All of my time here has not been spent sitting in meetings.  We’ve had fun as deputation as we shared meals, conversation, and worship. Making new acquaintances, running into long-time friends from other dioceses, visiting the exhibit hall, and going out in mission to love and serve those living on the streets of Austin has been incredibly exciting.

I will leave Convention tomorrow a proud member of the Episcopal Church, with a great sense of hope.  This is an exciting and hopeful time for us.  We have been shown how to have a Revival, Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry style!  It has been an uplifting experience.  We have been given the tools we need, to go out and serve our brothers and sisters in our communities and the world as dioceses, convocations, and parishes of The Episcopal Church. My hope is that, together, we can be a more vibrant example of love, the love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  With God’s grace, we can do the work we have been given to do.

Cathy Cummings Rippeon, Lay Alternate to General Convention

St. Andrew’s in the Valley, Harrisburg

And make no mistake; it is a long slog.  This morning’s four-hour block of debate and deliberation is a long time to sit still and pay attention.  Thankfully, our sessions are broken up by prayer, bits of humor, and bathroom breaks.

A couple of days ago, we were told that the total number of resolutions we would be considering was over 500.  We were also given this tip, “The consent calendar is your friend.”  For inquiring minds who want to know, the consent calendar is a list of resolutions that we vote on in one fell swoop.  Just now we cleared 44 resolutions from our plate in the course of fewer than 5 minutes.  That’s good news because it took us 3 ½ hours to get through about 10 resolutions this morning, and we have 31 more on this afternoon’s schedule.

And these resolutions range from courtesy resolutions such as A288 “Gratitude for the Children’s Program (Yes, people bring their children to General Convention, and there is a program of activities for them) to more in-depth resolutions.  Earlier this morning, we passed The Episcopal Church’s budget of $134,000,000 for the next three years.

And sitting through hours and hours of legislative meetings, hearings, debate, and deliberation, I have to wonder if any of this will make a difference, especially when a lot of the resolutions are worded thusly: “that Executive Council be encouraged to… .,” or “that dioceses be requested to . . .”  Are we making a difference?

Yes, we are.  Last night our deputation gathered to put together bags of healthy snacks (granola bars, string cheese, fruit, oatmeal, peanut butter, tuna), personal hygiene items, and socks.  Early this morning, members of our deputation hit the streets to pass out these bags to our homeless neighbors in Austin.  So thanks to you, the Episcopal Church in Central Pennsylvania—because you are the ones who called and sent us to represent you at General Convention—God’s beloved children, whose beds are the sidewalks of Austin, received a tangible sign of God’s love and care.  A special thank you goes to A.L.E.R.T., who funded this morning’s mission.

Before heading off to our pink block of legislative time, we gathered for breakfast tacos of scrambled eggs, cheese and beef brisket, certainly a foretaste of that heavenly banquet we will all share one day.

Thank you for the privilege of representing and serving you at General Convention.

The Rev. Regina Bautista, St. John’s, Marietta

Alternate Clergy Deputy

We are at Day 7 in the Legislative Calendar, which means all Deputies and Bishops have been working 10 to 12 plus hours a day.  Committee work started two days before the legislative calendar, so we are really in Day 9 of these long hours.  This is my first convention as a Lay Deputy of the House.  I have been a Delegate to the ECW Triennial at past conventions, which is the Women’s arm of the Convention.  This is a very different experience.

The most exciting action of the first legislative session was voting to bring Cuba back into the fold of The Episcopal Church!!! They have been alone and isolated since 1966 across the Atlantic ocean from Florida, so close and yet so far away.  A wonderful celebration erupted as the unanimous vote was posted on the screen and the Bishop of Cuba was brought to the dais.  With flags waving, she gave a speech that was grateful, passionate, and had the Deputies in tears as the true realization that the lonely isolation would now come to an end for the Episcopalians residing in Cuba, definitely a high point of the convention for me.

