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This page last updated 15 April 2007  
 

THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN THE USA (ECUSA) is the American branch of the Anglican Communion. Each branch is self-governed, and ECUSA governance centers on its every three years General Convention. This year the General Convention meets for the seventy-fifth time, in Columbus, Ohio, in session from 13 to 21 June, 2006. This year's General Convention will also elect a new Presiding Bishop.

General Convention: A Primer

 

Got three minutes? Read our quick overview of how General Convention works.

Really interested? Look over the wide range of publications available to the bishops and deputies.

Here is the official primer written by the Executive Officer of the General Convention Office.

AO General Convention News Centre
 

If there is news, we will summarize it here.

Big news: The Rt Revd Dr Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop of Nevada, is the new Presiding Bishop. Full coverage in our main News Centre.

Jim Naughton, covering GC06 for the Diocese of Washington, agrees with us that nothing is yet happening that could be called news. Oh, there's lots of plotting and scheming and organizing going on, so that it will look professional when some group stages a walkout and holds a press conference. But that's not news, it's power politics.

To our mind the best analytical coverage of the non-goings-on at General Convention is provided by Inclusive Church, a UK group, perhaps in the spirit of Alexis de Tocqueville. However, the blog software they are using is quite lame, so we refer you to the copies of their reports over at Thinking Anglicans. There is also good coverage from Canada from the other end of the political spectrum, ClassicalAnglican.net, though we aren't comfortable with its voice.

Bonnie Anderson was elected President of the House of Deputies. This is not surprising, because she was the only candidate. The Revd Brian Prior was elected Vice President.

Numerous meetings were held (example 1, example 2), and people attended them. Everyone stayed up too late and awoke too early; by the end of the Convention, half of those in attendance will be hallucinating from sleep deprivation.

Official Coverage
 

General Convention 2006 Home Page
On the official Episcopal Church site. Includes rosters of the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies and members of all legislative committees. There is no official list for the House of Bishops, but Dr Louie Crew keeps an extensive web site with biographical material, voting records, and the like.

Episcopal News Service
Official ECUSA coverage of the General Convention.

Convention Daily
An official daily newspaper produced by the staff of Episcopal Life (the official newspaper of the Episcopal Church). Available in PDF only. Thus far the most gripping article we've seen in the Convention Daily is 'Voting system stymies election' on page 3 of the June 15 issue.

Convention Nightly
The Evening News, a half-hour bedtime video each evening.

'Regional News of General Convention'
National and diocesan Episcopal communicators are working together to provide this summary of news specific to particular geographic regions within the Episcopal Church. As of midnight Columbus time on June 14, there was no news provided here. So little is regional any more. Province V published a sweet feature 'Churches rebound, celebrate rebirth'. Without looking it up, can you name two cities in Province V?

Diocesan coverage
Diocese of Southern Ohio: General coverage from the host diocese.

Convention Legislation
  You can view all the resolutions that have been submitted for consideration by the 75th General Convention here.
Commercial News Media Coverage
  Because of the high interest in some resolutions this General Convention is considering, national and international news coverage is high. Rather than listing newspapers, we suggest you check your favourite professional media online or search with Google News. You'll be able to follow all the latest articles.
Special Interest Group News and Reports
 

We dislike labels, but for those browsing (especially from outside the States), it may be helpful to have a general idea of the perspective of the organisation.

American Anglican Council (conservative): a professional and up-to-date site, with daily news.

Every Voice Network (liberal): a well produced, informative site. Sign up for daily email updates.

Integrity (from the well-known US gay and lesbian advocacy group): daily news and resolution-tracking.

Classical Anglican (conservative): a Canadian-based collection of conservative Anglican blogs.

Miscellaneous
 

The Columbus Convention Center
Basic information.

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