Dio Con -- Day 1

Today was the first session of the 167th Annual Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago in lovely downtown Arlington Heights, IL. (Okay, it was in the Sheraton near the interstate, but that's not as romantic, is it?) I am one of the lay delegates from my parish, meaning I get to attend and actually vote on resolutions brought to the convention floor. This is a big change from when I was a delegate to convention in the Diocese of Tennessee, where my parish got only voice at convention and no vote. So, today and tomorrow will consist of news bits and reflections on the goings on at convention.

The only voting today was for representatives to various councils and committees of the diocese. Many of these races were uncontested, so it was a shoe-in for the people on the ballot. I didn't hear if any of the contested races was decided today; if they weren't, there will be a second ballot tomorrow morning that I will miss. By voice vote we approved several appointments by +Bishop Persell.

The interesting business today was the debating of resolutions to be presented tomorrow on the convention floor. Most of the resolutions are pretty tame, but a couple were either potentially or definitively anti-GLBT.

Over about an hour and a half, we debated these resolutions, most of which attempted to state the mind of the diocese regarding the Windsor Report. For those of you not familiar with the Report, here's the Reader's Digest synopsis:

The Episcopal Church (USA) and the Anglican Church of Canada, constituent members of the Worldwide Anglican Communion, were declared to be naughty because these rogue churches consecrated an openly gay man in partnership with another man (also openly gay, kinda goes without saying) as Bishop of New Hampshire and authorized the writing and adoption of rites for blessing same-sex unions, respectively. Even though these actions were taken in full compliance with the constitution and canons of the respective churches, others in the Anglican Communion (read: ultra-conservative priests and bishops from Africa and Asia) feel these actions were disrespectful towards them. Brouhaha ensued, committees had to be commissioned, they had to meet and write a document to justify the thousands of dollars spent assembling and flying the members all over the world, and what we got was the Windsor Report. Now everyone in Anglican Christendom has to pass some sort of resolution saying that we're sorry and we've wept and flogged ourselves over being inclusive and respecting our GLBT brothers and sisters.

(A much better synopsis of the Windsor Report can be found here.)

After much spirited, but largely collegial, debate, I think the worst resolution will fail to pass. I think an alternative resolution that would call for a moratorium on consecrating another openly GLBT bishop before 2009 (the year the national Episcopal Church will meet for its 76th General Convention) may have a shot, but I hope it fails too. I vehemently oppose any moratorium on ordaining GLBT persons to any level of ministry, from the diaconate to the episcopate. These measures directly injure GLBT persons in the Episcopal Church, and as such I cannot and will not support them in any way.

There was a great moment in convention today, though. During +Bishop Persell's address to convention, he mentioned husbands and wives and partners in the same breath. Twice. I literally cried. To see a sitting bishop in the Episcopal Church talk about GLBT people in such a positive, life-affirming way was a truly miraculous moment for me. This is not something that my former bishop in Tennessee would ever, or will ever, do.

I also attended a very informative educational session this morning regarding outreach. As I hope to focus more on outreach at my parish, I was very energized and motivated having left this session. I hope in the near future to work on expanding outreach at St. Paul and the Redeemer.

I'll give an update on the outcome of the resolutions tomorrow. Pray for the Diocese of Chicago!