The second session of the morning was a Joint Session with the Bishops and House to be presented with the budget from Program, Budget & Finance (PB&F) (I call them PB&J) for the next three-year triennium.   The total budget is $133,859,584. That is a lot of money! There are three main areas the budget addresses; Evangelism, Reconciliation and Justice, and the Care of Creation. Lots and lots of good hard work to spread the Good News of Jesus, bring peace and justice around the world and of course, care for our fragile earth and its’ resources. (Although every Deputy in the House is bundled up with teeth chattering, I am offering my neck to warm up hands of those around me. I am literally the only person who is happy with the temperature of the huge cavernous hall we occupy. ) In all seriousness, the budget is big, but the work that will be accomplished within it for people around the world is bigger.

Another legislative session with a huge worship service following took up the rest afternoon. We had a quick dinner at a taco place across the street from the convention center.  I was very adventurous and ordered brisket tacos with a blueberry sauce – fabulous! Who would have guessed?

A special legislative session from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. was called, so the House of Deputies could catch up on the legislative calendar of resolutions. A special Twitter hashtag was opened, #gcafterdark. You can imagine all matter of foolishness on the feed.  Resolutions were presented, debated, passed or rejected for over two hours. At 9:45 p.m., the House was adjourned and you might think we were done for the night – Nope!!

Our delegation gathered in the hotel meeting room to put together bags for the homeless population.  These bags were stuffed with toiletries we’d been saving from the hotel, granola bars, apples, string cheese and other small treats. They will be distributed in the morning to the huge homeless population.  According to our shuttle driver from the airport, Austin has the largest homeless population in Texas. Most of them hang out under the overpasses of Rte. 35, maybe a half mile from our hotel.

This is all I can manage for now.  Thank you for reading and following along with our adventures at General Convention in Austin, TX. Lastly, Happy Birthday to my son Cole!! I have missed being with him to celebrate every three years of his life for the last 12 years because of when General Convention falls on the calendar.  Have a Great Day Y’all

We are all getting tired and just a tad punchy, the pigeons roaming the House of Deputies are getting more and more attention in the form of poems, comments and twitter tweets, ensuring we keep our sense of humor while doing this serious work.

Amy Swiernik, Lay Deputy to General Convention

Lunch was a whiz through the exhibit hall, visiting with the Association for Episcopal Deacons (who are faithfully following and endorsing issues of social justice as well as writing the prayers of the people for the liturgy and organizing the communion stations during the Eucharist) and running into friends for brief chats. This is my tenth General Convention, my eighth as a deputy, and it’s always amazed me how people from so many pieces of my life, not just now but in years gone by, all cross paths here. I also took a little time to stop by different booths, learning about the ministries that people are doing.

Then, before the afternoon legislative session, I gathered for prayer being offered by “Bishops United Against Gun Violence”.  Each day for 15 minutes there is a gathering for prayer for those affected by gun violence, those killed by gun violence.  Today the heartbreaking topic was children who have access to guns and accidentally shoot other children.  The stories and prayers were powerful and moving.

In the afternoon session, we continued legislative work, beginning again with prayer.  Our work included adopting the Evangelism Charter which tells us that “Through the spiritual practice of evangelism, we seek, name and celebrate Jesus’ loving presence in the stories of all people…”  In this Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement, we are called to share the story and proclaim the Good News.

Our worship at the end of the day was a Eucharist for the Care of God’s Creation, with music and prayer from Native American and Celtic sources, praying us gently into our love of God’s creation and “this fragile earth, our island home.”  The young girl who sang at the beginning was the daughter of Tom Purdy, whom many in Central PA may remember as a youth in our diocese who ultimately followed a call to the priesthood.  It was a lovely reminder of the faithful folk whom our diocese has nurtured in both lay and ordained ministry.  I’m struck by how worship at General Convention reminds us that we can transform an empty, often cavernous space into a sacred place with our prayer and song and presence.

We ended the day with our diocesan dinner as we gathered for a relaxed evening of food and fellowship! From the hard work of convention through the fellowship of the evening, I pray that we are being faithful to God’s church, particularly our little corner of God’s church in Central Pennsylvania, and I am grateful to be held in prayer.

The Rev. Canon Kate Harrigan

Senior Deputy

Being a first-year deputy at General Convention has its advantages and its disadvantages and the entire process can be pretty overwhelming. So, to get your “sea legs”, first-year deputies are usually not assigned to committees. The advantage is that your schedule is open and you can attend meetings that other delegates do not. At that end of the day at our deputation meetings, we report back to the rest of our diocesan delegation.

