As we approach the Triennial General Convention of the Episcopal Church which will be held in Denver, Colorado, July 5-14, 2000, we are beginning to hear news of what the various committees, commissions and interest groups plan to bring before convention. Bishop McKelvey’s article, "Accretions Have Not Happened" alludes to two of the proposals, the proposal to provide funds so that each Province can have a part-time provincial executive and the proposal to eliminate provinces all together.

Province II is in the process of planning to amend its ordinances so that the synod will meet for business once every three years, in the year of the General Convention, and will meet for program/network purposes in the other two years. Michael Rehill, Province II Vice President, has provided an article detailing those changes. The Rev. Stephen Lane, representative-elect to Executive Council is working with Provincial President, The Rt. Rev. Jack McKelvey, to develop a job description for the position of Provincial Executive, part-time and the dinner speaker at the Synod meeting in May will be The Rev. Gene Robinson, Provincial Executive from Province I.

In this issue there is also a letter from The Rev. John Kitagawa, Chairperson of the Standing Commission on the Structure of the Church, which outlines the proposal to eliminate provinces. There is also a responding letter from The Rt. Rev. Richard L. Shimpfky, Bishop of the Diocese of El Camino Real and President of Province VIII.

Several weeks ago, I read an article by Bishop Matthew Clark, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester. He is a man much respected, I have learned, in the Rochester community. In his article he spoke of pictures he had seen of the restored and cleaned facade of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

He spoke of the centuries of accretions, which had added themselves to this once bright and beautiful facade. Over the years it has gotten dull because of those layers upon layers of dirt and grime. In his words, "Shades of stone that over time had been begrimed by pollution are now seen again in their subtle beauty".

I reflect on this metaphor as I continue to think about the need for a Provincial Coordinator to help further develop the networks and programs of our Church. It is obvious to me that if ministry is to be supported at the local level of each of our dioceses, then the most effective way to support our program people is through provincial networks. The work is too hard, too involved, and too important to think that a youth ministry (for instance) in a diocese can develop and be supported only on a diocesan level. It is obvious to me, as well, that youth support structures at the National Church level will probably not filter down sufficiently to support the people at the diocesan level . . . ergo the need for a support structure somewhere between the National Church level and the diocese.

At a time when the Provincial Leadership Conference (the Presidents, Vice Presidents and Coordinators, mostly volunteer, of the Provinces meet twice each year with the National Church Staff) has determined that we need Program Provincial Coordinators and that our Episcopal Church Budget should help support them, we hear from the Standing Committee on Structure that it plans to introduce a resolution in Denver which calls for the dissolution of Provinces.

In their surveys they have received much ranging comment regarding the value of the provincial structure. I will admit that at one point, before we began to envision program networks, I, too, was not in favor of this layer of church governance.

How does this concept of Provincial Program Coordinators relate to my earlier comments regarding St. Peter's Basilica? Simply in this way. Just at the time that many of us are seeing an opportunity for the provincial structure to work for us, we are considering taking it away. As a network of program ministries, provinces have not had time to develop. They have not had a chance for "pollution to cover the structure". The accretions of time have not overtaken them. Provinces have not lived with this new idea of being a program wing of the Church's ministry. I suggest that we not kill the structure until we try putting networks more fully to work-and that will necessitate paid part-time (at least) coordinators. It cannot fully work without them.

TO: Bishops, Delegates, Provincial Council members and appointees, General Convention Deputies, Diocesan Administrators, Provincial Council Program Networks

FROM: The Reverend John Rollins, Province II Secretary

According to the provisions of Ordinance IV of the Ordinances of the Second Province of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, notice is hereby given of the 2000 SYNOD OF PROVINCE II / PRE-GENERAL CONVENTION MEETING to be held on Thursday and Friday, May 11 - 12, 2000, at the Holiday Inn Turf on Wolf Road, 205 Wolf Road, Albany, NY. This call to Synod also includes Deputies to the 2000 General Convention, as a major focus of the time will be devoted to General Convention issues.

A more detailed agenda will be forthcoming. In general, your Provincial Council proposes to devote Thursday afternoon to the particular business of Synod, with Thursday evening and all day Friday devoted to General Convention. Friday morning will include workshops on major General Convention issues such as: (tentatively) "Called to Common Mission", Lambeth and the Sexuality Resolutions, Partial Funding for Synod Executives (vs. the Structure Committee’s Report), Theology Report from the Standing Committee on Ministry Development. Other workshops may be added pending publication of the "Blue Book". Speakers/resource persons will include Rosemari Sullivan, Steve Duggan, Sonia Francis, and Gene Robinson.

The Holiday Inn Turf on Wolf Road will be holding a block of rooms at a special overnight rate of $88.00 per night. A reservation form will be provided in the next mailing. The registration fee (food and facility) per person will be approximately $50.00.

Under the planned re-organization of the Provincial Synod, full regular meetings of the Synod will take place once every three years (in May prior to General Convention). In the other years network meetings/conferences will be held. The Provincial Council will continue to meet at least annually to plan such meetings and to oversee the work and budget of the Province. Each of the proposed amendments to the Ordinances would permit (but not require) this new meeting format. Because the Synod will only meet once every three years a triennial (rather than an annual budget) will be required (much like the way General Convention operates). The Proposed Amendments are as follows:

Section 6 - ELECTION, PRIVILEGES OF OFFICERS, TERM OF OFFICE, AND VACANCIES

Section I - REGULAR MEETINGS

Section 3 - BUDGET

Section 4 - ANNUAL REPORT

The Provincial Council shall submit to Synod a triennial report of its activities.

Section 6 - COMMITTEES

"If it's everybody's job, it's nobody's job!!" That may be the best reason for Province II (or any other province) to consider having a provincial program officer. Most everyone would agree that the dioceses of a province would benefit from greater communication and cooperation across diocesan lines. And most everyone will make an attempt to be better at making those connections. But the truth of the matter is that communication and cooperation among the dioceses in the province is not the top priority of any provincial officer or diocesan staff person. They have other responsibilities which take precedence.

A provincial program officer, on the other hand, has that kind of connection-making at the top of her/his agenda. And when it IS somebody's job, things can happen! People doing prison ministry in one diocese can call up and ask, "Who else is doing this in our province? What models are they using?" An brand new evangelism task force in one diocese doesn't have to reinvent the wheel if there's someone to contact for information about whom to call in other dioceses which have an active program. A provincial program officer can pull together children's, youth and adult ministries folk to talk about how the church facilitates formation at all levels. Cooperative efforts at everything from buying insurance to performing background checks to revamping the deployment process can happen IF there is someone to do the groundwork for such efforts. That someone is a provincial program officer for whom this kind of service to the province is at the top of the heap.

This issue of The Grapevine is filled with stories about what is going on in Province II and the wider church as we approach General Convention. One of the neat things about the Episcopal Church is the room that it has for diversity. This means that we rarely have definitive statements and that it is useless to wait for an authority figure to tell us what we think. Every time someone makes a pronouncement of that type, someone else comes forward to take exception to it. At the same time, we’re not individual congregations going it alone; we’re bound together by our common worship and by our common mission. This makes our synod meetings and conventions especially important because these are the times and places where we come together to "Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church." I urge you to read what is here, to think and pray about the issues and tasks we face and to take part in the dialogue as we try to listen to the Spirit and understand where God is asking us to go.

The next Grapevine deadlines are: April 7, 2000 and September 8, 2000. Many thanks to those of you who contributed to this issue.

Please direct all address changes, articles, and coming events to me at my home address or by e-mail to paxton@intac.com.