Province VIII of the Episcopal Church meets (includes California)

From the Province VIII website [boldface mine]:

Province VIII representatives, who gathered Sept. 10-11 for their regular business meeting near San Francisco, also prepared for next July's General Convention by sharing the stories of their lives.

About 75 bishops, clergy and laity elected officers, approved a $560,000 triennial budget and celebrated the establishment of new ministries. They were also the first provincial leaders to participate in the public narrative project, expected to frame a mission conversation at the national governing convention in Anaheim, California.

The Rev. John "Jack" Eastwood, re-elected for a second term as provincial president, encouraged attendees also to "go back to their dioceses and tell the story of the province … of sharing a Pentecost vision of unity by doing together in faith what we cannot do alone."

Since the last triennium, provincial leaders have reduced administrative expenses significantly, while increasing program costs nearly two-fold to about $100,000, Eastwood told the gathering. . .

The Rev. Gregory Straub, Secretary of Convention and Bonnie Anderson, President of the House of Deputies, joined the gathering for a General Convention orientation session and public narrative training workshop.

Public narrative is a leadership art that can be used by members of the Episcopal Church to articulate individual and collective stories as well as the call to action emerging from those stories and communities, according to Anderson. It connects with the convention theme, "ubuntu … I am because you are" which recognizes interdependence with one another.

"Today we are the place where the pebble is thrown into the pond. Today we begin a journey to General Convention; we will learn a technique for having that conversation," Anderson told the gathering.

She described public narrative as a "tool to build bridges to relationships, relationships to each other" which grew out of a General Convention 2006 resolution (D043). The training will be offered to all provincial synods prior to July 8, when the 76th General Convention convenes.

Well-known musician Fran McKendree offered music and the gathering warmly greeted participants from the continuing Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, all of whom were "first-time" deputies to General Convention, according to the Rev. Mark Hall, diocesan canon to the ordinary.

"We represent about 1,500 people and 19 parishes and missions," he said, amid applause and a standing ovation. . .

Elected to the provincial court of review were: Bishop Barry Beisner of Northern California; the Rev. Ernest Cockrell (El Camino Real); and the Rev. Canon Kent McNair (Northern California) and the Rev. John Scannell (Oregon). Laity elected to the board of review were: Michael Dotten (Oregon); Donald Mullins (Olympia) and Miles Snyder (Northern California).

The dioceses included in Province VIII are: Alaska, Arizona, California, Eastern Oregon, El Camino Real (California), Hawaii, Idaho, Los Angeles, Navajoland Area Mission, Nevada, Northern California, Olympia, Oregon, San Diego, San Joaquin, Spokane, Taiwan and Utah.

Read it all.

Bishop Ackerman, Diocese of Quincy, says cancel The Episcopal Church General Convention 2009

From Hans Zeiger in Canterbury for Virtue Online:

A leading orthodox bishop of The Episcopal Church has proposed canceling the 2009 Episcopal Church General Convention in order to fund the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Following the Thursday march on London by over 600 Anglican bishops and their spouses in support of the MDGs, the Rt. Rev. Keith Ackerman, Bishop of Quincy, said that "there should be no General Convention this year, and all the money for the convention should be sent to fund the goals."

Ackerman furthermore called for The Episcopal Church to "cancel all meetings that require face to face and conduct nothing but video conferencing." He said that the American wing of the Anglican Communion should "donate its money to churches that would be positively affected."

Though leaders of The Episcopal Church have stated their commitment to the MDGs and made their biggest stand yet in London on Thursday, Ackerman has doubts that The Episcopal Church has yet made a true commitment.

"If the church is absolutely, totally committed to these goals, there are three things it needs to do," Ackerman said.

"First, place the goals in the context of the Gospel itself.

"Second, leaders must make the necessary changes in their own personal lifestyle so that they can make their own commitment to model what God wants done.

"Third, the church must corporately find a way to fund this."

In response to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori's invitation to African bishops to join her for drinks at a Canterbury reception (despite the Sudanese bishops' abstinence from alcohol), Ackerman offered a specific MDG funding proposal. "Do not invite the Sudanese to a reception. Cancel the reception and give the money to the Sudanese church."

Check it out. And here is an interview I did with Bishop Ackerman in March of last year for AnglicanTV. He is such a gentle soul, but so strong in the faith.

They're commminnnnggg. . . General Convention '09 volunteer coordinators and supervisors meet in Anaheim

From EpiscopalLife Online [boldface mine]:

Volunteer coordinators and supervisors got their first look July 12 at the convention facility in Anaheim, California, that will be the center of attention for the Episcopal Church a year from now when General Convention 2009 convenes in the Diocese of Los Angeles.