General Convention is a bicameral body, so the one body (in my case, the House of Deputies) can pass resolutions, but they only go into effect if the other body (the House of Bishops) passes exactly the same resolution.  Today, I sat in on the hearings on the Committee on Ministry which our own Bishop Scanlan is the chair.  This committee was working on two resolutions and receiving testimonies both for and against.  One resolution was on the topic of amending the Canons concerning the admission of new dioceses into the Episcopal Church and seating of Bishops from those dioceses. The other concerned the issue of non-discrimination in the discernment process.  With the Church looking to possibly admit the Diocese of Cuba back into the Episcopal Church, these were very timely issues.  The rest of the day was comprised of two legislative sessions in the House of Deputies, where resolutions were presented and were either accepted or rejected, sometimes amended from the floor.  I saw firsthand how the house functioned so well that the final vote on such controversial topics such as “Marriage Rites for the Whole Church” ended up being lopsided votes in favor.  All the items from today will get sent to the House of Bishops for further review.  So, even though it was passed by the House of Deputies, it is not guaranteed it will pass the other House.  The Eucharist service this evening was amazing with music that almost brought one to tears.  Having several thousand people sitting with you in church is pretty uplifting.  Later in the day, I attended the reception for the dioceses in Province III.  Province III Synod is comprised of all the dioceses in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States.  So, I met old friends from the surrounding dioceses and made new acquaintances.

Being a first-year deputy, I was only permitted to “observe” during the committee meeting, but I am a full deputy in the House of Deputies, I have full voice and vote in that chamber.   I am learning the legislative process and networking and making new friends from around the wider Church.

I was excited to see the Church “pull together” to pass resolutions that were controversial when all sides compromised, something lacking in our national dialogue, in my humble opinion.  The worship service in the evening was wonderful with great music, amazing preaching and a moving liturgy.  I saw and felt the Holy Spirit move among people. When we work together, and dare I say, even “love” each other, the Holy Spirit moves and the same can happen in our own diocese.  Spread out as we are, we can learn to love each other but, that takes time and the desire to develop relationships.  So, we have no time to waste as we promote the Episcopal Branch of the Jesus Movement.

Br. David Rutledge, St. James Episcopal Church, Lancaster

First-Year Deputy to General Convention

The following morning, I obtained my media credentials badge, schedule, app info, press info, exhibit hall layout and I was off to cover various events. I was fortunate enough to have a few hours to walk around the exhibit hall and converse with various exhibitors. From the Church Pension Group to The Jesus Movement booth, the display areas were impressive and the people in the booths were kind, talkative and excited to see folks coming in.  The daily schedule at General Convention is packed (this is an understatement). From early morning meetings, Legislative Sessions, House of Deputies/House of Bishops sessions, media briefings to late night diocesan deputation meetings, I am amazed as I watch The Episcopal Church at work. Our diocesan Bishop, Clergy and Lay Delegates and Alternates, P3 Social Justice Committee Member, ECW and Sign Language Interpreter are all incredibly hard at work. Most days I tote three screens, a cell phone, a camera and video equipment in a rolling suitcase to make sure I don’t miss any event.

Each day, we as media receive updates/daily briefings and with the new General Convention Media Hub site https://www.episcopalchurch.org/general-convention-2018-media-hub, ENS website https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/ and other diocesan communicators, we as Episcopal Communicators are all collaborating to provide the latest General Convention news in as close to “real time” as possible. And its teamwork at its best! As Communicators, we were able to gather one evening and see bats, a plethora of bats. Austin is weird…and awesome.

In an effort to keep everyone back home informed, we are providing daily blog updates as well as daily videos. To read daily our General Convention news, follow on our website, https://diocesecpa.org/general-convention-news/. To follow us on Facebook, @diocesecpa, Twitter, @diocesecpa and Instagram, @diocpa.

Peace,

Alexis Guszick

Canon for Diocesan Communications & Events

As part of my role for ENEJ, I attended and listened to a couple of resolution hearings that addressed socially responsible investing. I am still very much learning my way around how resolutions get presented and dealt with, but the discussion was quite interesting.

