As diverse as is the Episcopal Church, General Convention can be messy, factional, and petty, but sometimes profound and always inspirational.

It is a reminder that all Episcopalians are part of "One holy, catholic, and apostolic faith," and at its best it is a small vision of God at work in His world.
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Issues to Follow at the 75th General Convention

  • United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

Five resolutions affirming the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will be presented to legislative committees of the 75th General Convention.

The proposed legislation calls on the Episcopal Church to make the MDGs a mission priority for the coming triennium and asks that all dioceses and parishes commit 0.7 percent of their annual budgets for the realization of the goals.

Supported by all 191 U.N. member states, the MDGs - an eight-prong declaration originally fostered in September 2000 - has at its core the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger by the year 2015.

Among its other goals are achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowering women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, and ensuring environmental stability.

The eighth goal calls for a global partnership for development supported by all nations that would deal with issues such as fair trade, developing countries' debt problems and provisions for affordable, essential drugs.

Further information about the U.N. Millennium Goals can be found online at: www.un.org/millenniumgoals/goals.html

  • Youth and Young Adults

The voices of youth and young adults in the Episcopal Church will be heard in many ways this June at General Convention.

At least four resolutions focusing on youth will be brought to convention. Resolution A040, proposed by the Standing Commission on Domestic Mission and Evangelism (SCDME), would direct the Office for Young Adult Ministry to offer leadership training opportunities for young adults. The resolution would also have the Church Center's office of Congregational Development include awareness of concerns about ministry with young adults in training events and develop educational resources for parish and diocesan leaders of all ages who seek to provide young adult ministry. Each diocese would be required to have at least two adults younger than 30 serving on diocesan governing boards.

Young people will also be physically present at General Convention through two avenues: The Official Youth Presence, and E3: Educate, Experience, Empower.

The Official Youth Presence, first authorized by the General Convention of 1982, includes 18 people, two from each of the church's nine provinces, who are seated on the floor of the House of Deputies with voice but not vote.

E3: Educate, Experience, Empower, is sponsored by the Diocese of Southern Ohio with support from the Episcopal Church Center's Ministries with Young People Cluster. Set for June 15-18, E3 is an "educational opportunity for students in grades 10-12 to learn about how the Episcopal Church works, enjoy the General Convention experience, and take the opportunity to offer a student's point of view on issues facing the church" according to the Diocese of Southern Ohio's youth webpage http://www.dsoyouth.org/e3.

  • Israel and Palestine

Israel and Palestine are the focus of at least five resolutions to be presented to legislative committees.

Offering recommendations on the peace process, investments in Palestine, and interfaith dialogue and prayers for the Holy Land, the proposed resolutions would endorse the Episcopal Church's commitment to issues of peace and justice in the region and build on its partnership with the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East.

The Episcopal Church's support of the "rightful existence" of the State of Israel and the State of Palestine as two nations would be reaffirmed in Resolution A011, as would its recognition of Jerusalem as the shared capital of the two states.

The legislation also calls for an end to all violence and its "crippling impact on Israeli and Palestinian societies," the withdrawal by Israel from its settlements in the West Bank, the return of all parties to the negotiating table "rather than unilateral action by any party" and "the eradication of the sin of anti-Semitism."

  • Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music (SCLM)

The Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music (SCLM) will present the General Convention with a series of prayers and liturgies for life transitions, alternative rites for celebrating new ministries, and alternative burial rites. The commission will ask the convention for permission and money to continue to develop resources for multi-sensory worship compatible with Anglican liturgy.

It will also ask for more time to prepare supplemental liturgical materials to respond to the pastoral needs of people experiencing grief and loss over reproductive issues.

The collection of rites of passage, including suggested hymns and other music, marks transitions in childhood, young adulthood, midlife, later life and for marking the anniversaries of deaths.

The convention will be asked to approve a third volume in the "Enriching Our Worship" series that will include a new rite called The Renewal of Ministry with the Welcome of a New Rector.