Minutes of Provincial Synod
Province II
April 30 to May 2, 1997
Thursday, April 30, 1997
The meeting was called to order at 2 pm by President Lane.
The meeting was opened with prayer.
The president appointed the Rev. James Brooks-McDonald, Bruce Coburn, the Rev. John Smylie to the Committee on Dispatcher of Business. Janet Farnsworthy was appointed to chair the Committee on Resolutions.
The Rev. Canon Donald Nickerson, Secretary of General Convention, was introduced.
Canon Nickerson organized his address into four areas:
1. Overview of General Convention
2. What is new
3. Calendar highlights
4. Issues1. Overview - Canon Nickerson
Focused on the preamble to the church's constitution and the creation of a bicameral legislative body. He pointed out that this would be the 72nd General Convention and the 19th time the convention had met in Philadelphia. There has been one special meeting of General Convention held in South Bend, Indiana in 1969.
At the 72nd meeting of General Convention in July 200 Bishops are anticipated, there will be 113 dioceses represented by 904 deputies. There are 209-A resolutions from interim bodies,
17-B resolutions from bishops, 31-C resolutions from Provinces or networks and 27-D resolutions from deputies.
2. New
Bishop and Deputy resolutions must have two additional endorsements.
All resolutions which concern or will require funding must identify the money involved.
Tracking of resolutions has been improved to help ensure concurrence.
Orientation will be separate for Bishop and Deputies.
Youth in the House of Deputies will sit with their deputations.
Navaho Land will sit as a deputation.
The five Dioceses of Mexico will not be present as they now represent their own province of the Episcopal Church.
Electronic devices will be used to assist in counting votes.
The Bishops will have Bible sharing and Eucharist with the Deputies before the Bishops retire to Christ Church for the election of the new Presiding Bishop.
The deputies will be informed of the Bishops' vote as it progresses.
3. Highlights of the Calendar
Bishops will vest and process for the UTO Eucharist.
The closing Eucharist will have the new presiding Bishop preach.
The Archbishop of Canterbury will preach at the UTO Eucharist.
4. Issues
Continuing Issues:
R-17B - Limiting the vote to active Bishops.
Bishop Wantland resolution to prohibit clergy from having any sexual relations outside of marriage.
Other Issues:
The blessing of same sex unions.
Providing health and pension benefits to domestic partners.
Limiting the size of the House of Deputies.
Call for the election of the Presiding Bishop in a joint session of the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies.
Steve Duggan, Treasurer
President Lane introduced Steve Duggan, Treasurer of the Episcopal Church who in turn called upon Marge Christie and the Rev. Nancy Roosevelt to report on the work of Program Budget and Finance.
They reported on the adoption of a Unified Budget in Indianapolis and the intention of adopting a permanent Unified Budget by amending the canons and the joint Rules of Order.
Unified Budget will call for a set asking based upon diocesan income.
The Unified Budget represents the "financial theology" of the Church. It is who we are and what we do.
Steve Duggan then reported that while giving at the parish level is increasing, the giving from the parishes to the diocese and dioceses to the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society are decreasing.
Sonia Francis discussed the Program portion of the budget. She focused on things that hold us together such as the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. She then showed pictures of the Anglican Communion and the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society. The program clearly showed the real diversity of the Church.
The Budget
Chuck Perfater stated that the budget should be presented with comparative data. He had made the same request before the last General Convention.
Louie Crew requested that the stewardship records of the Presiding Bishop nominees be made known.
He also requested that a diocese by diocese performance graph be prepared.
He also requested a report on Trust Fund income.
Steve Duggan indicated a report on Trust Fund income would be issued. He also stated that there is an increased awareness of congregational ministries in portion of the budget.
Marge Christie requested that people attend the PB&F hearings, pass the budget then go home and support the budget.
Vice President Bishop Walter Dennis
Bishop Dennis reported on the meeting of the Council of Advice to the Presiding Bishop. The Council of Advice is composed of the president and vice president of each province.
Bishop Dennis also spoke about General Convention with particular focus on the Rowley report and the structure report.
He also reported on the fact that all the nominees for Presiding Bishop in accordance with the mind of the house (of Bishops) had undergone extensive background checks which would also be required of any nominees from the floor.
Bishop Dennis stated that Easter 2000 will fall on a common date for communions and the issue of a common Easter has been referred tot he Primates.
He concluded by speaking of the Covenant on Civility. He stressed that the Bishops would approach convention with a "Kanuga-ized" sense of consensus and the House of Deputies with a sense of orderly debate.
President Stephen Lane - Steve spoke of the past year as one of transition and mentioned our sense of "loss" with the retirement of Audrey King, our past president.
Steve spoke of the role of Provinces in the Church. There is a movement to decentralize but there is a need to provide the provinces with a line of income to carry out their mission.
He pointed out that the provinces differ dramatically. The provincial canonical role is limited to electing members to Executive Council and to the Nominating Committee for the Election of a Presiding Bishop.
