THE GRAPEVINE
THE GRAPEVINEContents:
One page of the newsletter is a map of the provinces in the Episcopal Church. For a copy of this map see the paper copy of the newsletter or the home page of Church of Our Savior, http://www.ecoserve.org. Church of Our Savior puts the newsletter on their home page in the same format as it appears in paper. The other home page on which the newsletter can be found is http://ecusa.anglican.org/province-two/. For a paper copy of the newsletter write to Jane Savage, 5 Fieldstone Dr., Lebanon, NJ 08833.
The synod of Province II will gather May 1-3 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, across the street from LaGuardia Airport. Our host will be the Diocese of Long Island, and we look forward to experiencing the rich diversity of that diocese.
The major agenda item for the synod will be preparation for the General Convention in Philadelphia this summer. The dioceses of the province will send their General Convention deputies in addition to their synod deputies.
Participants at the synod will be addressed by the Rev. Canon Donald Nickerson, secretary of General Convention. Don will help orient new deputies to the General Convention process, and will talk about the history of General Convention and his perspective on the issues facing the convention. Stephen Duggan, treasurer of the Episcopal Church, will speak concerning budgetary matters and any proposed changes in the formula for diocesan assessments. Sonia Francis will talk about anticipated changes in program and staffing resulting from proposals being made to the General Convention. Deputies will also hear a talk by Bishop Walter Dennis (NY), vice-president of the province, anticipating issues at the convention.
Reports will be heard regarding the nominations for presiding bishop, the work of the Committee for the Full Participation of Women, and other matters of interest.
A number of workshops will be offered. We will present our third consecutive workshop on the Lutheran-Episcopal Concordat. Although many have heard about the Concordat before, we want everyone to be as well prepared as possible for this historic decision. There will be a workshop concerned with the report of the Standing Committee on Structure, a report with many far-reaching implications for the work of the church. The continuing work amending Title IV, which deals with ecclesiastical discipline, will be the subject of a third workshop. This convention will consider the discipline of bishops. A fourth workshop will focus on the Justice Summit and the work of the Province II Peace, Justice and Integrity of Creation Network. The JPIC Network was established at last year's synod and has achieved a remarkable level of activity during the year. As of this writing we are considering a fifth workshop dealing with issues of human sexuality, but have not made a final decision. Our hope is that the deputies to General Convention from the dioceses of the Second Province will leave synod feeling well prepared for the work ahead.
The network chairs will meet concurrently with the synod and, as always, we will hear brief reports from each of the networks. The JPIC Network steering committee will also meet during synod. There will be the opportunity for informal sharing and networking among participants.
Finally, the synod will address the small amount of business that is on the docket in a General Convention year and hear reports from the province's officers. A high point will be the synod Eucharist led by the Diocese of Long Island.
The meeting of synod looks to be interesting, informative, and even a bit provocative.
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Election of a presiding bishop gives the General Convention a jolt of ex citement and a special feeling of importance as it makes a critical decision for the future of the church within the context of its rich historical past. This will be no less true when bishops and deputies gather in Philadelphia, July 16-25, 1997, to choose the twenty-fifth presiding bishop, chief pastor and primate of the Episcopal Church for the next nine years.
The election process has already begun. A nominating committee was selected at the 1994 General Convention in Indianapolis: one bishop from each of the nine provinces elected by the House of Bishops, one clerical deputy and one lay deputy from each province elected by the House of Deputies, and two young people, age 16-21, appointed by the president of the House of Deputies, Pamela Chinnis.
Therefore, at this coming General Convention, the joint nominating committee "shall present to the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies in joint session the names of not fewer than three members of the House of Bishops for the consideration of the two Houses....Any bishop or deputy may nominate any other member of the House of Bishops for the consideration of the two Houses....And there may be a discussion of all nominees....After the election by the House of Bishops, the House of Deputies shall vote to confirm or not to confirm such choice of Presiding Bishop."
That is the process by which Edmond Lee Browning, then Bishop of Hawaii, was elected presiding bishop in 1985, and that is the process by which his successor will be elected in 1997. I need to address a major flaw in the existing process: the remaining secrecy surrounding the election in the House of Bishops.
