Two joint sessions brought bishops and deputies together on Wednesday, June 24 to hear opening remarks from the presiding officers of General Convention’s two houses, and to “meet” the four nominees for presiding bishop–including our Connecticut neighbor, Bishop Ian Douglas.
With all that General Convention has to accomplish over the next nine days, both Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and the House of Deputies president, the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, focused their morning remarks on the Episcopal Church’s need to cross boundaries into new frontiers, even as it focuses on its institutional structure and governance. You can read more about that here.
Deputations typically decorate their table poles–this horse balloon floats above the Diocese of Lexington’s table. Massachusetts is seated in the front row, too far from the press box to see what they’ve got going on. We’ll keep working to get that scoop. (ENS Photo: Mary Frances Schjonberg)
The meet-the-nominees session in the afternoon was deemed historic for being a first-of-its-kind for both bishops and deputies to hear, together, from the nominees. There were self-produced videos and opening speeches by each, and then a Q&A session governed by an elaborate color-coded, fishbowl drawing system that you can read more about here.
As Massachusetts deputy Mally Lloyd, who served on the Joint Nominating Committee to Elect the Presiding Bishop, said in a recent interview, each nominee brings different, strong gifts. The election is Saturday.
Legislative hearings on a range of topics began this evening, including whether or not to restructure the General Convention as a unicameral. For today, at least, the one-house scheme seemed to work pretty well.
Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts at General Convention 