Quiet opening for the House of Bishops: TLC 7.08.09 July 8, 2009
Posted by geoconger in 76th General Convention, Living Church.trackback
First published in The Living Church.
The opening legislative session of the House of Bishops of the 76th meeting of General Convention opened on a quiet note on July 8, with the bishops setting their house in order in preparation for ten days of hearings and legislative business.
Of the 280 bishops of the Episcopal Church, 161 active and retired members of the House had registered to attend General Convention, with 124 on site for the opening day.
After prayers were offered by the chaplain, the Secretary of the House of Bishops, the Rt. Rev. Kenneth L. Price, retired Suffragan Bishop of Southern Ohio, called roll and held that the quorum of 66 bishops needed to conduct business had been met. Bishop James Waggoner, Jr., of Spokane was accounted present in Anaheim, but was reported to be ill and unable to attend the opening session.
Bishop Price announced that the senior member of the House of Bishops present was the retired Bishop of Utah, the Rt. Rev. Otis Charles, while the Rt. Rev. J. Scott Mayer, Bishop of Northwest Texas, was welcomed as the junior member of the house. The bishops also noted the recent death of their colleague, the Rt. Rev. Robert O. Miller, the ninth Bishop of Alabama.
This meeting of General Convention will be asked to affirm the elections of the bishops coadjutor of Long Island, South Dakota and Ecuador Central.
Other moves noted by the House of Bishops since their last meeting were the naming of the retired Bishop of Western Missouri, the Rt. Rev. John Buchanan, as Provisional Bishop of Quincy and appointment of the Suffragan Bishop of Olympia, the Rt. Rev. Edna ‘Bavi’ Rivera to the post of Provisional Bishop of Eastern Oregon.
Bishop Price also announced that two bishops had submitted their voluntary renunciation of orders, the Rt. Rev. Edward MacBurney, retired Bishop of Quincy, and the Rt. Rev. David C. Bane, retired Bishop of Southern Virginia. However, at last month’s meeting of the Anglican Church in North America, Bishop Bane disputed this statement.
Officers for the meeting were appointed: vice-chairman, the Rt. Rev. Richard O. Chang, retired Bishop of Hawaii; secretary, Bishop Price; chairman of the committee on the dispatch of business, the Rt. Rev. Wayne Wright, Bishop of Delaware; assistant secretaries the Rt. Rev. Catherine M. Waynick, Bishop of Indianapolis, and the Rt. Rev. Michael G. Smith, Bishop of North Dakota; and teller, the Rt. Rev. Arthur Williams, retired Suffragan Bishop of Ohio.
Bishop Price offered the house a proposed resolution that would renumber the rules of order for the house, noting the substance of the rules were not being changed, but were being renumbered so as to conform to the system used by the House of Deputies.
The meeting closed following the offering of a courtesy resolution offered by the retired Bishop of New Hampshire, the Rt. Rev. Douglas Theuner, who asked the house to convey their greetings to the Rt. Rev. Robert Mc. Hatch, retired Bishop of Western Massachusetts, in recognition of his 99th birthday.
The House will reconvene at 4:30 today.
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