Tag Archives: marriage

The General Convention (GC) finished its second-to-last legislative day – one more day in the House of Deputies  (HoD) for the Deputation of the Diocese of El Camino Real (ECR).  We start every day at the GC here in Salt Lake City with worship, and every day there is a focus for our celebration. The biographies provided have been inspiring! Today, we heard about the Rev. Charles Barnes, an American who spoke against the murder of over 20,000 Haitians by the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic. During the sermon, we heard part of the poem “Parsley” by Rita Dove – because in 1937 the Haitians who could not say “parsley” in Spanish were killed. Others honored during GC workshop have included: the Rev. Hiram Hisanori Kano (Nebraska), James Weldon Johnson (Florida), the Rev. Cornelius Hill (Oneida, Wisconsin), and Isabel Florence Hapgood (Massachusetts, Russia).

Today was a forced march through the budget, plus structure, stewardship/conservation, courtesy and other legislative resolutions, ably managed by Rev. Gay Clark Jennings (President of the HofD).  She started off with a charming variation on Mr. Roger’s saying: “It’s a great day in the Kingdom!”  Her humor, grace, and world-class management skills kept us going until 7:30 pm tonight after many had started in committee meetings at 7:30 am. Some resolutions were for HofD to concur with the House of Bishops (HofB) and others have been passed back to the HofB for consideration. The closest vote of the day was a remarkable 50.73% against and 49.27% for.

We sidled up to the very controversial subject of bringing HofD and HofB into a unicameral model in D008 Amend Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution – sent to the HofB for consideration today:

Sec. 1. There shall be a General Convention of this Church, consisting of the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies, which Houses will sit, debate, and vote separately, unless otherwise provided for by this Constitution or the Canons. The Houses by majority vote of each House may call for the Houses to sit, debate, and vote, or any combination thereof, together. The General Convention may by Canon establish procedures for such sessions. In all deliberations freedom of debate shall be allowed. Either House may originate and propose legislation, and all acts of the Convention shall be adopted and be authenticated by both Houses.

There were also many many resolutions of courtesy to thank everyone: those who run our worship services, the secretariat and leadership of HofD, the people and Diocese of Utah, the Official Youth Presence, HofD Chaplain, etc.  While they do add significantly to the time and work of our day, I acknowledge that resolutions of courtesy serve two clear purposes:

• Community building and acknowledgement
• Allowing HofD to stand up from time to time to offer ovations and applause

At the end of today’s legislative session, the Deputation from Honduras asked to read a communique from a group of bishops setting forth their dissent to the marriage equality resolutions known as A036 and A054. The HofD President allowed them the full time for a translated Point of Personal Privilege. Unfortunately, they spent half their time reading the names and titles and locations of the signatories so it did not make much sense as presented.

We finished our day with an ECR Deputation dinner with our Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves, including giving her an early surprise birthday dessert!

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Images Copyright 2015 by Katy Dickinson

Rev. Tom Sramek and I are the Official Bloggers on General Convention (GC) from the Diocese of El Camino Real (ECR).  Tonight, Tom got his blog entry done before me, so check out “Sex(uality), Money, and Power Take Center Stage at GC” for a good summary of today’s wild day in legislative session of the House of Deputies (HofD).

HofD had six key resolutions so important that they were given priority with special timing and discussion limitations so that there was a hope of finishing by Friday night:

• Structure: A004 Amend I.4.1-8 – Restructure Executive Council
• Structure: A006 Amend I.1.2 – Restructure Standing Commissions and Interim Bodies of General Convention
• Structure: A133 Amend Canon IV.7.4 Clarification of Compensation under Restriction
• Marriage: A054 Adopt Resources and Rites from “Liturgical Resources I: I Will Bless You and You Will Be a Blessing, Revised and Expanded 2015”
• Marriage: A036 Amend Canon I.18 Marriage
• Budget: D013 Budget Process for The Episcopal Church

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori lead the joint session at which the budget was presented and discussed. HofD voted to concur with the House of Bishops (HofB) on A006. Two other key decisions made today – in which the HofD concurred with the HofB – approved marriage equality in the Episcopal Church. That is, these resolutions affirm that same sex couples are as capable of holy marriage as different sex couples, and provide resources, rites, and rules to support marriage equality.  There were many attempts to divert or stop the decision (parliamentary motions to refer, amend, vote by orders, etc.) but as you can see by the vote tallies in the photos below, the Deputies overwhelmingly approved both A054 and A036.

