DAY 10: Thursday, July 16

From Kate Harrigan (Deputation Chair): “On Beyond Zebra” or On Beyond D025

Much attention has been focused on the passage here of Resolution D025, which reaffirmed The Episcopal Church’s commitment to equal access for all to the process of discernment toward ordered ministry. But a great deal more has been happening here in Anaheim, and over the last few General Conventions, and I have find myself compelled to bring attention to the incredibly compassionate and faithful work of each convention.

Some items the public is not hearing about:

We restored funding to the Millennium Development Goals. These address the needs of people around the globe. While the funding had originally been removed, the church decided that these goals were important enough to “put our money where our mouth is”, even with a tight and sacrificial budget.

We passed legislation that advocates for

• indigenous peoples who live in the poorest areas of our country;
• lay employees in the church through pension and health plans;
• fair labor laws in the United States;
• equal education for all children;
• protection for victims of domestic violence.

These are just a few of the resolutions we passed so that the church may speak and act with a voice of justice for those who have no voice.

We are also passing legislation that broadens the boundaries of our church so that we may share the goodness of God with our brothers and sisters in Christ from the Moravian, the Methodist, and the Presbyterian traditions.

And we are passing legislation that begs us to pay attention to our care of creation to reverse damage to the environment.

The overwhelming voice and work of this convention, and of our Episcopal Church, is the voice and work of inclusion and advocacy – for The LGBT community, for the Latino/Hispanic community, for the indigenous people of our world, for the poor among us, for our brothers and sisters in Christ from other traditions and for God’s earth.

In his meditation today, the Rev. Frank Wade, our chaplain, helped us to understand that evangelism really means telling our story. The evangelist is the story teller. We are telling our story here, a powerful story of inclusion and advocacy, a powerful story of faithfulness to the Gospel – the Good News – of Christ.

From Patrick Strohl:

Well, we have a budget for The Episcopal Church for the 2010-2012 triennium. After holding two hearings last week, the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget and Finance presented a budget reflecting cuts totaling over $23 million from the proposed budget drafted earlier this year. The Convention adopted a $141 million budget, which reflects a reduction of $10.45 per Episcopalian per year.

On the income side, in response to dioceses’ requests, asking will be calculated at 21% of each diocese's operating income for 2010; 20% for 2011 and 19% for 2012. Our Diocese of Central PA was one of only 27 dioceses that met the 21% asking in 2008.

On the expense side, many national programs will be cut, meaning that dioceses and parishes will need to undertake more mission work themselves. Up to 37 out of 180 staff members employed at the New York and regional offices will lose their jobs. Many were told in meetings at convention that their jobs were being eliminated. The House of Deputies halted business after the budget was adopted to pray for those affected by the cuts.

In another cost cutting move, the 77th General Convention to be held in Indianapolis in 2012 has been shortened from ten days to eight. The budget for Episcopal Life was cut from $9.5 million to $3 million, to reflect an eventual move from ten newspaper-style issues a year to a quarterly magazine-type publication, with other media picking up the task of providing timely “news”. Dioceses like ours, who wrap their diocesan newspapers around Episcopal Life, will need to adjust communications strategies.

We are being forced to become leaner, more efficient and more focused. God grant us grace to see and name the abundance that God offers, as we work through the pain of this process.


From Rayelenn Casey, Sign Language Interpreter:

(Editor’s Note: Rayelenn has traveled to Anaheim this convention with her husband, Stephen, who is a clergy delegate, and daughter, Emily, who is a volunteer.)

This is my fifth consecutive General Convention working as a sign language interpreter. I don’t know how many of you are aware of the existence of the Episcopal Conference of the Deaf, a body in the national church that supports ministry with Deaf people, providing, as they say at their popular booth in the Exhibit Hall, “faith experiences for Deaf people in their own language.”

The ECD has no central office or location; instead, it is made up of priests, deacons, and lay people in parishes all over the country from Boston to San Diego, from Alabama and North Carolina, to St. Louis to Upstate New York. The ECD is made up of several fully Deaf parishes as well as “hearing” parishes that offer sign language interpretation. So – the Episcopal Conference of the Deaf has a very strong and very visible presence at General Convention, and it is my honour and privilege to be one of the three interpreters providing interpretation at daily worship services, at committee meetings, in the House of Deputies and even the House of Bishops, in addition to special events.

The ECD’s booth in the exhibit hall is, as I say, popular – it seems everyone loves to learn sign language, so there is always an interpreter stationed there to facilitate conversation between the Deaf people at the booth and passers-by. Deaf people have also testified at committee hearings and served as Eucharistic ministers at worship.

On a personal note, it was for me a pleasure and a sacred responsibility to interpret for Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in his address on the global economy last week, and to share the peace with him at worship the next morning. Interpreting liturgy has always been a particular joy for me – and so I am having a wonderful time doing just that at General Convention.