so that they will understand TEc’s polity, at last!
What rough beast slouches toward Anaheim, waiting to be spawned? 🙁
In fairness to Ms. Anderson, GC is bigger than the Democratic National Convention. For a first time Deputy, it would be virtually impossible to be on a legislative committee and be a first time Deputy. When I went to my first GC in 1997 I had been everything in the diocese, but I was basically lost in Philidelphia. I spent lots of time just learining what everything, who everyone was and where everything was. I also had time to go to legislative hearings and learn how the system works. My second GC in 2000 in Denver, I was working 18-20 hour days the first week between the Evangelism Legislative Committee and trying to be a Deputy. If I had done that my first time, I would have never have had a clue what was going on at GC. The same thing was true in 2003, except 20/20 had already been gutted by EC so I was only working 16 to 18 hour days. Is GC too big and too long? Yes. But as it is, a first time Deputy would be totally lost being on a legislative committee.
At my first GC, in Philadephia, I was on the Committee on Rules of Order. The Committee had little business, so I was able to get an idea of the flow of business. The plenary legislative sessions were a mystery to me for the first couple of days…just a flurry of paper, sort of like my first jury instruction conference during trial.
In 2000, I was on the Canons Committee for the first time. I quickly realized that I was not really able to add much to the proceedings, due to my inexperience with the procedural rules, and lack of exposure to the substantive business (and I had been on every ecclesial body in my diocese–Standing Committee, Commission on Ministry, Provincial and Diocesan Synod representative, Diocesan Council, and at that time several years as Parliamentarian of our Synod)…I just kept my mouth shut and listened. I hope that when I served on the Canons Committee in 2003 and 2006, I was able to make a contribution, due to having used the 2000 experience solely for learning.
In terms of the fairness of Committee assignments: I can only speak from my own experience. Although I am a Deputy from one of the recognized “conservative” dioceses, for the last four Conventions, I have been appointed to the Canons Committee, a body with a not-insubstantial docket of legislative business. Among the other Dioceses represented on that Committee at the last GC were Quincy, Pittsburgh and Albany. In addition, after the last GC, I was appointed to the Standing Commission on Constitution and Canons, where I have always been treated respectfully and participated fully (and was elected as an officer of the Commission). So, although it is easy to throw stones, my personal experience, as a deputy from one of the “conservative” dioceses, has been overwhelmingly favorable. I have never felt rejected or unfairly criticized either on the legislative or Standing Commission as a result of my theological views or diocesan affiliation.
By the way, my diocese is Springfield. I realized I hadn’t mentioned that in the post above.
Anaheim! How appropriate. Home of DisneyLand.
When I was in the Diocese of El Camino Real, I served six terms as a delegate and member of deanery. It didn’t take me long to learn “how things were done,” and it became apparent that when electing delegates to General Convention, the only people who were elected were the ones with the most influence….read that to mean “old money,” and anyone else who stood for election always lost. It certainly stood on one’s favor if he or she had been at “St Swithin’s in the Fields” for many years. In other words, if you were a member of a rich and well-endowed parish, your chances of being elected were better than if you were a member of a little mission out in the hinterlands.