Bishop's Message Archives
The Bishop reflects on General Convention
By V Gene Robinson
Jul 7, 2006, 08:59

The Bishop reflects on General Convention

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

            Every three years, the Episcopal Church gath­ers for General Convention – a cross between a family reunion, a session of Congress, a revival meeting complete with hymn sing, and an eccle­siastical shopping trip. This year’s gathering in Columbus, Ohio, was no different.

            Formal legislative committee meetings and public hearings (Did you know that EVERY single piece of proposed legislation, prior to going to the House for a vote, must be given a public hearing, at which ANY Episcopalian, deputy or not, may testify and make their opinion known?) begin each day at 7 a.m., move on to worship and Bible study, legislative meetings of the House of Depu­ties (clergy and laity) and the House of Bishops, then special events and informal gatherings which can go until late at night. The next morn­ing, it starts all over again.  It is an exhausting, but inspiring and joyful 10-12 days.

            You were wonderfully represented by your clergy and lay deputies, who tirelessly gave of themselves for the Church and its mission.

            The most exciting action taken by the Conven­tion was the election of the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori as the 26^th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. The Presiding Bishop is elected to a nine-year term by the House of Bish­ops, and that election must be consented to by the House of Deputies.

            On the morning of the election, following the eucharist, the bishops were bused off to Trinity Church where we were sequestered for the elec­tion. No one was more surprised by the election of the only female nominee than we were!  The conventional wisdom indicated that despite a superior “showing” at our recent House of Bishops’ evening with the candidates, Katharine was “unelectable” because of her relatively short ten­ure as a priest and bishop (five years of each), and because she might cause “offense” to the all-male group of Primates of the Anglican Com­munion.
            Imagine our surprise when she led the results of the first ballot. (In the second ballot, she and one other nominee were tied; for the rest of the ballots, she led in every count.)  Most of us feared, but expected, that support for her would drop off in succeeding ballots – but the votes kept shifting her way until she reached the necessary majority.
            When the election was announced, a collective gasp was heard throughout the House (not unlike the election three years ago in New Hampshire), and then thunderous applause. First woman bishop Barbara Harris (who was sitting right in front of me) and the rest of the woman bishops burst into tears. Tears were evident in the eyes of many of us men as well, as we reached yet an­other milestone in our full inclusion of women in the life and leadership of the Church – exactly 30 years after the vote to ordain women.  Coinciden­tally, around the walls of the Church was a beau­tiful time line of the role of women in the Church, and one male bishop walked over and wrote in the latest milestone at the end of that timeline. What a historic moment! I am so proud to have been a part of it.
            To my way of thinking, the most important legislation passed at the General Convention was the Episcopal Church’s commitment to the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, a set of eight goals to end extreme poverty in the world and to fight debilitating diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, and to empower women and children, so often the worst victims of poverty, disease, and injustice. Leaders of this worldwide initiative have calculated that if every first world person, government and organization would commit a mere 0.7 percent (yes, that’s seven-tenths of one percent) of income toward this ef­fort, we could eradicate extreme poverty and dis­ease throughout the world by 2015.  You will be hearing more from me and your deputies about committing to this initiative.  After all, is this not the work that Jesus called us to do?  And now it is at the top of the Episcopal Church’s priorities.
            Lastly (although it’s what you heard the most about from the media), the General Convention responded to the Anglican Communion’s Windsor Report, the report calling on the Epis­copal Church to do certain things in order to preserve the Anglican Communion.
            Most of what was asked for was complied with – including a virtual moratorium on the consecration of openly gay or lesbian priests as bishops of the Church.
            This was done the day after the Deputies had rejected such a ban, when the Presiding Bishop brought the legislation back, and an ap­peal was made by Presiding Bishop-elect Schori that this was the best way forward. Many of the gay and lesbian deputies, in tears and feeling the cost, came to the microphone to say that they would vote “yes.”
            But no sooner had these painful sacrifices been made and difficult decisions voted on, than the so-called “Network” of extreme con­servatives in the Episcopal Church announced that our actions had been woefully inadequate and “not enough” to satisfy them and the con­servatives in the Anglican Communion.  They declared themselves out of communion with the new Presiding Bishop-elect (she had voted to give consent to my election in 2003) and in­tent on cutting ties to the Episcopal Church and attaching themselves to some other prov­ince of the Anglican Communion.
            To my eyes, it proved what we had sus­pected: that they came to Convention having already decided that nothing would be enough to have them give up their intention to divide the Church, rather than work for our reconcili­ation. To this bishop, Episcopalian, gay man and human being, it felt like a kick in the teeth.
            I am now in the difficult position of explain­ing to all those people who came to our church BECAUSE of the election in 2003, and to all our faithful gay and lesbian members, how the Church could have done such a thing.  Time will tell how this will play itself out in our com­mon life.
            All in all, it was a good General Convention. Retiring Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold was properly honored and appreciated for his spe­cial ministry, and we here in New Hampshire look forward to welcoming him back to the Newfound Lake region.
            Katharine Jefferts Schori will be installed as our next Presiding Bishop at the National Ca­thedral in Washington on Nov. 4.

           And life returns to normal in the Diocese of New Hampshire as the summer season enve­lopes us in warmth and flowers.  Let us give thanks to God for all of God’s great gifts and mercies.

Your brother in Christ,
+Gene
New Hampshire