I was excited to attend a reception presented by The Episcopal Peace Fellowship (EPF), an organization I’ve supported for some time. Our Diocesan Social Justice Network has been talking about ways we might encourage more people and parishes in our diocese to get involved in the important work done by EPF.

Blessings,

The Rev. Linda Watkins, Rector, St. Mary’s, Waynesboro

Province III Peace and Justice Ministry Coordinator

In addition, I am on the Credentialing Committee, which certifies that each diocese is properly represented. Today we also acquired a new, unexpected responsibility involving ensuring certain votes are accurately recorded. It was exciting to watch the team identify the issues involved, ways to deal with them & then go to work – all within 10 minutes.

This is my 4th General Convention (2 with ECW & 2 as a deputy) and as always, one of the highlights for me has always been the community worship service. All attendees & visitors to convention are welcome and the huge worship area becomes filled with moving music, a variety of languages and an energy that shows the potential within our church. The high point is hearing PB Curry’s sermon, of course!

Later, meeting with our diocesan representation, I can see how much of this energy & excitement can translate into action in our diocese.

Bonnie Chambers

There are about 5,000 Episcopalians gathered in the city of Austin for these next 10 days to study, pray, sing, debate, break bread, and, if one is lucky, to hear some good ‘ole country music.

Each one of us in the deputation from Central Pennsylvania gets to experience a small slice of this giant convention every day.  Sometimes our experiences overlap, and sometimes we are on our own, representing our diocese and doing our work with brothers and sisters from one of the other 109 dioceses in The Episcopal Church.

Yesterday, July 4^th, I got to experience three wonderful events-  a joint session of the House of Bishops and House of Deputies in which we received welcoming messages from President of the House of Deputies Gay Clark Jennings and our presiding bishop Michael Curry; the first legislative committee meeting and hearing for Committee #15 (Ministry) of which I serve as Chair of the bishops, and the Listening Liturgy offered by the House of Bishops to hear stories of men and women in our church who have suffered sexual harassment, abuse and exploitation.

All three events were powerful and made me proud to be an Episcopalian.  The energy of the Holy Spirit in our joint session was palpable as we came together to launch the work of Convention with uplifting and convicting messages from our leaders. (There was a bird in our cavernous assembly hall that flew in front of ++Michael during his address- it was a sure sign of the Holy Spirit!) The orderliness of our legislative process in the hearings that we held showed the respect that we have for the democratic process and the inclusion of all opinions around the table.  And the coming-to-fruition of a process and liturgy that I have worked on for four months lifted up the need for change in our church around issues of sexual abuse in a way that is critical and has opened the path for more, and deeper, work.

I saw some of our ECW women who arrived late this afternoon after a trip that included several travel mishaps – their plane nearly ran out of gas as they circled above Austin and, when they finally arrived, unscathed but tired and late, it took some time to locate their rooms In the hotel reservation system, but in the end, all was well.

My evening ended with warm brisket bathed in blueberry habanero hot sauce, wrapped in a flour tortilla.  The saying “Keep Austin Weird” extends even to their menu choices. It was weird, but really good.

I hope that you all had safe and happy 4ths of July.

As I write this, I’m watching fireworks outside my window.

Blessings and peace.

+Audrey

The Rev. Canon Daniel (Dan) Morrow, Evangelism and Church Planting Committee

“I am thrilled to be a part of the Evangelism and Church Planting Committee at General Convention 79 in Austin, Texas. At our last General Convention three years ago, the Church voted to spend almost 5 million dollars on Evangelism and Church planting initiatives during the last triennium. Over these last 3 years, dozens of new churches have been founded, dozens of mission enterprise zones have been established and dozens of people have been trained in church planting techniques, skills and best practices. In addition, the churchwide office hired a missioner for church planting charged with establishing a cohort of people who are energized and equipped to identify, train, mentor and send out new priests to plant churches. All in all, this marks the highest amount ever spent by the Episcopal Church to plant new congregations and worshipping communities.