When reporting their choice to the deputies, the bishops do not report the number of ballots cast or the tally of votes for all candidates on each ballot. In fact, the electoral deliberations of the House of Bishops are not kept in writing; there is no historical record, only hearsay. This unseemly secrecy is then expanded by instructions to the bishops to destroy their tally sheets. The only excuse has been the suggestion that a low vote for any candidate might damage him or her in his or her own diocese.
But exposure to this possible embarrassment has been entirely voluntary through consent to be nominated and, if elected, to serve. Entitled under existing canon to do no more than confirm or not confirm the bishops' choice, the deputies should at least know the strength of the bishops' collective conviction that they have chosen the right person, as well as the support given to the other nominees. Only then can they freely vote to consent or not to consent.
To those who would say that these relatively modest proposals would invite politicking during the overnight period, I can only reply that, as long as no rewards are offered and no threats made, this is a reasonable and salutary expectation in the exercise of the democratic process by the church's elected clerical and lay representatives.
The election of the presiding bishop is a matter of serious concern and interest to the whole church, and the present method of election fails to reflect the breadth of that concern. It is not inconsequential to take note of the fact that the presiding bishop is known by name to persons in the pews.
Amendments to the Constitutions and Canons of the church to include voting rights of the House of Deputies in the election of a presiding bishop would take seriously the presiding bishop's relationship to the entire church, and would remove from our procedures another remnant of the paternalism of an earlier clerically oriented day.
Were we to have actual election by both houses, I believe that the vote in the House of Deputies should be by dioceses (one diocese, one vote) rather than by deputies. I believe that deputations forced to agree on their one vote will come to a choice more representative of their diocese and its communicants than would be expressed by eight individual votes or, in the case of smaller dioceses, fewer than eight.
No change in the electoral role of the House of Deputies can be made before the 1997 election of the next presiding bishop. The necessary amendment of the constitution requires action by two successive General Conventions, although necessary amendments of the canons may be made by concurrent resolution of the two houses at any General Convention. If there is sufficient support in both houses for a change in the role of the House of Deputies, the first passage of an appropriate amendment to the constitution could occur in 1997 with the second following in 2000.
Editor's note: Reprinted with permission of Bishop Dennis from The Episcopal New Yorker. For a fuller discussion of this issue see Anglican and Episcopal History , "Electing the Presiding Bishop: Proposed Changes for 1997 and 2006" by Walter D. Dennis, pp. 278-292, Volume LXV, Number 3, September 1996, The Historical Society of the Episcopal Church, 606 Rathervue Place, Austin, TX 78705.
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As the Lutheran Ecumenical Officer for the Genesee-Finger Lakes Conference of the Upstate New York Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, I have had the enriching experience of seeing the preparations for our mutual decision to vote on the Concordat of Agreement from all sides. At Colgate-Rochester Divinity School, the seminary that is in my parish boundaries, I have been able to bump into people involved in the dialogue . I have been able to participate in the National Workshop on Christian Unity, the Rochester Diocesan Ecumenical Council, the upstate New York ecumenical team, and I lead the ecumenical work of our conference. I also have been able to listen to the concerns, confusion, and the hopes surrounding the Concordat of Agreement. I have heard a resurgence of unthinking suspicion of one another.
Happily, most of the preparation for our decisions on the Concordat are positive here in the northeastern part of the country. I think that the closer we come to the Episcopal Church's General Convention and the Lutheran Church's Church-Wide Assembly, which will be held this summer in Philadelphia, the more our understanding of our preparations are associated with dialogue, with deeper understanding of the actual text of the Concordat, and with the briefing of our representatives. All this is necessary to prepare for the historic opportunity that faces us this summer. The better we are prepared, the more real agreement we will have if, as I hope, the Concordat is accepted this summer.
I also hope, however, that the "other work" of ecumenical preparation continues to be supported. That is, the work of developing close relationships with one another on a face to face and congregation to congregation level. Because I believe that shared work between Lutherans and Episcopalians that is based on our mutual concerns for ministry and mission is work that will prepare us to fulfill our proposed agreement, or if the Concordat is not passed, to prepare us to make a fresh start toward deeper unity.
