News Analysis
Ever since the pandemic forced much of the governance of the church to move online in advance of the delayed 2022 General Convention, church leaders have been struggling to decide what part of the emergency changes should be incorporated into future General Conventions.
The first attempt at defining the new normal touched off what I hyperbolically headlined “A Battle for the Soul of General Convention” in a September 2023 TLC opinion article. Opponents spoke of the proposed new rules as a social-justice issue, while I advocated treating the matter as a set of logistical tradeoffs.
Now there seems to be an emerging consensus to handle the issue in a time-honored fashion, by appointing a task force to study the matter and report back to the 2027 General Convention.
Resolution D022, which would establish such a task force, was endorsed by all 10 of the witnesses who testified at a May 30 online hearing of the joint Rules of Order legislative committees. The committee tabled the resolution until an in-person hearing in Louisville on the morning of June 22 — the day before the first legislative day of General Convention.
The first draft of new rules was compiled by a House of Deputies committee of five people, and drew criticism for not involving bishops and for a perceived lack of consultation with a broad spectrum of the House of Deputies. D022 addresses that by specifying a task force of 12 with specific representation that may be difficult to achieve in the real world.
The task force would “include up to four bishops, four clergy, and four lay persons, each of whom shall have served as bishop or deputy at least one prior General Convention; at least nine members shall have served at least three prior General Conventions; at least six members shall have served on a legislative committee at the 80th and/or 81st General Conventions, and at least six members shall have served on a legislative committee prior to the 80th General Convention; at least three members shall have chaired a legislative committee; and at least one member shall have served on the Dispatch of Business Committee.” It may be difficult to identify a combination of people who meet these requirements and are willing to serve.
The draft rules distributed in July 2023 proposed to move virtually all of the General Convention’s legislative committee work into online hearings in the period preceding the formal opening of the triennial convention, which this year is scheduled for June 23-28 in Louisville, Kentucky. Before the pandemic, legislative committees always met on-site, often in crowded conference rooms, breathing common air.
The proposal called for most resolutions to be submitted 90 days in advance of General Convention. It would reduce floor debates by forcing more resolutions onto the consent calendar, which is a mechanism for passing batches of resolutions simultaneously without discussion.
Progressive groups accused the rulemakers of trying to stifle debate. “The cumulative effect of these proposals would undercut the spirit of relationality that is the heartbeat of governance at the General Convention and would negatively affect historically marginalized communities, in particular,” said The Consultation, a coalition of progressive Episcopal organizations.
The proposals were modified in response to criticism, reducing the deadline to 60 days, and reducing the number of deputies needed to authorize exceptions to the deadline or to remove a resolution from the consent calendar. In addition to hearing testimony on D022, the deputies at the May 30 meeting voted to recommend some of the modified proposals for passage (Resolutions A150, A152, A153, A154, and A155).
Several witnesses urged rejection of all of the A-series resolutions. “Some of the folks we heard testify today would have preferred us to push everything to that [D022] task force,” said the Rev. Steve Pankey of the Diocese of Kentucky, who chairs the deputy side of the committee (and is a candidate for vice president of the House of Deputies). But if such a task force is asked to consider the matter, “it’s responding to whatever rules are in place. And so I don’t see that as being conflicting at all.”
The considerations and associated resolutions are mind-numbingly complicated, but here’s an attempt to summarize the arguments about the central issue, which is how much of the legislative work should be accomplished in online hearings before the formal start of General Convention.
Proponents point out that online hearings allow for broader participation, because interested parties can give testimony without having to physically travel to a multi-day convention. Spreading the hearings out over several weeks — rather than holding them during a handful of 15-hour days — reduces the problem of having to miss one hearing to attend another. The expansive hearing schedule allows more resolutions to be considered in greater depth — at least at the committee level, although debate on the convention floor is reduced. Episcopalians who don’t serve as deputies can more easily offer testimony.
Opponents say that deemphasizing on-site discussion makes it more difficult for deputies to coalesce around a particular viewpoint. This is said to particularly affect people in marginalized communities (although it also can be argued that online hearings enable more such people to participate). Dioceses are spread across many time zones, which complicates preconvention scheduling. Although physically traveling to General Convention is a substantial time commitment, at least that time is exclusively dedicated to governance, whereas it can be difficult for busy people to participate in a series of hearings in advance of convention.
This last point sparked some cross-chamber sniping, as multiple deputies pointed out that some committees have been unable to take votes in meetings this spring because of a lack of a quorum among bishops. Bishops and deputies technically serve on separate committees and must vote separately, although they typically meet together.
“At least four times I’ve seen that there hasn’t been a quorum specifically of bishops, which is interesting, because bishops are professional church people,” said Sarah Lawton, a lay deputy from California. “And some of us are missing work to come to these committee meetings. But I have to assume, you know, they’re very, very busy.”
The only bishop present at the May 30 hearing was Jennifer Brooke-Davidson of North Carolina, chair of the bishops’ committee — which has only two members, so both would need to be present to have a quorum. She said Bishop of West Virginia Matthew Cowden “unfortunately was getting on a plane that didn’t have wi-fi. So I’ll catch him up and we’ll look forward to seeing you in Louisville.”
Click-bait headlines aside, on some level, the debate actually does involve the soul of General Convention.
In recent decades, General Convention has considered many weighty governance matters — and has also served as a 10-day, 10,000-person family reunion. There’s plenty of new blood at every convention, but also plenty of people who proudly self-identify as six-time or eight-time deputies. The 2022 pandemic convention was reduced from eight legislative days to four, and this year there will be six.
Episcopalians care about governance, and cherish the fact that unlike the far-larger Roman Catholic Church, ordinary clergy and laypeople have significant leadership roles alongside bishops.
“I’m not sure the connection, love, and belonging that we seek in the church and among one another can effectively be achieved, if a majority of that work is regulated to Zoom calls,” said Zena Link, lay deputy from Western Massachusetts who is also a candidate for president of the House of Deputies. “We should not sacrifice our democratic process and deep discernment for cost and time efficiency.”
“I think it’s the assault on the democratic nature or ethos of General Convention that a lot of us are speaking against,” said Scott Haight, lay deputy from West Tennessee.
In addition to logistical challenges, by holding hearings online “we’re missing the relational work of in-person gatherings; the power of groups who show up together to testify; sidebar conversations that deepen the understanding and impact of resolutions; the full engagement of deputies who are there to give their full attention to resolutions,” said the Rev. Ruth Meyers, deputy from California, and another candidate for vice president of the House of Deputies.
“We are an incarnational people, and we do our best work when we are in community, face to face,” said Joe McDaniel, lay deputy from Central Gulf Coast. “And being in the same room gives courage, knowledge and power to historically marginalized communities to speak amongst themselves and to the church.”
A previous version of this article indicated that changes to the rules of order would take effect at the 2027 General Convention. In fact, aside from references to deadlines that will already have passed, the rule changes would take effect immediately. Also, the article previously stated that proposed rules of order were drafted by a committee of five deputies. It was a five-person committee of the House of Deputies, but not all of the members were deputies.
