On July 8, 2014, the General Convention Office sent a letter from House of Deputies President Gay Clark Jennings and Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori to bishops and deputies naming the legislative committees for the 2015 General Convention:
Dear Deputies and Bishops,
A year from now, we will gather in Salt Lake City for the 78th General Convention of The Episcopal Church. In preparation, we are working together to ensure that our shared legislative business can proceed efficiently and in ways that will facilitate God’s mission.
To that end, and in accordance with the Rules of Order of the House of Deputies and House of Bishops, we are naming the legislative committees listed below to receive and propose resolutions for General Convention’s consideration. Our goal is to establish legislative committees that are more closely aligned with the framework of the Five Marks of Mission. This has shaped our mission work in the current triennium, and we trust that it will continue to shape our engagement in God’s mission in the next triennium.
We have also decided to name a Legislative Committee on Marriage for this General Convention to ensure that the work of the Task Force on Marriage and resolutions related to the rapidly shifting contexts of civil marriage in the United States and in several other parts of the world can be given appropriate consideration. This will also make it possible for the Prayer Book, Liturgy & Music legislative committee to give full consideration to the other business that will come before it.
In July, all deputies will receive a survey asking for pertinent demographic information, legislative committee preferences, and relevant expertise and experience. We expect that deputies will be appointed to legislative committees by late fall. The bishops will be surveyed as to their particular interest in assignments during and following the fall meeting. It is the Presiding Bishop’s practice to assign all active bishops to committees, and additional resigned bishops who express an interest.
If you have questions about the new legislative committee structure, please talk with the presiding officer of the legislative house to which you belong. We look forward to our work together next summer.
Faithfully,
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori The Rev. Gay Clark Jennings
Presiding Bishop and Primate President, House of Deputies
