In a whirlwind session July 12, the House of Deputies passed several resolutions that were a matter of considerable discussion at General Convention.
Among those resolutions are a call to move church headquarters from its current New York location, creating a churchwide development office, and renaming the church’s presence in Europe.
Resolution D016 passed in a revised form. The resolution had contained clauses regarding the potential sale of the Episcopal Church Center at 815 Second Avenue in Manhattan. The version that passed calls for the church to move its headquarters to a different location, without specifying what it should do with 815.
The house also passed Resolution D025, which establishes a churchwide development office. The office will be charged with securing resources needed for the mission of the church at local and national levels. The budget, which passed both houses July 11, funds this office fully.
Deputies also confirmed a constitutional change introduced in the 2009 General Convention changing the name of the European convocation from “Convocation of the American Churches in Europe” to “Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe.”
In addition to these changes in the church, deputies passed resolutions declaring churches gun-free zones, condemning racial profiling and endorsing labor movements.
Many non-controversial resolutions were passed with little to no debate in order to expedite proceedings on the last day of General Convention.
After the legislative session, deputies said farewell to President Bonnie Anderson, who decided not to stand for re-election. The Rev. Gay C. Jennings of Ohio will serve as the 2012-15 president of the House of Deputies and veteran deputy Byron Rushing of Massachusetts was elected vice president only about 24 hours after announcing that he would stand for nomination.
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