I made a series of calls to our Lutheran Ecumenical Officers from across Upstate New York Synod to see what kinds of cooperation and joint projects are happening. What I discovered was delightful in its variety. Here are some of the joint efforts of Lutherans and Episcopalians in New York state.
Good Shepherd Episcopal and Parkside Lutheran churches share their Lenten series beginning with shared Ash Wednesday Eucharist and ending with shared Maundy Thursday Eucharist. Buffalo and Rochester both hold annual joint clergy events where the pastors study together. There is an exegetical study group for Lutheran, Episcopal, Roman Catholic, and Presbyterian clergy in Buffalo. Musicians, led by Dr. Molly Hamilton, have developed an annual music camp where the children's choir directors from Lutheran, Episcopal, and Presbyterian churches decide on music that will be sung in common and together over the coming year. This program also brings together urban and suburban children around worship and music.
Syracuse has a joint program where Christ Episcopal and Good Shepherd Lutheran in Fayettville have had joint study and have annual mystery play productions. Syracuse has a joint youth program that involves three Episcopal, one Lutheran, and two Presbyterian churches. Cleveland has a joint Lutheran/Episcopal mission. Christ Episcopal, and Emmanuel and Christ Lutheran churches share confirmation classes. Following a fire at St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Valatie, space for weddings is provided at St. Paul's Episcopal Church.
There are other partnering of congregations that I did not have a chance to document. The variety of work is commendable. There is room for more work, however, especially work that is generated by pastors and laity that are not directly associated with the ecumenical officers of either church. I would like to see the clergy of each diocese and conference willing to look for opportunities to work together. I would especially like to see more lay-led projects like the music camp in the Rochester area.
We say in the document of the Concordat that we would like to work together to increase the mission of the church. I think that the more creative projects laity and clergy can develop together between our two denominations, the more delight we will be able to take in participating in the mission of the church. If the work of Christian mission is delightful, we are more likely to do more together. With or without the successful passage of the Concordat of Agreement, shared mission and ministry is good for the continued success of sharing the Good News and of understanding each other better.
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The 1996 annual convention of the Convocation was held last October at the Dominikanerkloster in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany. In my Convocation address, I spoke of the fire of the Spirit which blazed forth on the Day of Pentecost.
"They saw what looked like tongues of fire which spread out and touched each person there. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Acts 2:3-4.)
That same fire of the Spirit has blazed forth time and again in the life of the church. Let me give four examples of this.
A great cross was taken to all 187 parishes in Connecticut and once again, in the presence of this cross, people gave thanks for all the blessings of those 200 years and, looking to the future, renewed their baptismal vows. Far beyond our expectations the fire of the Spirit burnt brightly in our midst during the Pilgrimage of the Cross which culminated in a great service of thanksgiving and rededication in the Hartford Civic Center on 18 November 1984.
All of this is being offered to God with the prayer that the fire of the Spirit will be kindled afresh in many whose lives will be touched by these pilgrimages across the mainland of Europe and throughout the British Isles.
So much is happening in the Convocation and our individual congregations; so much is changing around us in the "New Europe"; so much is being asked of all of us as we run to keep up with the Holy Spirit in these astonishing and challenging times. More than ever before, we need "the pause that refreshes" - a time which allows for remembrance, reflection, and renewal. Only in this way can each of us separately and all of us together accept God's invitation to "run with resolution the race for which we are entered." We urgently need the fire of the Spirit to fuel our journey of faith in the years ahead.
I am, therefore, visiting all the churches in the Convocation during the first half of this year to invite everyone to join me on a Pilgrimage of the Cross. The cross is being made especially for us in the carpenter's shop at Canterbury Cathedral. In mid-August it will be entrusted to us in the setting of Evensong by the dean of Canterbury. Then it will be taken from the cathedral to the Church of St. Augustine of Canterbury in Wiesbaden, Germany, where it will be received on the morning of Sunday, 24 August. The cross will go from there to every one of the congregations in the Convocation, until, on Sunday, 12 October, it will be carried into the American Cathedral in Paris to be welcomed by the presiding bishop as part of the closing Eucharist of our 1997 annual convention.
