August 2015
St. Mark’s News Volume 19/Issue 7
From the Rector On occasion it is important to remember that St. Mark’s is part of the Diocese of Texas, part of the larger national church, and a constituent member of the wider Anglican Communion. What this boils down to is that neither St. Mark’s nor the Diocese of Texas are at liberty to do whatever we want, however we choose to do it, when it comes to certain aspects of our life together. The General Convention is the governing body of The Episcopal Church that meets every three years. The Convention is a bicameral legislature that includes the House of Deputies (clergy and lay people) and the House of Bishops. Deputies and bishops representing each diocese carry out the work at Convention. This year the 78th General Convention met in Salt Lake City, Utah, from June 25 – July 3. In 2018, General Convention will meet in Austin and St. Mark’s will, no doubt, be asked to help host in some capacity or another. At the beginning of the new program year in September, when we resume our Adult Formation classes, we will spend a couple of Sundays sharing and discussing some of the legislative decisions that were made at the most recent General Convention. On Thursday, August 13, Bishop Doyle has scheduled a meeting with the clergy at Camp Allen to discuss the recent legislation and what the decisions might mean for our diocese and for our parish. At this point I simply want to note some of the highlights (as reported by the Episcopal News Service):
In this Issue From the Rector .........................1 Outreach ....................................3 Parish Life ..................................3 Christian Formation ....................4 Rally Day ....................................6 Women’s Storybook Project .......8 Parishioner Highlights ................9 Celebrations ............................. 10 Caffeine Ministry ...................... 10 ROTA ....................................... 11
A new Presiding Bishop (the 27th), the Rt. Rev. Michael Curry, was elected on the first ballot, by a vote of 800 to 12. Bishop Curry is currently the Bishop of the Diocese of North Carolina, and he will be the first African-American presiding bishop. The Presiding Bishop is elected for nine years, and his term will begin in November. +Michael and I both graduated from Yale Divinity School in 1978. In the wake of the June 26 Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage in every state, General Convention followed suit on July 1 with canonical and liturgical changes to provide marriage equality for Episcopalians. There was a canonical change eliminating language that defines marriage as between a man and woman and two new marriage rites were authorized for use beginning in Advent 2015. The triennial budget for 2016-2018 includes additional monies for evangelism and for a new initiative on racial justice and reconciliation. General Convention made mandatory what is currently a voluntary diocesan budgetary asking system. As of 2019 dioceses will be required to pay their full assessment. General Convention passed two resolutions aimed at environmentally responsible investing and creating a climate change advisory committee. Convention approved two resolutions making major changes to the structure of the Episcopal Church: expanded Executive Council’s appointment power concerning 3 members of the executive staff, and reduced the number of the church’s standing commissions from 14 to 2 (Standing Commission on Structure, Governance, Constitution and Canons and the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music). Convention passed two resolutions on peacemaking, and voiced support of Christians in Israel and the occupied territories. The resolution also urged Episcopalians to go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
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