Goodbye, Columbus; Which Way to Anaheim?

Well, the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church is done, as are most of those who were participants - done as in "done in." It is a long process. As is always the case, there were matters that were not attended to. By action of the House (at least in Deputies), resolutions scheduled but not completed were referred to interim bodies - the Commissions, Committees, Agencies, and Boards (CCAB's) that generated the "A" resolutions in the Blue Book.

However, the most important matters were addressed. They were not necessarily addressed in the forms originally submitted. Most of the resolutions of the Special Commission on the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion were changed and changed again before they were acted on. There will, of course, be many comments about who won and who lost on those actions. I don't know that any statement would be trustworthy that asserts clarity on that. I think many people were sad at some things and relieved at others. I think the Convention did respond to the Windsor Report as best this Convention could, and indeed responded more than adequately. I don't think there's any real ground for triumphalism on anyone's part.

As for my own concerns? Well, Resolution D023 on Principles on Decisions at the End of Life was passed by the Conjoint Education Committee, and was passed in the House of Bishops, but could not be addressed in the House of Deputies before the time for Convention ran out. This wasn't the only resolution to suffer that fate, nor even the most important, my own interest notwithstanding. I expect it will be referred to an interim Commission - hopefully the Commission on Health, although I don't know for sure yet whether the Bishops passed that.

There were a number of resolutions related to health care that did pass, and as I spoke to some before Convention, I will, over the next little while, speak to some of those that did pass. In the meantime, like many others, I will be working on processing what was accomplished, and preparing for next steps.