KatysBlog

June 25, 2015 · 9:58 pm

3rd Day at General Convention: International Social Justice

Today was the first legislative day for the 78th Episcopal General Convention (GC). It was the third day in Salt Lake City for the Deputation from the Diocese of El Camino Real (ECR) . 842 were certified and seated in the House of Deputies from 110 diocese. Much of the morning and afternoon legislative sessions were taken up with procedural matters.

I chose to attend two Social Justice and International Policy legislative committee meetings (morning and afternoon) where it was standing room only. I was one of dozens of public witnesses on the subject of Israel-Palestine. There were five resolutions being considered by the committee. The two sides of the question on whether the Episcopal Church should divest from Israel were: Stay at table, engage to make change vs. Divest, do not profit by occupation. I spoke about some of the understanding I have gained living and working in Israel as well as working with TechWomen mentees from the Middle East since 2010. I said that I think divestment will hurt the Palestinians even more, at least in the short-term. Also, pulling back from the table to make a moral point removes the church from the discussion: cuts off relationships we will need if we are to contribute to the solution of some very hard problems. Mine was a minority opinion – most of the witnesses were in favor of divestment.

5 July 2015 – My witness on Israel-Palestine quoted in “Money and the Holy Land: Committee Hears Testimony” in the “House of Deputies News”.

Yesterday, I received a reader comment asking for my impressions of the four candidates to be 27th Presiding Bishop (PB) after their presentations yesterday. All four are remarkable and capable men of deep faith. I was able to speak personally with three of them today. Here are my notes some of what I observed yesterday and today (ask other members of the ECR Deputation for their view!):

The Rt. Rev. Thomas Breidenthal, 64, Diocese of Southern Ohio: Very intelligent, academic and unworldly in background and approach, kindly and thoughtful but seems somewhat frail.
The Rt. Rev. Michael Curry, 62, Diocese of North Carolina: Energetic preacher and social activist, demonstrated capability for administration through building a solid team, focused on measurable financial and operational improvement in parallel with evangelism. Charismatic and inspiring.
The Rt. Rev. Ian Douglas, 56, Diocese of Connecticut: Personable and charming, highly educated and thoughtful academic, loves to teach, athletic and well rounded. An electric smile.
The Rt. Rev. Dabney Smith, 61, Diocese of Southwest Florida: Formal and measured, traditional/conservative in approach, a gracious and grandfatherly community builder.

The vote for PB is on Saturday. The church restructuring (TREC) discussion starts tomorrow.

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Filed under Church, Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews

Tagged as Episcopal church, General Convention, Mentoring, Middle East, Palestine

June 24, 2015 · 8:13 pm

2nd Day at General Convention – Hearing from 4 Candidates

Today was the second day for the Deputation from the Diocese of El Camino Real (ECR) in Salt Lake City at the 78th General Convention (GC) of the Episcopal Church. There are 898 in the House of Deputies and about 300 in the House of Bishops at GC. Salt Lake City is at 4,327 feet above sea level. We are still adjusting to the altitude and heat here. ECR blogs from GC will be posted in the 78th General Convention category of the diocesan website.

Our morning was taken up with introductions to the GC leadership, an address by the outgoing Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, an introduction to the iPad “Virtual Binder”, voting tools and rules, and guidance on parliamentary procedure. Bishop Katharine’s moving talk included many Star Trek references (since one of the big discussion topics for GC is called TREC). Two of her more serious thoughts were: “No matter who you are afraid of, we need each other” and “We are never whole when we exclude members of the wider community.” My favorite orientation quote is from the Rev. Canon Michael Barlowe (Executive Officer of the General Convention): “This is an iPad, within it is software, the virtual binder is on but not exclusively in the iPad”.

