| What is General Convention?
General Convention is the highest governing body of The Episcopal Church, meeting every three years and made up of the Church’s bishops and elected lay and ordained deputies from each diocese.
The 79th General Convention will be held at Austin Convention Center in Downtown Austin, Texas, from July 3 to 14. The Episcopal Church Women (ECW) Triennial meeting convenes in the same location from July 5 to 11.
Where can I find the General Convention schedules?
General Convention Calendar
ECW Calendar
ECW Triennial Meeting Calendar
Draft GC Schedule
A special service to address sexual harassment, abuse and exploitation in the Church will be hosted by the House of Bishops on July 4 from 5:15-7:00 p.m. The service will be live streamed for those who want to join. It will be a service of Listening, Lament and Hope as we hear the stories of people who have suffered in the Church and work towards healing and transformation. The title of the Service is “Out of the Depths, Let our Cries Come to You.”
You can participate from Pennsylvania!
Who is attending General Convention from the Episcopal Church in Central PA?
At our diocesan convention in 2016, we elected all 10 members to the deputation which includes 8 deputies (4 clergy/4 lay) and 2 alternates (1 clergy/1 lay). They will be joining Bishop Scanlan in Austin as voting members of General Convention.
Bishop
The Rt. Rev. Audrey C. Scanlan
Clergy Deputies
The Rev. Canon Dan Morrow, Chair
The Rev. Canon Stephen Casey
The Rev. Canon Kate Harrigan
The Rev. Canon Nelson Baliira
Clergy Alternate
The Rev. Regina Bautista
Lay Deputies
Bonnie Chambers
Chuck Banks
David Rutledge
Amy Swiernik
Lay Alternate
Cathy Rippeon
Diocesan Staff
Alexis Guszick, Canon for Diocesan Communication & Events
ECW Triennial attendees
Cindy Mohr
Shirley Wagner
Alyce Peiffer
Eileen Sullivan
Sign Language Interpreter for General Convention
Rayelenn Sparks Casey
Beyond voting, how are our deputies serving at General Convention?
In addition to Bishop Scanlan, five members were appointed to the following committees:
- The Rev. Canon Dan Morrow, Evangelism and Church Planting Committee
- Charles (Chuck) Banks, Constitution and Canons Committee.
- The Rev. Canon Stephen Casey, Constitution and Canons Committee.
- The Rev. Canon Kate Harrigan, Congregational Vitality Committee
- Linda Watkins, Province III Social Justice Representative.
General Convention topics important to the Episcopal Church in Central PA:
- Social Justice (gender wage equity, transgender dignity, racial justice, immigration, voting rights, DACA/Dreamers, deportations, sanctuary cities, addictions)
- Evangelism (bi-vocational clergy, formation, small church leadership, mission strategy, racial reconciliation, useful metrics)
- Liturgy & Music (Book of Common Prayer and Hymnal revisions, musical resources, regularization, gendered language, marriage task force, trial use liturgies, translations for Chinese and Spanish use)
- Care of Creation (climate change, environmental justice, water, energy policy)
- International (Haiti, Cuba, Palestine/Israel, refugees and migration, nationalism)
- Governance (interim bodies strategy, Program, Budget and Finance resolutions on funding, Constitution and Canons, Title IV-Safeguard, Church Pension Fund, stewardship).
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