News and Information


 

Restructuring the Episcopal Church

 

The Governance of The Episcopal Church: This information is another in an ongoing series discussing the governance of The Episcopal Church. Read more in

The Episcopal Church: Becoming A Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society: An Adaptive Moment

As the dioceses in the province make their way through their diocesan conventions toward the The 77th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, which will be held on July 5-12, 2012 in Indianapolis, Indiana, many of them have passed, or will possibly pass, a resolution calling for a special restructuring convention. 

The version passed at the Diocese of Long Island's convention was:

"Resolution #6 - A Model Resolution for Dioceses to Submit a Resolution for Structural Reform To the 77th General Convention (As amended)

Resolved, that the 145th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island, in support of the position taken by Bishop Stacy Sauls, directs that the following resolution be filed with the Secretary of the General Convention for consideration by the 77th General Convention of The Episcopal Church:

Resolved, the House of _______ concurring, there shall be a Special Commission on Missional Structure and Strategy, the composition of which shall be at the discretion of the Presiding Bishop and the President of the House of Deputies and the members of which shall be appointed jointly thereby not later than thirty days following the adjournment of this 77th General Convention. The Special Commission shall be charged with presenting a plan to the Church for reforming its structures, governance, administration, and staff to facilitate this Church's faithful engagement in Christ's mission to proclaim good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed, and the acceptable year of the Lord (Lk. 4:18) in a way that maximizes the resources available for that mission at all levels of this Church.

Resolved, the Special Commission shall endeavor to issue its report and recommendations along with resolutions necessary to implement them, including proposed amendments to the Constitution and Canons of this Church, so that they might be considered by a special General Convention prior to the convening of the 78th General Convention in 2015, but in any event, not later than February 1, 2015.

Resolved, the General Convention requests the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget, and Finance to consider a budget allocation of $100,000 for the implementation of this resolution."

The Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe passed a similar measure and other dioceses likely will be called upon to consider such a resolution.

For many this appears to be a surprise coming out of left field. To assist the convention deputies, restructuring will be featured in a plenary session at the synod meeting in May, 2012. Meanwhile, here is some background that may be helpful.


Province II is comprised of the six dioceses of the State of New York, Albany, Central New York, Long Island, New York, Rochester and Western New York, the two dioceses of the State of New Jersey, Newark and New Jersey, and the Diocese of Haiti, the Diocese of the Virgin Islands and the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe.