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The burning bush is an image I can’t imagine ever being featured on Christmas cards or wrapping paper. The idea of an angel of the Lord appearing to Moses in a flame of fire out of a bush set ablaze yet not consumed by fire may bring to mind Cecil B. DeMille’s epic movie The…
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December 5, 2012–Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and President of the House of Deputies the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings have announced the 24 members of the special Task Force for Church Structural Reform created by Resolution C095 of the 77th General Convention. “We are delighted at the collection of gifts that have been offered for…
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The Rev. Dr. Canon Harold T. Lewis, who has recently retired as rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh, was awarded the House of Deputies medal on Sunday. The Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, president of the Episcopal Church’s House of Deputies, presented the medal to Lewis during a service of thanksgiving for his ministry at…
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Rebuilding fund underway for St. James, Cannon Ball, ND The timing was only happenstance. An arsonist set fire to St. James in Cannon Ball on the night of July 25, a major feast day in the Episcopal Church commemorating St. James, the apostle. The small building on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation burnt to the…
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Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has written a pastoral letter to the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina: “Your presence adds to the ability of this community to discern the will of God, even if you disagree vehemently with one or another resolution passed by a particular General Convention. There will be another General Convention in…
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On November 12, House of Deputies President Gay Clark Jennings spoke to the opening dinner of the first meeting of the new joint commissions, committees, agencies and boards of The Episcopal Church. “ Opening Remarks Joint CCAB Meeting St. Louis, Missouri November 12, 21012 Good evening. Welcome to St. Louis. Bishop Katharine and I, along…
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I was a young woman of 23 when I went to see the Bishop of Central New York to tell him I was going to seminary. It was August of 1974 and I had already been accepted at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I was going on my own self-devised trial year, but…
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October 15, 2012–The Rev. Canon Dr. Gregory S. Straub, who will retire as executive secretary of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church on January 1 after nearly eight years and three General Conventions, was awarded the inaugural House of Deputies medal today. The Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, president of the Episcopal Church’s House of…
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Good morning. There’s an old British saying I’ve had in mind these past few months: Start as you mean to go on. And since I was elected in July, that’s what I’ve been trying to do. Now, in case you’re aspiring to be president of the House of Deputies one day, let me warn you…
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The question of whether resolutions of General Convention are binding is one that is asked in a variety of contexts. It may be a question of whether it is worthwhile to consider resolutions if they will not be binding. Or it may be a question of what the difference is between a canon and a…
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On the night of July 25, the worship space and parish hall of St. James’ Episcopal Church in Cannon Ball, North Dakota, burned to the ground. The Rev. John Floberg, a deputy from the Diocese of North Dakota, is rector of St. James and canon missioner for native ministry in the diocese. Floberg writes, “The blaze destroyed…
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What is General Convention like? After the 2012 convention, President Gay Clark Jennings wrote this essay for The Washington Post: Every three years, the Episcopal Church lays itself open to criticism and ridicule by gathering about a thousand people together for eight days and thinking out loud. The people at our General Convention come from all over the church, which…
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