We had an hour and a half for lunch during which we checked out the exhibit hall some more, including seeing the Homeless Jesus sculpture which is briefly visiting GC. During the afternoon, we heard the four candidates for Presiding Bishop (PB) answer eight rounds of questions in eight topic areas. The candidates to be 27th PB are:

The Rt. Rev. Thomas Breidenthal, 64, Diocese of Southern Ohio
The Rt. Rev. Michael Curry, 62, Diocese of North Carolina
The Rt. Rev. Ian Douglas, 56, Diocese of Connecticut
The Rt. Rev. Dabney Smith, 61, Diocese of Southwest Florida

Last month, my fellow ECR blogger, Rev. Tom Sramek, Jr. wrote an article profiling the four candidates: “Who Will Lead Episcopalians?”. The PB election will take place this coming Saturday. My favorite quote from Bishop Michael Curry: “I’m not the Pope, I don’t have all the answers. The truth is, the Pope isn’t the Pope either.” ECR Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves arrived late this afternoon.

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Tagged as Episcopal church, General Convention

June 23, 2015 · 5:37 pm

1st day at General Convention – Salt Lake City

Early this afternoon, the GC Deputation from the Diocese of El Camino Real (ECR) started to arrive in Salt Lake City to attend the 78th General Convention of the Episcopal Church. Since then, Diana Trapani and I, both first time GC participants, have enjoyed wandering around the Salt Palace Convention Center checking out the wide variety of exhibits, and meeting fascinating people. So far:

I talked at length with Karen Meridith, Executive Director of Education for Ministry, about the EfM study materials my class will be using starting in September. (She and I have only communicated by email before.)
I met the Rev. Canon Scott Gunn, Executive Director of Forward Movement and one of the leaders of Lent Madness, who is much taller than he looks online and was very polite about speaking with a fan while unpacking his exhibit booth.
I bought two more books from Rev. Eric Law, Founder and Executive Director of the Kaleidoscope Institute, about whom I have written before.

What a pleasure it is to be able to speak with them in person! I also found out that our own ECR Deputation member Celeste Ventura is a featured author at GC. Her book Deeper Simplicity, Broader Generosity – Images of Financial Wholeness is advertised in the current issue of The Living Church magazine.

It is hot here in Salt Lake City (95 degrees Fahrenheit / 35 Celsius), so we will be spending much of our time in the air conditioned buildings. We enjoyed watching some little kids swimming in the fountain of the mall across the street. Our first GC meeting is tonight!

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Tagged as Education for Ministry, Episcopal church, General Convention

June 22, 2015 · 6:30 pm

Road Diet Controversy in Willow Glen

The Road Diet has caused a great deal of energetic debate in the Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose, California, most recently among the 500+ who attended the public discussion at Willow Glen High School on 18 June 2015. Most of the discussion was about:

Bad for Business: The Road Diet trial has reportedly had a very negative effect on local businesses (particularly in the 0.4 mile downtown area on Lincoln Avenue between Willow Street and Minnesota Avenue). Many small business owners at the meeting spoke of a significant decline due to customer frustration with traffic congestion. Several spoke about shopping elsewhere to avoid the intermittent Lincoln Avenue gridlock.
Good for Bikes: Several in the bicycling community reported their satisfaction at having a new bike lane, even if it does not connect yet to other bike corridors.
Driver Frustration caused by increased traffic congestion on Lincoln Avenue was a common topic.
Data, Analysis, and Interpretation: Questions were raised by many about Road Diet data – as well as concern about key elements (like accidents, pedestrian traffic, and parking) not being measured at all.

Here is a summary by the Willow Glen Business Association about the Road Diet:

In Fall 2014 District 6 Council Member Pierluigi Oliverio proposed that the City of San José Department of Transportation (DOT) implement a trial road diet on Lincoln Avenue in Spring 2015. The trial was completed in March, April and May 2015. You may read the DOT’s reports about the trial here:

Results of WGBA Member Survey

DOT Preliminary Status Report – May 2015

DOT Final Data Collection Report – June 2015

What is a Road Diet? Watch this video to learn about road diets.

A recent news story “San Jose: Lincoln Avenue ‘road diet’ divides Willow Glen community” reported on how the Road Diet is polarizing this small community.

