April 27, 2018
Dear Deputies and Alternate Deputies:
General Convention meets just once every three years, so we deputies have a great responsibility to elect and confirm many of the people who do the work of the church in between conventions. At this convention, we’ll elect 51 people to ten different positions, confirm House of Bishops elections of 14 people and confirm 12 people appointed by the presiding officers.
Here’s a checklist:
Elections by the House of Deputies
At this convention, the House of Deputies will elect people to these positions:
- President of the House of Deputies: 1 clerical or lay deputy for a 3-year term
- Vice-President of the House of Deputies: 1 clerical or lay deputy of the opposite order of the president for a 3-year term
- Secretary of the House of Deputies: 1 person for a 3-year term elected by the House of Deputies; upon confirmation by the House of Bishops, becomes the Secretary of General Convention
- Treasurer of the General Convention: 1 person for a 3-year term elected by concurrent action of both Houses
- Executive Council: 2 priests or deacons and 6 lay persons for 6-year terms
- Disciplinary Board for Bishops: 2 priests or deacons and 2 lay persons for 6-year terms
- Trustees of the Church Pension Fund: 12 trustees for 6-year terms
- Board of Trustees of the General Theological Seminary: 2 priests or deacons and 2 lay persons for 6-year terms
- Recorder of Ordinations: 1 person or institution for a 3-year term
- Joint Nominating Committee for the Election of a Presiding Bishop: 1 clerical deputy and 1 lay deputy from each Province for 3-year terms
Confirmations by the House of Deputies
The House of Deputies will confirm these elections held by the House of Bishops:
- Executive Council: 2 bishops elected for 6-year terms
- General Board of Examining Chaplains: 2 bishops, 3 priests, 3 seminary faculty and 3 lay persons for 6-year terms
- Historiographer: 1 person for a 3-year term (Registrar of General Convention serves unless House of Bishops makes a separate nomination)
Both the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops will confirm these appointments:
- Board of the Archives of the Episcopal Church: 1 bishop appointed by the presiding bishop; 2 priests or deacons and 3 lay persons appointed by the president of the House of Deputies
- Board for Transition Ministry: 2 bishops appointed by the presiding bishop; 2 priests or deacons and 2 lay persons appointed by the president of the House of Deputies
You can learn more about each of these positions in Appendix 3 (page 23) of “An Introduction to the 79th General Convention for Bishops and Deputies.”
Nominations
The Joint Standing Committee on Nominations nominates people for many of the positions elected by the House of Deputies and House of Bishops; see the detailed list in Appendix 3 of the Introduction for details of the nomination process, and view the list of committee nominees online.
It is also possible to nominate people from the floor for any of the positions that the House of Deputies elects, except for members of the Joint Nominating Committee for the Election of the Presiding Bishop, who are nominated through provincial caucuses.
To expedite the nominations process and ensure that nominee information is included in the virtual binder, Secretary of the House of Deputies Michael Barlowe will receive advance notice of nominations from the floor from now until the time of nominations during the legislative session on July 6. Learn more about how to make a nomination from the floor on the House of Deputies website.
Schedule of Elections and Confirmations
We’ll handle elections and confirmations over five days in the House of Deputies:
Thursday, July 5
The election of the Secretary of the House of Deputies will be held in the opening legislative session, as part of the organization of the House.
Sunday, July 8
Elections for all positions (except vice president of the House of Deputies and the members of the Joint Nominating Committee for the Election of a Presiding Bishop) will take place during the afternoon legislative session.
Provincial Caucuses will meet on Monday, July 9 at 6:45 pm in order to nominate lay and clerical deputies to serve on the Joint Nominating Committee for the Election of a Presiding Bishop.
Monday, July 9
Nominations for vice president of the House of Deputies will take place during the afternoon legislative session. We wait to handle nominations for vice president until after the election of the president because the vice president must be of a different order from the president (Canon I.1.1 (b)).
Tuesday, July 10
Elections for the vice president of the House of Deputies and members of Joint Nominating Committee for the Election of a Presiding Bishop will take place during the afternoon legislative session.
Thank you for your participation in the election process at General Convention. If you have questions, I hope you will talk with your deputation and ask the General Convention office and my office where to find any additional information you may need.
I look forward to seeing you in Austin.
Faithfully,
The Rev. Gay Clark Jennings
President