Marriage equality has been passionately discussed for 39 years in our church and even today there were serious, prayerful, and heartfelt objections raised.  Rev. Gay Clark Jennings (President of the HofD) asked that the House maintain decorum and respect – as celebrations on one side could only be hurtful to our brothers and sisters taking the opposite view. Chaplain Rev. Lester V. Mackenzie lead HofD in prayer and song before each vote. Over a thousand people were present for this historic decision. We will be processing what is means to us and to our church for many years to come. ECR is proud of our Deputy Jeff Diehl who served on the Special Legislative Committee on Marriage that presented their two resolutions today. I am proud of my church for taking this important step to include all of God’s people.

After the legislative session, many of us walked to the Salt Lake Tabernacle to enjoy an evening of music with choirs, dancers, and drumming as guests of our generous hosts, the Right Reverend Scott B. Hayashi, Bishop of Utah, and the Diocese of Utah.

5 July 2015 – Several people have asked for the text of what the Rev. Terry Gleeson said to GC about A036 on 1 July. Here it is:

Madam President, I rise in support of the resolution.
Six years ago I hesitated before baptizing my newly-born, newly-adopted, bi-racial daughter. I wasn’t concerned about her becoming a child of God, I was concerned about her taking on the church. Like any parent I had to distinguish between what I was prepared to endure for myself and what I should inflict on an unsuspecting infant.
That was in July of 2009 and at the time I took heart from the actions of this house, how it heeded then, and continues to heed now, the prophetic call for freedom for all God’s children, how it committed itself to gathering not scattering the flock, to breaking down walls that divide and exclude, and strove to continue Jesus’ ministry of going out to the lost and forgotten, the demonized and demeaned, bringing healing and restoration to those who had been shunned. And so I took a chance and baptized her – I took a chance on US, that here among us, in our church at least, her baptism would be sufficient statement of her dignity and equality and worth, that no ministry, no office, no sacrament or rite would be denied her because of who she is, where she came from, or who she might grow up to be.
For her sake, for the sake of every one of our babies, and for our own integrity as prophets and disciples of that Jesus who brought only healing and restoration and reconciliation, I urge you to concur with this resolution.

Images Copyright 2015 by Katy Dickinson

The US Supreme Court decision supporting marriage equality came out just before the morning worship service here in Salt Lake City at the 78th Episcopal General Convention (GC).  The Deputation from the Diocese of El Camino Real (ECR) joined a wildly joyous crowd of thousands singing and dancing in thankful celebration. The rest of the day’s legislative meetings were not nearly as exciting!

The four candidates to be 27th Presiding Bishop were formally accepted for election tomorrow. GC started discussions on church restructuring (TREC) and worked through a variety of small votes.  The uncontested re-election of the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings for House of Deputies President was a happy moment. (She is the first ordained woman to hold the position – first elected in 2012.) She gave up her seat to the House of Deputies Vice President Byron Rushing and returned to sit with her home Deputation of Ohio during the vote process. She returned to a standing ovation by the House of Deputies. The National Association of Episcopal Schools was congratulated on its success and 50th anniversary. Episcopal Relief & Development was likewise commended for its excellence and 75th anniversary.

The Rev. Lester V. Mackenzie, GC Chaplain from Los Angeles, lead us in song and prayer. Everyone was asked again to “turn off their WiFi, MyFi and Hotspots – we have ways of finding you!” because these interfere with the GC Virtual Binder updates. I am not sure if it was this interference but we all enjoyed the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings making an exception to nominating procedure “because of malfunction of the thingy”.

Images Copyright 2015 by Katy Dickinson