The meeting with General Convention staff from the Episcopal Church Center took place at the Anaheim Marriott hotel, one of several within a short walk of the Anaheim Convention Center, where the main meetings of the General Convention and the concurrent Episcopal Church Women's Triennial will be held. . .

Most of the supervisors who will work with the coordinators to oversee the 1,500 volunteers expected to staff General Convention were recruited from within the six-county Diocese of Los Angeles, although a few are from other dioceses.

Lynn Headley, representing the Los Angeles diocese in her role as volunteer coordinator, welcomed the gathering to Anaheim on behalf of Bishop J. Jon Bruno. Also attending was Dina Ferguson, chair of the local planning committee.

Leading the meeting was Lori Ionnitiu, manager of General Convention, who explained the basic structure of the triennial meeting. Ionnitiu encouraged the coordinators and supervisors to become acquainted and begin to develop the relationships that will be essential to the smooth operation of the enormous convention and its legislative work. . .

The Rev. Gregory Straub, executive officer of General Convention, gave the group an overview of the workings of the triennial gathering, which is said to be one of the largest legislative bodies in the world, with up to eight deputies from each of its 110 dioceses representing 17 countries, and as many as 300 active and resigned bishops.

"For all its work, General Convention can seem like a party," said Straub as he described the activities that go on outside the two legislative houses, including the plethora of goods and services offered in the Exhibit Hall and events hosted by affiliated groups, such as seminaries and special interest organizations. In all, some 15,000 deputies, bishops, volunteers, exhibitors, guests and others are expected to attend the 10-day meeting July 8-17, 2009.

The theme for the meeting will be "Ubuntu," an African word loosely meaning "interconnectedness," Straub told the group. "It has been translated by Archbishop Desmond Tutu as ‘I am because you are.'"
Connecting that theme to the coordinators and supervisors, Straub said, "We shall be a convention because you are. Without you we cannot recruit and train the volunteers who make General Convention run."

Donna Keller, ECW's vice president for program, told the gathering that the Triennial will have the theme "Grow in Grace," with major addresses by writer Phyllis Tickle and Bishop Steven Charleston, president and dean of Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, Massachusetts. In addition, the Triennial will focus on the Millennium Development Goals and feature several workshops and an "Honored Women" night, which will recognize the ministry of women nominated by their dioceses, said Keller, who resides in the Diocese of Los Angeles. . .

Read it all.

*Updated* Greg Griffith predicts what might happen at GC09

Update: For another considered point of view, I've added a comment from young joe at old oc below Greg's predictions.

Original: From the Stand Firm comments, Greg Griffith outlines what he thinks might happen at General Convention 2009 [boldface mine]:

. . . It may not be a foregone conclusion, but it is far likelier than not that at GC09, three major pieces of legislation will be passed:

The first will be a significant expansion of C051. The exact scope of that expansion obviously we won’t know until we get much closer to convention, but rest assured it will fall somewhere between a nationally comprehensive authorization that reflects Susan Russell’s “full inclusion, including holy matrimony” goal at a minimum, and perhaps a proposal for inclusion in a new Book of Common Prayer, whether as a separate rite, or as a modification of the existing Rite of Holy Matrimony and the accompanying rubric; which strikes gender-specific language and adds some predictably stomach-turning treacle.

The second will be some kind of clampdown on dissenting clergy and lay people. I won’t venture a guess as to details, but suffice it to say it will probably make life for outspoken orthodox priests anywhere from much more interesting to crazy interesting, and for loudmouth lay people anywhere from somewhat interesting to much more interesting. I half-expect to be summoned by my bishop or some of the resident Eddie Haskels at Allin House at some point by summer of 2010 at the latest.

The third will be a jaw-dropping clampdown on property issues. Schori and Beers will not leave Anaheim without something that relieves them of the pain being administered to them in Virginia right now.

Then here’s what will happen as news filters out on the blogs and such:

Lay people to the immediate left of us - those “moderate conservatives” who didn’t see any reason to get worked up about what happened in 2003, because it was “way off in New Hampshire” - will be informed that gay marriage is the law of the land in TEC, that it is no longer something that’s confined to a few wacko fringe dioceses like San Francisco and D.C. Think women’s ordination in 1997 - the way it was changed from “local option” in the 70’s, to mandatory in ‘97. I don’t rule out the possibility of goon squads being sent around much like they were in 97, “encouraging” bishops and standing committees to get in line.

Lay people will then realize what the form these rites will take in that of an “amended” and soon-to-be-revised prayer book, and they will stop in their tracks. They will look around for options, and begin planning how they will take their parishes out of the Episcopal Church.

