I am a convention delegate for the Episcopal Diocese of
El Camino Real (ECR) and today is
the first day of our annual convention
here in Salinas, California. This is ECR’s first convention since
we elected our new Bishop, Mary Gray-Reeves. Bishop-Elect Mary
will be ordained next month but she is acting as President of this convention.
My husband John is an Alternate Delegate and I am a Delegate from
All Saints’ Parish in Palo Alto.
Our family is in the process of transferring
to St. Andrew’s Parish
in Saratoga, which is closer to where we live in San Jose. We are finishing
up our duties as delegates to our former parish this weekend.
There are about 250 of us at the convention today. Probably more will
join us tomorrow when they are not working. So far, we have celebrated
communion together (in both English and Spanish), passed
the revised Constitution and Canons, and passed Resolutions 1 and 2
(supporting funding for the
Millenium Development Goals and increased base
clergy pay). Bishop Ernest Shalita, from the Diocese of Muhabura, Uganda
who is visiting Calvary Parish
in Santa Cruz briefly addressed the convention and talked about his work
with education and youth. Most of today has been taken up with untangling
the parliamentary procedure of multiple amendments (friendly and unfriendly)
to resolutions. There will be more of the same tomorrow when we will
consider the budget.
Each parish delegation sits at one or two tables and chats while we are
waiting for vote counts and for amendments to be written up. It can be dry
work but the people are wonderful.
KatysBlog 