Wednesday’s highlight was of course the election of our new Presiding Bishop. The Right Reverend Sean Rowe, currently Bishop of the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania and Provincinal Bishop of the Diocese of Western New York. Bishop Rowe was elected by the House of Bishops, gathering in prayer at Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Louisville, on the first ballot, receiving 89 votes, with 82 a majority needed to be elected.

Bishop Rowe, while only 49 years old, is the longest serving bishop in our House of Bishops, having been elected Bishop of Northwestern Pennsylvania when he was 32. He brings a unique skill set to the position and obviously is well respected in the HoB.

Following the election, the House of Deputies received the news and, as is canonically required, voted to confirm the election. Shortly after the confirmation, Bishop Rowe addressed the House of Deputies. I really loved his speech and his presence with us. I recommend you watch his speech at the link below and see why it got me excited about his upcoming 9 year tenure as our PB.

https://video.ibm.com/recorded/133745864?mc_cid=0d35080681&mc_eid=eb172c34af

Meanwhile the slog through legislation continued. We dealt with resolutions on Israel / Palestine, concurring with the Bishops on two resolutions and amending a third, which will require a conference committee from the House of Bishops and House of Deputies to attempt to craft a compromise resolution. Some of the deputies insisted we return the terms “apartheid” and “genocide” to the resolutions in regard to Israel’s actions in the Gaza conflict. The resolutions did attempt to balance critique of the October 7th attack by Hamas and the extreme nature of Israel’s response.

And for some of us, the issue was raised over what exactly we think General Convention passing such resolutions even means to the wider world, much less the church. I found myself wondering and praying how we can generate the same level of passion and energy around evangelism and church revitalization as we do over such political issues.

Lastly, we concurred with the House of Bishops on a very important change to our constitution as to how our Prayer Book can be modified in the future, while preserving our traditional ways of slow change to our liturgical life together. This resolution was a “Second reading” of the same resolution passed in 2022, a requirement for any changes to our constitution. The resolution allows the Book of Common Prayer to include all liturgical texts authorized by General Convention, not just those currently in the actual book, while preserving a careful process of making any changes or additions.

More Prayer Book related resolutions will be dealt with today. Unfortunately our very slow pace thus far will see quite a few resolutions remaining on a Consent Calendar, meaning if the entire Consent Calendar is approved by one vote, the house simply agrees with the recommendation of the respective legislative committees proposing the resolutions and their recommended action on them (adopt, adopt with amendment, reject, take no further action). There is no debate allowed, so careful review of each Consent Calendar is essential prior to the vote in case deputies feel strongly resolutions should be pulled off that calendar and added to the legislative calendar to be debated. As time winds down and the sheer volume of work left is apparent, resolutions we probably should spend time debating may end up on the consent calendar instead. All this, to me, is a factor of how we do our work which bothers many of us, we just have too many resolutions to deal with and I wish we had a way to pare down the volume ahead of convention. Efforts to do so over my 7 times serving at convention have made little progress in that effort. Keep praying y’all!