Steve stressed that he believed Province II is ready for growth particularly if we had a professional administration. He believes we are healthy with many networks functioning well and with JPIC taking off and being the largest contingent at the Cincinnati conference.
He also stated that our newsletter is the BEST!
Steve pointed out that our province is weak in finding an interest in common with our dioceses. Many dioceses look at Province as optional. Steve stated that we need to show the service we can offer the dioceses. We need to help the weaker networks and have Synod include program people as well as deputies.
Provincial concerns at General Convention will include funding for justice ministries (ethnic, racial) migrant ministry and urban ministry.
Steve pointed out that we are the most diverse of all the provinces.
Jane Savage Honored
The meeting was adjourned for the reception and dinner. At the dinner Jane Savage was honored and a gift of a contribution to the Presiding Bishop's Fund in Jane's honor was announced.
Friday, May 1. 1997
President Lane led us in morning prayers at 8:30 am.
At 9 am the meeting was called to order. Steven announced that the Province II dinner at General Convention would be July 22, 1997.
John Rollins - Provincial Network Coordinator
John reported that we have 19 identifiable networks. 11 networks were present yesterday at the networks meeting.
While John believes our network system is strong, neither our Hispanic network nor our AIDs network are currently functioning.
Michael Rehill - Chancellor
Michael spoke on proposed resolution A052 which calls for removing the word solely suggesting that sex might then be used as one of the criteria.
Executive Council
Ginny Sheay gave thanks for Per Ng's six years on the Executive Council. She then told of the moving experience of the last council meeting of the triennium in Hawaii. The meeting focused on transition endings, neutral zone (time for creative work) and beginnings.
Ginny reminded everyone of the book entitled No Outcasts which is about Presiding Bishop Browning.
Peter Ng - stressed the need to reduce the budget carefully so as not to hurt the program. Peter spoke on the General Convention resolution which calls for providing spousal benefits to domestic partners.
Peter thanked the Synod for its support and said he was sorry that during his term we never met with the Convocation of American Church in Europe as our host.
Grapevine - Jane Savage
Jane spoke of the transition as Jan Paxton takes over as editor. She stated that the dioceses of Long Island and Rochester were now mailing issues of the Grapevine to all congregations.
Jane stated that while she is "retired" she will help with the mailing list for one year.
Jane thanked everyone for their great cooperation. She further stated that one of the critical issues is to find a means to reduce postage.
Jorge Gutierrez - Commission of the Development of Ministry
Jorge stated that the structure report recommends imploding the CDM, the Board for Theological Education and the Board for Clergy Deployment. The theory being that the new body would be a conduit for information, back and forth, between all levels of ministry.
Jorge stated that he believed that the staff people would not be able to do the work in the field and urged that the resolution be defeated.
JPIC - Earl Coopercamp
Earl claimed JPIC to be the new kid on the block created by Executive Council. He reported on the highly successful meeting in Albany.
Partnerships - Allister Rawlins
Allister reported on being to South Africa the new companion of the Diocese of New York. He reported that most diocese in Province II have companion relationships.
Finger Lakes Conference
E. Tom Barrington reported on the exciting and diverse ministries including the deaf and music.
Council of Advice for Prison Ministries - will schedule a conference in Rochester, October 17-19.
Gwen Carter - Treasurer
Gwen reported that diocesan apportionment will occur after we receive figures from the National Church. She also reviewed all income sources. It was recommended that all grants be published in The Grapevine.
Resolutions
A resolution calling for the direct election of the Presiding Bishop was passed. The resolution would be put in correct canonical form and be submitted to General Convention.
JPIC resolution was passed - amended to be a conceptual endorsement.
General Convention Reports
Bill Peterson, our representative to the Joint Committee to Elect the Presiding Bishop, stated that this was the second time this process has been used. There is one bishop, one cleric and one lay representative from each province. Prayer was a focus at all seven plenary sessions. Confidentiality was maintained. Background checks included medical, psychiatric and financial matters.
Title IV - Bob Royce reported on the evolution of Title IV to consideration of its application to the Episcopate at this General Convention.
Major themes include that the Presiding Bishop is not an authority over other bishops and doctrinal v. personal conduct issues.
Structure - Bob Royce reported that the Structure report in the Blue Book represents a 7th draft. The report deals with structural only and not programs.
Bob stated there must be a balance between transactional and transformational. A concern was expressed about condensing resulting in a decrease in diversity.
The meeting was adjourned for lunch and afternoon individual sessions.
A joyful festival Eucharist was celebrated prior to dinner.
At dinner President Lane thanked the Bishops and people of the Diocese of Long Island for their gracious hospitality and Joyce Hogg for all of the wonderful arrangements.
It was announced that the 1998 Synod will take place in the Diocese of New Jersey on May 14, 15, & 16, 1998.
John Woods Goldsack, Secretary