Council Member Olivierio wrote (in November 2014) that he backed the Road Diet to help the Willow Glen business district “…feel quaint, pedestrian friendly, and become a more desirable location to shop and stroll.” According to Interim Director Jim Ortbal of the Department of Transportation (DOT), the purpose of the Lincoln Avenue Road Diet was threefold:

Improve safety for all users
Create a calmer traffic environment
Enhance travel for people walking and biking

DOT staff reported at length on traffic volume and speed data for 45 locations in the Willow Glen area. However, on 18 June, the DOT was not able to present information indicating success on any of the three goals. For example, DOT said they could not report on safety because it would take one to two years of data collection to determine patterns. When pressed, DOT staff said that there were about the same number of accidents reported to the police. Some speakers (including myself) testified to the current situation causing dangerous traffic congestion and frustration for both drivers and walkers at certain times of day. Other members of the public said that they felt safer walking in the area as a result of the Road Diet. DOT reported a small increase in bikers but they did not measure walkers.

A group of four Stanford University Public Policy graduate students conducted their own Analysis and Recommendations for Lincoln Ave Road Diet. Their recommendations were:

Clarify and prioritize the goals of the road diet to better gauge whether the road diet successfully achieves its policy objectives.
Determine the road diet’s impact on Lincoln Avenue businesses by gathering and analyzing pre- and post-diet data on business sales receipts.
Survey area residents to gauge perceptions of the road diet’s impact on livability.
Gather more pedestrian and bicycle traffic count observations over a longer time period to determine if the post-diet increases are statistically significant.

Some of the best suggestions I heard at the 18 June public hearing were:

Create a pedestrian scramble at both Willow/Lincoln and Minnesota/Lincoln rather than making walkers wait for two long lights.
Get rid of the Road Diet middle passing lane (that some were calling the “suicide lane” and others said was often blocked by parked trucks making deliveries), allowing just one lane in each direction, then increase the available parking with diagonal striping, and maybe widen the sidewalks at the same time.
Build a parking structure (for example in the now-empty lot on the corner of Willow/Lincoln) to reduce the number of cars circling trying to find a place to park.

The DOT is asking for a quick decision on the success of the 3-month Road Diet so that they can know what to do when they repave Lincoln Avenue in October 2015.

Click here to see the entire Willow Glen Road Diet Series.

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Tagged as Road Diet, San Jose, Willow Glen

June 22, 2015 · 2:56 pm

Salt Lake City tomorrow!

I will fly to Salt Lake City, Utah, tomorrow to attend the 78th triennial General Convention of the Episcopal Church where I am honored to join the GC Deputation from the Diocese of El Camino Real (ECR). Three of the ECR Deputation were elected from my home parish, Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Saratoga, California. Yesterday, Rev. Channing Smith and the whole congregation blessed and commissioned Canon Linda, Tim, and me during service. The ECR Deputation who will be joining our Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves in Salt Lake City includes four clergy and for lay members:

Clergy	Lay
Delegates	.
Maly Hughes, The Rev. (Deputation Chair)	Jeff Diehl, Mr.
Rob Fisher, The Rev.	Celeste Ventura, Ms.
Linda Taylor, The Rev. Canon	Timothy Gee, Mr.
Terry Gleeson, The Rev.	Diana Trapani, Ms.
Alternates	.
Thomas Sramek, Jr., The Rev.	Katy Dickinson, Ms.

As the First Alternates, Tom and I will give the Delegates a break during long sessions, we can also check out GC meetings and events, and we are the official diocesan bloggers as well. As you can see from the table above, I have been collecting social media connections for everyone so that when we blog and tweet and update Facebook, we can easily feature individuals. The Delegation are not the only ones coming from ECR to GC. I know that Melita Thorpe will be there with the Vergers and some spouses and partners (including my husband John Plocher) can join us for part of the two weeks. (Any others?)

My blog posts will be on both my home site and on the diocesan website. ECR readers may find it strange when I explain basics for my regular readers (many of whom are not Christian). For those who want more: GC orientation videos, and information on the 4 Presiding Bishop candidates are available, as is the GC website. GC has a mobile website and for the first time will be distributing documents via a virtual binder on iPad rather than on paper this year. So, there should be a great deal of information available to remote participants and lurkers.