It’s then they’ll be horrified to learn that, according to 815, they don’t actually own the property into which they have poured their time and fortune all these years. There will be outrage, disbelief, and chaos.

Many of them will come here, looking for a detailed plan on how to save their church. Not finding one, some of them will take us to task for being nothing but a bunch of loudmouths who have done nothing to help them, and they can’t believe we’ve let them down this way.

Some will stay and pledge to fight. Others will storm out of the church, and stand on the sidelines berating those who chose to leave.

Then things will get interesting.

So make a copy of this, pull it out next summer, and see if Greg is right!

And an update from young joe in old oc [boldface mine]:

Greg is extremely smart and capable, but I disagree with his approach on this as I do with most of the bloggers and editors on Stand Firm. They don't realize how their attitude has created, to some degree, a profusion of self-fulfilling prophecy.

There are many very traditional/conservative folks who always see us on a slippery slope to death and destruction (I was one of them back in the late '90's as we had just embraced the liturgical/sacramental vision of the Faith and tried to get involved in a handful of different episcopal parishes in the Pasadena area - after that short tour, we ended up rejecting ecusa). Unlike Greg and his staff however, they are not generally fully engaged at parish, diocesan, or church-wide levels, nor do they really know how to be, and that lack of engagement has been the acceptable sub-culture in episcopal parishes, progressive, mainstream or traditionalist, for at least 70 years. However, these average, often very committed lay churchmen and women will take what they read on blogs like Stand Firm as confirmation of the rightness of their perspective, and give up on the possibility of making serious breakthroughs as individuals on any level (We saw this happen at the parish in Glendale). They will take comfort in their para-church groups like Forward in Faith or the AAC (nothing wrong with these groups at all - they just don't know how to break people of their americanized habit patterns), or ecumenical ministries they're involved with, and further separate themselves from the political aspects of parish life, except where the para-church provides the tools to make some specific challenge. As this has occurred all across TEC over the last 25 years, we now see the "prophecies" being fulfilled, and the only place then for many orthodox folks to go is the exits.

I probably have the same turn of the stomach Greg does when I read about the false teaching and apostasy that is becoming the norm in may parts of episcopalianism. But I will not allow myself to become so deeply cynical and always convinced that the end is near. I am sick to death of what the PB and her henchmen at 815 are trying to form in their own image with their ersatz inclusiveness and twisted, secularized (false) gospel. My bags are packed and I am ready to leave ecusa the moment that a consensus forms at the parish about where we should go. And I have been pushing for the parish to begin the process. However, I'm not going to let myself believe that all the orthodox traditionalist folks who remain and don't have the same perspective I do are simply sheep that will go right to the door of the slaughterhouse.

Greg may be right in 80 percent of what he is predicting in this article, but if he is only 80 or 90 percent correct, he does not possess prophetic gifts and so shouldn't be writing as if he is indeed a prophet.

Two approaches to the same issues - some will agree strongly with one, some with other, and many fall somewhere in between, so how do we remain focused on what is best for the church?

Hey, we could have fun with this! 'Ubuntu': Logo design contest seeks to convey General Convention theme

From EpiscopalLife Online:

Requesting entries by June 30, organizers have launched a church-wide contest for logo designs conveying the 2009 General Convention theme of "ubuntu" (pronounced oo-boon-too), a Zulu or Xhosa word that describes humaneness encompassing a sense of caring, sharing and being in harmony with all of creation. . .

Sponsored by General Convention's Joint Standing Commission on Planning and Arrangements, the contest offers a $5,000 first-prize contribution to an organization addressing one or more of the Millennium Development Goals [but of course]. Contest rules are here.

Read it all, and start cogitating!

Nominations Sought for Elections at GC 2009

Check out Sarah Hey's posting at Stand Firm on how to apply as a delegate for General Convention 2009, to be held in Anaheim:

[Surely preparing your nomination is a good way to spend your weekend, all you Trusting Conservatives!]

Okay, we know that out there in cyberspace there are many of you Trusting Conservatives who still think that the Episcopal church will someday be reformed and renewed. You huddle at your computer, reading StandFirm and sending us occasional mild-mannered reproofs about whether someone is merely a heretic or a full-throttle apostate, but you read us avidly and also send us encouraging and kindly and affirming words of inclusion and gentle nudges towards a "posture of hopefulness and optimism."

We think you are crazy.

But we love you anyway.

Now is the time to put your money where your mouth is, to go ahead and put your head on the chopping block, so to speak, and fill out an application to be considered for one of these shining examples of the polity of the Episcopal Church. . .

Read it all - she tells you the hows and whatfors - and consider applying!