July 4, 2018 - Issue #2
Legislative Committees hear testimony at open meetings
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Preparations continue
Last night's resolution count: 307. July 3 at 10:15 p.m.: 323!!
Photo: Taken at the entrance to the House of Deputies showing rows of tables and chairs (foreground) and the action at the dais shown on a big screen at the back. They're making sure everything will be ready when GC79 formally opens.
Today, while you're observing the holiday with parades and picnics, your bishops, deputies, and visitors will be stepping up to the microphones in various hotel ballrooms in an effort to sway the minds of various legislative committee members about certain resolutions. Usually, they come prepared with talking points and read from iPads in order to make their case within the allotted time.
For example,
Committee 8 (Social Justice & US Policy) will hold a hearing on (among others)
B005, to consider gun violence as a public health issue.
Committee 20 (Environmental stewardship) will hold a hearing on (among others)
A010, Planting of Paris Groves (at Episcopal camps). They'll also hold a hearing on
C039, submitted by Province I, to amend the Parochial Report to include data on annual
consumption and costs of electricity, oil, and gas of all church properties.
Committee 12 (Prayer Book, Liturgy and Music) will hold hearings on (among others) whether to authorize (the revised) Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018 (
A065); whether to add Thurgood Marshall, Pauli Murray, and Florence Li Tim-Oi to LFF 2018 (
A066); and whether or not to add additional fast days for LFF (
A067).
Committee 13, which looks at requests for Prayer Book revisions, will meet at the same time and the same hotel that Committee 12 will be hearing testimony on those resolutions listed above, but in a different ballroom. Today they'll listen to testimony on
A068, Plan for the Revision of the BCP and
A069, Engagement with the BCP, as well as
A017, about adding creation liturgies.
Today they'll also have hearings on three resolutions with
ECCT ties:
- C030 from ECCT (and a similar A016) to add a baptismal promise about caring for creation
- C031 from ECCT (and a related, but larger, resolution D036) to consider minimizing gendered language in BCP revisions
- B010 from Bishop Douglas, which asks GC to consider whether Holy Eucharist should be the "preferred" instead of "principal" act of Christian worship on Sundays and other major feast days.
And if any ECCT-resident Friends of the Episcopal Church in Cuba are in town today, they'll likely be giving testimony at an open hearing of Committee 06 about its sole resolution,
A052.
>
Link here to check out all of the July 4 hearings; follow those links to read the resolutions.
Want more news?
Link
to Episcopal News Service articles.
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ECCT deputies and bishops started meeting tonight in Room 1903 of the Hilton Austin. From left, the Rev. Linda Spiers, the Rev. Carlos de la Torre, the Rev. Sandra Cosman, Alli Huggins, the Rev. Tracy Johnson Russell, Suzy Burke, Don Burr, the Rev. Jonathan Folts, the Rev. Molly James, the Rt. Rev. Ian T. Douglas, and Kristin Harris. The team (whoever is available) will gather most every night to keep one another informed and supported.
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This is an actual "tiny house" chapel, on a trailer, that really travels around the Diocese of Texas. (You can sort of see the license place just below the lower edge of the chapel, to the left of the stairs in the photo.) It's in the Exhibition Hall. That's the Rev. Jan Halstead, Deacon, who's there to welcome people and tell them about it. It's a place for worship, or quiet prayer, or silence, or conversation. Depending on the weather, it's a place to cool down or to warm up. It goes where it's needed. There are chairs inside, with Prayer Books, and you can see the altar at the far end. And it has a porch!
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5:15 p.m. (CT) Listening Session
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TEC Public Affairs Office:
On July 4, beginning at 5:15 p.m. CT, the House of Bishops will offer a liturgical listening session in response to the #MeToo movement, anchored in the Episcopal belief in the transformative power of liturgy. This “
Liturgy of Listening
,” written specifically for this session by the House of Bishops’ Pastoral Response to #MeToo Planning Team, will include music, silence, spoken prayers, sacred listening and a litany of repentance without a specific absolution. It is understood that this liturgy is our beginning, and our absolution will be the work we do in the days ahead.
(Editor's note: The Very Rev. Miguelina Howell, Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Hartford and a chaplain to the House of Bishops, and Canon for Mission Integrity & Training Robin Hammeal-Urban, were both involved in the planning of this event.)
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Deputy the Rev. Tracy Johnson Russell with her official iPad, preloaded with the Virtual Binder, which she received at registration yesterday.
MORE PHOTOS of ECCT (and former ECCT people); the Exhibition Hall, and from around the Convention Center and the nearby Lady Bird Lake are posted on
this flickr album.
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ECCT's Canon for Mission Leadership the Rev. Lee Ann Tolzmann arrives at the hotel in Austin with her husband, David. David, who owns The Laybyrinth Company, will be visiting a client who has rented space in the Exhibition Hall.
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James-Paul Cosman Forbes, right, of ECCT, is part of the Official Youth Presence. He shares a laugh with a group chaperone, the Rev. Randy Callendar, of Maryland. The OYP was getting an orientation today..
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Upcoming events (Central Time)
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July 4, 6:30 p.m. UBE Gala Celebration
July 5: Opening worship; opening legislative session, for the 79th General Convention
July 5: Opening celebration and distribution of crosses for the ECW Triennial
July 7: 5:30 p.m. Episcopal Revival Worship (PB Curry preaching) at Palmer Center; followed by 7 p.m. Diocese of Texas event
July 13: Final day
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Livestream and on demand:
Starting July 5:
- Worship
- HOB and HOD sessions
- TEConversations
- Daily newscasts (4:30 English, 6:30 Spanish)
Links to:
- Episcopal News Service (ENS) articles
- Calendars/Schedules
- Legislation (Virtual Binder)
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Resolution info
- "Virtual Binder" - all resolutions to date (gear image at top right allows you to switch between Houses and between Spanish and English.) See the infographic for help deciphering the terminology.
- "Blue Book" - reports from all the official committees, commissions, and task forces that have worked since the last General Convention in 2015, with all of their proposed resolutions ("A" resolutions)
- ECCT's graphic depiction of how a resolution moves through General Convention. Key steps, terminology, in the process.
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Link to glossary & terminology:
Here
or click on image. Let me know of others to add.
Contact Karin Hamilton by
email
or cell, 860-608-6969
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Karin Hamilton | Canon for Mission Communication & Media | khamlton@episcopalct.org | 860-608-6969
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