I’m hoping to expand on the good work of our last convention. This year we have a resolution (A005) calling for 6.8 million dollars to be earmarked for new church planting initiatives. In my view, this is extremely important and part of our call to fulfill the great commission. God calls us to spread the gospel and to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This exciting opportunity, to rally behind a mission to support new ministries, is one I relish. In addition, there are eight other resolutions in our committee that we’ll look over, debate and perhaps recommend to the entire body to vote on. The one which I’m most excited about deals with a small evangelism grant program. This program would allow parishes to apply for a one-time $2,000 grant for evangelism projects. This will also allow diocese or convocations to apply for an $8,000 grant to support regional evangelism experiments. I’m envisioning many of our congregations applying for these funds.

As we envision our future as a diocese, and as we begin to necessarily shift our identity from primary parochial institutions towards convocational or regional based ministries, these granting resources and the resources for evangelism will be necessary as we work to build up God’s kingdom in Central PA.”

Charles (Chuck) Banks, Constitution and Canons Committee

Mr. Banks is expecting that the C&C Committee will be able to clarify and simplify our Constitution and Canons where existing language is confusing or obsolete, as well as provide guidance to other legislative committees that are struggling with the canonical implications of proposed legislation in their respective parochial areas.

“The C&C Committee’s work is important to DCPA because canonical issues come up frequently in our daily diocesan life.  For instance, we recently had an ‘interim’ period during which we had no duly-elected diocesan bishop, and yet we needed a temporary to handle duties that only a bishop can perform.  There’s no explicit canonical provision for ‘interim’ bishops, so we had to improvise.  It would be well if the canons addressed this issue.”

The Rev. Canon Stephen C. Casey, Constitution and Canons Committee

“Under the guidance of our chancellor, Charles Banks, I was a member of the team that recently revised the Constitution and Canons of our own diocese. It seems natural, therefore, that as an elected deputy to the 79th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, I was assigned to the interim Legislative Committee # 2, Constitution and Canons – or to give it its full title: Standing Committee on Structure, Governance, Constitution and Canons. All organisations, no matter how large or small, must have a structure, some form of governance and rules that order their common life. For the Episcopal Church, this is served by the Constitution and Canons, both at national as well as diocesan level.

What I hope for my committee and myself during this General Convention, is that we can serve the church by placing before the gathered assembly those rules and regulations that support our common life in Christ and further our work in the wider Anglican Community.”

The Rev. Canon Kate Harrigan, Chaplain, Committee #10, Congregational and Diocesan Vitality

Rev. Canon Harrigan truly hopes that this committee will be a prophetic voice for vitality and for congregational, diocesan, and provincial life in our church.  She expressed that this time around, there is nothing particularly controversial that will cause the masses to stream to Committee 10.  However, there are issues that will undergird the life of the church, how we relate to each other across different boundaries, and how we look at and respond to our work in the church, to the way we express The Jesus Movement.  She hopes that her committee will be a strong voice for the growing vitality of the church.

It is Pastor Kate’s belief that it is time to “get out of the rut”.  Whether it is the parochial report or congregational development or the work of provinces, we need to focus on mission, on how we move forward into the Jesus Movement, and how the church can be creative in the work God has given us to do.  The work of this committee gives structure and strength to the work we do as a diocese. We are revitalizing as a diocese and this work can be critical to us.

Linda Watkins, Province III Social Justice Representative stated the following:

“I am going to General Convention as part of the Episcopal Network for Economic Justice (ENEJ) on whose board I serve. ENEJ is part of a larger Episcopal Church entity called The Consultation, which oversees most of our Peace and Justice Ministries. My assignment is primarily covering Committee 20 – Stewardship of Creation.

Our Presiding Bishop has identified Stewardship of Creation as one of the three overarching themes of this Convention, so Committee 20 will be busy! My hope is that we will enact strong resolutions that will make us more aware that the harm caused by environmental degradation primarily affects communities of color and low economic status. I also hope that the Episcopal Church continues to divest from fossil fuels and reinvest in clean energy, including the Church Pension Fund, which is currently exempt from this call.”

Our Diocese is located in an area that is in a painful transition away from fossil fuels. We must serve those most affected by this change while at the same time being clear about the need to switch to clean energy. We are also in the Susquehanna River basin and the Chesapeake watershed – both crucial resources we are called to preserve for future generations.”