KatysBlog

John and Paul and I are visiting Jessica for CMU’s Family
Weekend here in Pittsburgh, PA. Last night, Jessica and
Paul and I saw a late showing of the movie
Transformers
(which was much better than I feared). Paul and the cabbie who drove
us back to the hotel had a passionate discussion about the
history and collecting of Transformer toys.

We woke up today to the headline “Episcopal Diocese Votes to
Leave” in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. There is a minority
of Episcopal parishes here in
Pittsburgh which are opposed to the recent vote to split from the
national church. So, we are going
to have fun deciding which Episcopal parish church to attend tomorrow
morning – one which voted to split or one staying with the national
church?

Today was the second and last day of the annual convention of the
Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real
(ECR) at Sherwood Hall in Salinas, California. I am a convention delegate
but this is also my last day as Convener of

DIEM, the Department of Intercultural Evangelism and Mission
(diocesan Department of Missions). I have served as DIEM Convener
since 2003.

Today, we approved the budget and voted in the new diocesan officers and
committee members. Since ECR has just finished several years of
restructuring (resulting in new boards which had to be filled for the first
time), the voting and ballot counting took most of the day. Bishop-Elect
Mary Gray-Reeves, who came to us from Florida, kept making jokes about

how voting was done there.

This was a joyous day for me because two of the 13 missions with which I
have been working for the last five years were promoted.

St. Stephen’s in the Field of San Jose was promoted to parish status.
Cristo Rey
of Watsonville was promoted to Mission status. I am very proud of both!
I was honored to process with the banner for Cristo Rey around the
convention hall.

In between votes, we heard reports on a variety of topics:

• Ms. Robin Denney (of the Episcopal
  
  Young Adult Service) told us about her experience being a
  missionary in Liberia.
• Bruce Friesen, Parish Administrator for
  St. Andrew’s
  in Saratoga, gave us an update on Episcopal Relief and Development with which he has been working for 5 years. ERD provides emergency assistance in times of disaster; rebuilds devastated communities and offers long-term program development solutions to fight poverty. Bruce said that
  ERD gave 97% of its funding to programs. He also recommended that we consider
  giving presents from the ERD “Gifts for Life” catalog. He said: “There
  is no greater look of joy on the face of your loved one when on Christmas
  morning they find that you have given them a pig.”
• Rev. Mary Morrison of
  St. Luke’s Los Gatos spoke of arrangements for Bishop Mary’s
  ordination at St. Andrew’s
  in two weeks. She said in passing that Anglicanism was a
  system of salvation by haberdashery and told the clergy the dress
  code and colors for the day.
• Rev. Lorenzo Robles of
  Santa Maria Urban Ministry (the official diocesan charity) spoke about their current programs and needs. SMUM provides basic services in the inner city of San Jose, CA: both short-term needs such as food, clothing and transportation, and long-term transformation through education, counseling, and after-school and seasonal programs.

In her ending remarks, Bishop Mary asked us to make our first year
together a Year of Wonder. Sherwood Hall was a good meeting space.
I particularly enjoyed its artwork. On the landing of the stairs is
a huge tapestry illustrating the words: “To Plow is to Pray – To
Plant is to Prophesy – And the Harvest Answers – And Fulfills”.
Good sentiments for both an agricultural town and a diocese starting
a new life with a new Bishop.
Here are some of John’s and my photos from the convention:

Bishop-elect Mary Gray-Reeves:

Bishop Ernest Shalita Muhabura, Uganda speaks:

Living Waters band:

Cristo Rey’s promotion:

Cristo Rey’s banner:

St. Stephen’s banner:

Resolution on the Year of Wonder:

Roby’s “Field Workers” Sherwood Hall painting:

Sherwood Hall tapestry:

Images Copyright 2007 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

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.