Voices from General Convention

Before traveling to Salt Lake City for General Convention, some of our diocese’s deputies and other convention participants sat down to share their insights on their roles, including some of the most talked-about items on the convention agenda. Use the “read more” links to explore the full Q&A’s with  the Rev. Canon Mally Lloyd, the Rev. Dr. Cameron Partridge and youth delegate Allegra Robinson.

The Rev. Canon Mally Lloyd is a Diocese of Massachusetts deputy to General Convention and chairs the Committee on Program, Budget and Finance (PB&F), charged with finalizing the Episcopal Church’s three-year budget for General Convention’s approval. She also serves on the Joint Nominating Committee to Elect the Presiding Bishop.  In a recent interview, she offered her sense of what the church needs in its next presiding bishop, to be elected at the General Convention on June 27 in Salt Lake City.  She also talked about some things that it’s important to know about the budget and why she likes doing that work. “I think things like infrastructure, governance, staffing make it possible to do the kinds of mission that we’re called to do,” Lloyd said. “I really value both, our mission and outreach and how we relate to each other in governance and structure, how we staff ourselves to accomplish ministry and how we encourage and enable and empower people who never imagined they could do this work to do it on the ground.”   Read more.

The Rev. Dr. Cameron Partridge of the Diocese of Massachusetts is a member of the Task Force on the Study of Marriage, which is proposing to the General Convention changes to the Episcopal Church’s marriage canon. Partridge served on the task force’s subcommittee focused on the biblical and theological dimensions of marriage. “I think that our questions about marriage are related to and an outgrowth of our previous questions about the human person,” Partridge said in an interview. “Questions have birthed other questions, and this is the most recent such birthing. So it’s about what it is to be human, and how we live into our vocations as human beings in relationship with one another. ” Read more.

Allegra Robinson is a member of St. John’s Church in Franklin, and will be serving as an Official Youth Presence delegate at the General Convention. Two youth represent each of the Episcopal Church’s provinces on the Official Youth Presence, established in 1982. Members of the Official Youth Presence have seat and voice in the House of Deputies and participate in committee hearings and floor debates. Allegra will be representing Province I (the seven New England dioceses) with Anna Foster, Diocese of Maine. “I am thrilled to take the opportunity to prove to people that youth members are not the future of the church–we are the church now,” Robinson said. “When I try to figure out what God wants from me and how He wants me to best serve Him and act on my faith, somehow I always get back to youth ministry. Although your faith changes as you grow, everyone develops faith at a very young age and I think it is extremely important to give everyone the opportunity and environment to deepen their faith at their own pace.”  Read more. 

Joining Robinson in representing the youth of the Diocese of Massachusetts will be Michelle St. Francis and Megan Lightcap, who are serving as youth observers (without seat and voice) thanks to the support of Episcopal Church Women.  Read more. 

Continue checking the blog and the General Convention page on the diocesan site for news and updates as the convention gets underway in Salt Lake City.