Report from Diocesan Convention 2020
Hello St. Paul’s.
Last weekend the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego held its annual convention. All clergy canonically resident in the diocese are expected to attend Convention as delegates, and each congregation elects a number of lay delegates, with the number determined by the Average Sunday Attendance figures of the prior year. This year St. Paul’s had six lay delegates. Historically, Convention has been held at a different parish each year, and this year we were supposed to meet in Yuma, Arizona – yes, we have a congregation there. However, due to the pandemic, Convention went virtual, which presented some technical challenges and also meant a stripped-down agenda.
All our meetings were held via Zoom, within an app called Whova which provided for photo galleries, messaging, groups, and document reference. On Friday afternoon we were offered previews of the budget and the resolutions. The Rev. Canon Stephanie Spellers of the Presiding Bishop’s staff gave an energizing and inspiring keynote address on evangelism, suggesting that the most effective way to engage people is to build conversations around four questions: “What are your hurts? What have you lost? What do you love? And What are your dreams?”
Evening Prayer featured readers and musicians from around the diocese and included a great sermon from Bishop Susan encouraging us to “cast our nets on the other side”. During the service Bishop Susan presented Lesslie Keller with the Bishop’s Cross in recognition of Lesslie’s outstanding service as executive director of Episcopal Community Services. Lesslie will retire at the end of the calendar year, and has recently served on Chapter and on the cathedral audit committee. Bishop Susan also invested Christian Gillette as a lay Canon of the diocese.
Saturday was the day for business. Youth had their own parallel track and enjoyed a number of activities. After a slow start, as each delegate had to be checked in individually, we heard the Bishop’s Convention Address, followed by a presentation on the new diocesan Strategic Plan. The key phrase for the plan is “Courageous Love”. Congratulations to Jen Jow for her involvement in creating the plan.
We discussed and approved the diocesan budget for 2021: this has been reorganized to reflect the seven ministry areas of the strategic plan.
We discussed and approved three resolutions. The first provided for meetings to be conducted virtually, both at diocesan and parish level. This was an essential response to the current COVID restrictions, allowing convention itself to proceed and also allowing annual congregational meetings like our own to be conducted via Zoom with mail-in or virtual voting. This resolution also provided for lay delegates for 2021 to be appointed based on 2019 attendance numbers, and it opened up an appeals process for congregations unable to pay their Common Life Share due to the pandemic.
The second resolution reworked the job description and term of the diocesan historiographer and archivist. Our own John Will has served in this role for 12 years, elected annually to a one-year term. The revision provides for a four-year term, which John has willingly embraced, and
permits the engagement of volunteer assistants. In 2024 the diocese will celebrate its 50th anniversary, and this change allows our historiographer to start now with preparations.
The third resolution came from the diocesan advocacy committee and called on all congregations to explore the installation of solar power. Our own Erika Morgan presented a program that will permit congregations to make this change without any cost. She added that a large percentage of our congregations are already engaged in the process.
Besides the historiographer, we elected a number of other individuals to diocesan roles. I was elected, unopposed, to a four-year term on the Standing Committee, which is a committee of advice and counsel to the Bishop. We also re-elected the Rev. Canon Andrew Green as diocesan representative on Chapter.
The bishop made a number of appointments, including appointing Jerry Coughlan as an intake officer for reports of clergy misconduct, and both Justin Lewis and Terry Kelly to the Commission on Ministry.
Finally, we approved a bundle of courtesy resolutions and accepted several reports. You can find all the reports and the strategic plan at conventionedsd.org.
I am grateful for our lay delegates and our clergy who participated in this different kind of convention. You can see that the cathedral community is very involved in diocesan ministry, and I am proud of our contribution to the wider church. Next year we will hope to be back to an in-person Convention, which will take place in Poway.
See you on Sunday.
Your sister in Christ,
Penny
