June 25 - Blogging GC'15

Early yesterday, we had in a joint session opening presentations by the Presiding Bishop and the President of the House of Deputies, and then the two Houses divided for their orientations.

Staying with the idea that the three items likely to attract most attention at GC'15 are (1) the election of the next Presiding Bishop (Bishop Breidenthal being one of the four nominees), (2) the response of Convention to the proposals of TREC (the Task Force for Reimagining the Episcopal Church), and (3) the actions of Convention relating to the theology and practice of marriage in The Episcopal Church (TEC) -- I'd say that the main event yesterday was the introductions of the nominees for PB and the Q&A in a joint session of the Houses of Bishops and Deputies.

All four nominees get medals for holding up so well under that pressure. Wow. Each had an opening video introduction of themselves, made an opening statement, answered an initial question about their vision for The Episcopal Church tailored to them individually based on their earlier responses to the nominating committee, and responded to 8 more questions drawn from a fishbowl on the spot. Then each had an opportunity to come back to anything they wanted to expand upon or that they'd left out, and each made a closing statement.

By the end of that three hour process, I think many in the audience were exhausted. Kudos to the four nominees.

May I just say that I am very proud of our bishop. If we get to keep Bishop Breidenthal, it will be a wonderful thing for us. If we lose him, it will be a wonderful thing for The Episcopal Church.

Legislative committees met twice yesterday. My committee on marriage met at 7:00 a.m. to discuss what each of us members hoped we would accomplish in our work -- so this was the first point when we all began to be open with each other about how we approach the questions we are considering. At 7:00 p.m. we had a hearing on four resolutions (A037, C007, C009, and D026). We heard testimony from 18 deputies, alternates, and visitors, almost all of whom were eloquent and passionate in urging us to move The Episcopal Church toward marriage equality as soon as possible. The hearing lasted until about 7:50 p.m., when everyone who had signed up had spoken, and the committee took a brief break.

In the discussion that followed that hearing, we began to consider how to deal with A037, which recommends study of the report of the Task Force on the Study of Marriage and calls for extension of its work and expansion of its membership.

Today we have our first legislative session of GC'15 at 8:00 a.m. and Opening Eucharist at 9:30 a.m. Legislative committees meet twice and, at their third meeting, have more time for hearings on resolutions with which they are working. My committee will hear testimony on resolutions dealing with proposed changes to our marriage canon.

Finally, if you are on Twitter and want updates, you might consider following @ladyb14 (Laura Gentner, DSO lay deputy), @scottagunn (Scott Gunn, DSO clergy deputy), @diosohio (the DSO Twitter-feed), @DeputyNews (from the President of the House of Deputies), and #gc78 which tweeting deputies, bishops, guests, and interested folk are using.

UPDATE:  If you're not getting emails from our DSO media-hub, you can find the website here:
http://diosohio.org/general-convention-2015-2/