Wrap-Up of General Convention
By Neva Rae Fox
If you read any newspaper or watched any television news during the early part of August, then you saw that the 74th General Convention of the Episcopal Church was making headlines!
The theme of General Convention was “Engage God’s Mission: Receive, Repent, Reconcile and Restore.” The two-week General Convention (GC) was one for the record books, as it turned out to be a major media event. While the approval of the Rev. Canon Gene Robinson and the discussion on same-sex blessings took center stage, a great deal more happened, and many decisions were made that will have far-reaching impact as a community of Christians.
EDNY Team
Bishop Mark Sisk led the EDNY team. Bishops Catherine Roskam, E. Don
Taylor, Herbert Donovan and Richard Grein joined him in the House of
Bishops.
The EDNY representatives in the House
of Deputies:
Clergy Deputies: the Rev. Theodora Brooks,
St. Margaret’s, Bronx; the Rev. Jean Campbell, St. Mark’s,
Chelsea; the Rev. Dr. Roger Ferlo, St. Luke-in-the-Fields, Manhattan;
the Rev. Gerald Keucher, St. John’s, Getty Square, Yonkers.
Lay Deputies: Diane B. Pollard, Crucifixion, Manhattan (deputation chair); Nell B. Gibson, St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery, Manhattan; Dorothy Smith, Mediator, Bronx; Fred Wibiralske, St. David’s, Highland Mills.
Alternate Clergy Deputies: the Rev. James L. Burns, Heavenly Rest, Manhattan; the Rev. Tobias Haller, St. James’, Fordham, Bronx; the Rev. Dr. Daniel P. Matthews, Trinity, Wall Street, Manhattan; the Rev. K. Dennis Winslow, St. Peter’s Chelsea, Manhattan.
Alternate Deputies Lay: William S. Augerson, MD, Grace, Millbrook; James A. Barba, Zion, Wappingers Falls; James A. Forde, Good Shepherd in the Bronx; Louise Jonsson Mediator, Bronx.
But, there were many from EDNY who participated in an array of ways — as speakers, presenters, committee members, exhibitors, visitors and guests.
Youth
GC featured a program for the youth from around the country who trekked
to Minneapolis for the big event. The Rev. Christopher King, Diocesan
youth coordinator, reported, “We traveled and lodged with 26 other
youth and adults from the dioceses of Long Island and Newark.”
Attending from EDNY were Lily Acunzo (St. Andrew’s, Staten Island), Bryan Bing (St. Stephen’s, Pearl River), Tiffany Chin (St. Andrew’s, Bronx), Jaritza Joseph (Iglesia de San Juan Bautista, Bronx), Manuel Lampon (St. Matthew & St. Timothy, Manhattan), Tiffany Muller (St. James’, Goshen), Elizabeth Schroeder (Zion, Wappingers Falls), Neela Wickremesinghe (St. Andrew’s, Staten Island) and adults Catherine Grant (St. Andrew’s, Bronx) and Debby Lou Vadala (St. Paul’s, Chester).
Triennial
Concurrent with GC was the ECW Triennial meeting, attended by Margaret
Cash, St. Andrew’s, Manhattan; Mavis Dowdie, Good Shepherd, Bronx;
Virginia Leif, St. Michael’s, Manhattan; Luisa Murrell, Intercession,
Manhattan; and Frances Harvan, St. Michael’s, Manhattan, who was
an alternate.
The ECW Triennial adopted a resolution naming the Women of Honor, and from EDNY, Gwen Carter was posthumously honored.
Elections, Awards, Approvals
Diane Pollard, EDNY deputation chair, was overwhelmingly elected to
the important Joint Committee for the Nomination of the Presiding Bishop.
For the next three years, Pollard will be part of this national committee,
which is charged with the duty of searching and reviewing nominees for
the next Presiding Bishop, who will be elected at the 2006 General Convention.
Mary Chilton Calloway was elected to the General Board of Examining Chaplains for a three-year term.
Dr. Margaret Lawrence of St. Paul’s, Spring Valley, was presented with the Sayre Peace Award by the Episcopal Peace Fellowship.
The Rev. Samuel Johnson Howard of Trinity, Wall Street, Manhattan, was approved as Bishop Coadjutor of Florida.