Our Commission on the Ministry of the Baptized has prepared a remarkable course for use in the weeks after Easter. Entitled "Journey without Maps," it is meant to prepare those who participate in it for a personal reaffirmation of their baptismal promises when the Canterbury cross comes to their parish later in the year. It can be undertaken in a small group, but used also by an individual on board a plane, let's say, returning from a business trip.
In addition, our clergy conference this spring will be held at the Abbaye de LŽrins, a Cistercian community on the Ile St. Honorat near Cannes, France. St. Patrick spent several years there before undertaking his mission to Ireland, and St. Augustine and his companions stayed there en route to Canterbury.
The intent of all this - the six-week course, the clergy conference, and the Pilgrimage of the Cross - is to seek more of the vision, imagination, energy, and enthusiasm we all need in order to be bold and faithful witnesses in our day. This anniversary year offers us a rare and special opportunity to deepen our spiritual life and to renew our commitment to Jesus Christ. Our Lord needs everyone of us to accomplish his purpose of making all things new. So pray in the months ahead so that, in the words of the Baptismal Covenant, we may unite in proclaiming, by word and example, the Good News of God in Christ.
Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim, till all the world adore his sacred Name.
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The Province II Christian Education Network focuses on communication linking educators in the dioceses to each other and to the resources and programs around the nation. The network has a meeting on Ecunet/Quest called PROVINCE II ED NET. It is a place to ask questions, and share ideas and plans. The minutes of the network meetings will be posted there and, when all dioceses are on-line, it will be used to conduct network business.
The network would like to publish a seasonal education news sheet three times a year as a vehicle for sharing what is new or happening in each diocese as we all plan for the changes of the liturgical seasons. The news sheet will be called the Province II Ed Net Communicator and the network is looking for an editor. There is a possibility of linking with The Grapevine.
A common theme in these times of change is how we can live according to our Baptismal Convenant. There is a need in the church to set our priorities according to a clear understanding of our catechism in a manner unique to the Episcopal Church. We need to share how we live our lives as Christians.
This theme is being reflected in a growing number of learning resources for all generations. The church statement on education, a focus for our common journey into the twenty-first century, is now available. Called to Teach and Learn can be obtained for $10.00 a copy through Parish Supplies, 1-800-903-5544 . Soon to be published is a study guide to accompany this informative statement. The cost of the study guide will be minimal and the study guide itself will have no copyright restrictions. It will include an extensive bibliography of helpful materials and resources. Written by Joe Russell in collaboration with the nine provincial catechists, the study guide will make this document a foundation for our spiritual growth. Each diocese is encouraged to obtain and use this guide, and to plan at least one diocesan-wide workshop in the next 12 months to prepare diocesan leaders for this emphasis on the catechism and baptismal vows.
There are diocesan network representatives in each diocese who can put you in touch with a catechist or team who can assist with diocesan workshops. They are: Albany, the Rev. Ben Somerville; Central New York, the Rev. Tom Barrington and Nancy Wart; Haiti, Jeane Claude Benoit; US Virgin Islands, Canon Lionel Rymer; Long Island, the Rev. Tony Lewis; Newark, Jan Hardy and Bonnie Magnuson; New Jersey, Nancy Miller and Mary Wenzler; New York, Ostrid Smith and Dorothy Barnett; Rochester, Sandy Pacyga and Melanie Martinek; Western New York, Sue Tronolone.
Last November the educators of the Diocese of Western New York hosted the network meeting. There are many programs for spiritual growth and formation in the diocese and in the parishes. The diocesan Christian education commission actively supports the Bishop Brent School for Ministry, Education for Ministry, Disciples of Christ in Community, Happening, Journey to Adulthood, Godly Play, youth ministry, an annual youth camp, and a terrific resource center.
The network's next meeting will be in the Diocese of New Jersey in Trenton on May 22-24 .
Contact: Sandra Pacyga, 298 West Craig Hill Dr., Rochester, NY 14626, tel: 716-225-4366.
Jane Savage, 5 Fieldstone Dr., Lebanon, NJ 08833
phone/fax: 908-236-2927
Internet address: jane_savage.parti@ecunet.org
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