Dear People of God in the Diocese of Southwest Florida,

The General Convention has concluded its 10 days of legislative process that includes hearings, committee meetings, worship, debate and voting in a bicameral system composed of the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops. It began meeting to govern our church in 1785 and has met triennially to guide the policy, mission and budget for the subsequent three years ever since. Every deputy (clergy and lay) and bishop in participation represents the Episcopal Church from 110 dioceses in 16 countries. It is a huge gathering of Anglican Christians.

You have every reason to be proud of your elected deputation. They worked long hours and wrestled with sometimes difficult issues. The resolutions voted on included mission focus, the budget, health, education, social issues, church canons and evangelism.

An interesting reality of legislative process is this: The final tally on any vote cannot reveal nuance or discussion. One can agree with 99 percent of the content of a given piece of legislation and vote “no” because of a particular word or phrase. One can vote “yes” without fully agreeing with an approach. This reality does not translate well into newspaper headlines. It is important to be mindful of the fact that opinions, reports, blogs and news articles are sometimes inaccurate, misleading, or incomplete. I have heard that there are inaccuracies regarding this General Convention's work.

This convention did recognize the changing circumstances in particular civic jurisdictions regarding “legislation authorizing or forbidding marriage, civil unions or domestic partnerships for gay and lesbian persons.” It called for “a renewed pastoral response” but did not authorize same-sex blessings.

The House of Bishops will be in theological discussion in the coming years regarding this pastoral issue. This is not new. An initial theological study from the Theology Committee of the House of Bishops was expected for Spring 2010 anyway. Resolution C056 expects the theological conversation to be held within the wider context of the Anglican Communion. The discussions in the House of Bishops at this General Convention were honest, caring, prayerful, respectful and thoughtful. Deep listening to one another characterized our time together. This particular focus may continue to unfold in years to come just as the issue of divorce and remarriage did within the church. Changes in the culture forced theological discussion regarding divorce at the Lambeth Conferences in 1920 and 1930. Our own General Convention slightly relaxed our canons regarding divorce and remarriage within the church first in 1946 and then set out current standards in 1973. The reality of faithful homosexual Christians was, to my knowledge, first mentioned at a General Convention in 1976 and at the Lambeth Conference in 1978.

Please note that no church canons regarding marriage were changed, or even debated, at this just concluded General Convention. The conversation is continuing within our church and the Anglican Communion about the pastoral approaches and theological understandings for gay and lesbian Christian’s who are loved by God and respond to God’s call.

This General Convention fully reaffirmed our complete participation within the life of the Anglican Communion at every level, including continuing in the Anglican Covenant conversational process. It was a gift that so many Anglican primates including the Archbishop of Canterbury attended this 76th General Convention.

There was much accomplished in Anaheim, Calif. The disciplinary canons of the church were entirely reworked to make them more about reconciliation. Consents were given for the elections of the bishops of South Dakota, Long Island and Central Ecuador. The Lesser Feasts and Fasts book was revised and retitled Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints. A second round of ecumenical dialogue with the Presbyterian Church was approved and full communion with the Moravian Church was adopted. A theological statement on interreligious relations was adopted. The denominational health plan for the Episcopal Church was approved, as was the lay pension plan.

There was much more dealt with that shapes the next triennium in the Episcopal Church. I invite you to read in more detail the reports about General Convention that will be found at www.episcopalchurch.org/episcopal_life.htm. Your deputation will offer an additional report soon. Thank you for your life-giving prayers and support. I pray that your remaining summer season is restful and fulfilling.

Yours in Christ,

Dabney T. Smith
Fifth Bishop of the Diocese of Southwest Florida