I encourage everyone to send me comments or questions!

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Tagged as Episcopal church, General Convention, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church

June 18, 2015 · 3:52 pm

General Convention (starts next week)

The first General Convention of the Episcopal Church was held in 1785, 230 years ago. The 78th GC will start next week in Salt Lake City. I was elected in 2014 to join the GC Deputation from the Diocese of El Camino Real (ECR). Despite being a lifelong Episcopalian, I have never been to General Convention before: I am looking forward to going!

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you will know that I am an annual delegate and roadie for the ECR diocesan convention, usually held in Salinas, California. Last year, I felt called to volunteer two weeks of my time to attend the 78th GC. Since 2010 when I started four years of Education for Ministry studies, I have become more aware of the larger church outside of my own diocese. I want see how GC works, connect with like-minded folks in my church outside of Central California, and contribute my understanding and experience to the GC discussions as I can.

Most of the discussions this past year among the ECR Deputation members have been about the serious issues to be considered by this legislative body that meets every three years, especially:

Restructuring Church governance to enhance mission and ministry (TREC)
Marriage equality
Care of creation and social justice
Election of the next Presiding Bishop to a 9 year term

We have diligently studied and summarized the reports of the 22 Legislative Committees (I wrote the summary on “Social Justice and International Policy”):

01 – Dispatch of Business	02 – Certification of Minutes	03 – Rules of Order	04 – Constitution and Canons
05 – Governance and Structure	06 – World Mission	07 – Social Justice and International Policy	08 – Social Justice and United States Policy
09 – Congregational Vitality	10 – Evangelism and Communications	11 – Prayer Book, Liturgy and Music	12 – Formation & Education for Ministry
13 – Church Pension Fund	14 – Stewardship and Development	15 – Ecumenical and Inter-religious Relations	16 – Environmental Stewardship and Care of Creation
17 – Privilege and Courtesy	18 – Credentials	19 – Confirmation of the Presiding Bishop	20 – Special Legislative Committee on Marriage
21 – Program, Budget and Finance	22 – Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse	.	.

However, from the number of invitations I have gotten in recent months to dinners and receptions, I have learned that GC is not just a legislative body, it is also a meeting place for far flung associations, schools, and church interest groups to connect with alumni, supporters, and potential participants. So far, I have accepted invitations to attend our own ECR diocesan dinner, the University of the South dinner, and the reception for Education for Ministry (for which I am an Accredited Mentor). I am sure I will participate in other events as well.

In addition to invitations from organizations to which I have a direct connection, I have received a wide variety of emails about GC events and upcoming discussions. Here are two – one serious and one humorous – that caught my eye:

Any convention that can accommodate both the Lent Madness sillies as well as serious theological lobbyists is going to be very interesting indeed.

19 June 2015:
This blog post is also available on the RealEpiscopal.Org ECR diocesan website. Rev. Tom Sramek Jr. and I are the diocesan bloggers for GC 78.

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June 17, 2015 · 4:35 pm

3 Realizations About Seattle

Last week, I stayed with my wonderful daughter Jessica and son-in-law Matthew while visiting Seattle, Washington, to speak on “History of Women in Computing and Women Leaders in Computing” at Microsoft Research. I was last in Seattle on New Year’s Eve 1999, when John and group of friends rented the Virginia City and another private rail car for a three day celebration trip from San Jose, California. In 1999, we saw very little of the city, so this was my first real tour. Jessica generously drove me into the Cascade Range the first day (where we walked a tiny part of the Pacific Crest Trail), and we walked around the city proper after that.

I gained three realizations about Seattle:

Although it is 54 miles from Seattle, I learned how big and present Mount Ranier is during this trip. Even on the hottest day, the huge snow-clad volcano looms at the ends of long streets and above buildings.
Another presence I did not expect was the many seagulls. We saw them at the port but they also flocked on rooftops at sundown to eat the rising bugs.
I am a big fan of civic ironwork and Seattle offers a remarkable selection for the connoisseur of this humble art form.

I learned that there is more to Seattle than coffee and software!