Web Updates – World Mission & Consents

New Web updates, now online:

• D051: Simple solution passes GC
  “The 80-Cent Solution for World Mission” passed both Houses of General Convention unanimously, paving the way for a new approach to increasing the number of missionaries serving overseas for the Episcopal Church.
• Not Good Enough for Deputies
  The House of Deputies turned down the Bishops’ attempt to open the ordination process to all people, saying that while “all means all” is an ideal, it is not the reality in far too many places in the Episcopal Church.

Web-Only Updates Now Available

Visit Centeraisle.net for Web-only articles and perspectives, including:

• Development of Same-Gender Blessings OK’d by Deputies
• Episcopal Church Letter to the Archbishop of Williams and Anglican Primates
• Haiku from General Convention

A Parish Priest’s Perspective: Episcopal Church’s “GM Moment”

One of the most important items of business at General Convention is the adoption of a new three-year budget. According to this story by Episcopal News Service, the Episcopal Church has to cut about $23 million dollars from its 2010-2012 budget.

(The church’s proposed budget predicts total triennial income of $141,271,984, with $79,161,193 coming from the dioceses and $27.6 million from investment income. Expenses are budgeted at $140,856,531.)

So there was a lot of angst today as General Convention considered approving this greatly reduced budget.

As I said in Thursday’s print column, what the budget committee  got right was that we need to prune the national Church structure, and that the right tool for the job is a chainsaw, not hand-held loppers.

(Or as Belton Zeigler of South Carolina told me this afternoon, for this job, “we need a bulldozer, not an oil can.”)

In other words, we’re still trying to make the horseshoe factory of General Convention and 815 (Episcopal Church headquarters) more efficient and responsive so that horseshoes are more affordable for local congregations.

And most of us switched over to automobiles a few years ago.

What do I mean by that? I mean just as “all politics is local,” most mission and ministry is local. Or as Bishop Lee points out in Friday’s Center Aisle, “mission should occur at the level closest to the people who are called to engage in that mission.”

It has long struck me that the further “up” we go into church structures — from the local parish to regions/deaneries to the diocese to provinces to the national church, the more things like bureaucracy, policy, politics, and procedures grow, and the less actual mission and ministry happen.

I’m not saying there is NO use for the national church, dioceses, or regions. But like a historical house that has been added onto over the decades — a remodeled kitchen in the 1950’s, a two-bedroom addition in the ’60s, a room above the garage in the ’70s, a screened-in porch in the 80’s, an in-home theater in the ’90’s, all without any thought to an overall architectural master plan, just so, church structures just tend to grow way beyond the needs of the current occupants.

So there comes a time when the current occupants look around and say, “wow…this place has gotten to be WAY too big, way too inefficient for us. What do we do? Remodel again?

“Or tear-down, and rebuild?”

Thanks be to God, painful as it is, the Episcopal Church may be reaching the latter conclusion.

posted by John Ohmer

Issue 9 Now Online

Today is the last publication day for Center Aisle. Visit us at www.centeraisle.net for Issue 9 to read about an emphasis on the local at General Convention; perspectives from the Official Youth Presence; views on helping faithful Cubans; and more. Plus, learn how one Center Aisle staff member almost met Bono!

Issue 8 of Center Aisle Now Online

Visit www.centeraisle.net to read about moments of grace, a bike ride for Episcopal Relief & Development and updates from the House of Bishops and House of Deputies.

A Parish Priest’s Perspective: Legislative Lime, Budgetary Berry, and more

For tonight’s post, I’d like to refer you to the column that’ll run tomorrow in the print version of Center Aisle.

You can read it here, but — at the risk of violating some blogging protocol against quoting ones’ self — for those of you short on time, key quotes:

Regarding the way we drink the kool-aid of “Legislative Lime” –

The further “up” you go into church governance, the more likely you are to find the Church structured as a legislative body, and so legislation proliferates, with the larger Church resembling the local church less and less. …

An antidote is for deputies to believe, when they hear a voice that says, “this is such waste of time, the whole structure of General Convention needs to be changed, I wonder if anyone out there is willing to foment rebellion…?” – for them to believe that that voice is of the Holy Spirit.

And conversely, the voice that says “sit down, be patient and drink your kool-aid” is not.

Regarding our consumption of “Budgetary Berry” –

Parish clergy who are incompetent pastors, uninspiring preachers or ineffective administrators (or some Freddy Krueger combination of all three) will see it almost immediately in the annual stewardship campaign and in average Sunday attendance.

But mandatory giving – the fixed-percentage income the national Church and many dioceses receive – means no such immediate feedback.

The antidote? Move to voluntary giving at all levels of church governance. …

Who knows? A move toward voluntary giving could mean 815 would quickly do what most businesses have had to do for years: identify its essential mission, and then find ways to accomplish it through a slimmer, smaller, more responsive structure.

But I sure hope people read all the way to the end of my print column, because it’s the section I feel most strongly about.

It’s about drinking the kool-aid of “Self-flagellation Fruit Punch” — the kool-aid we drink when we, as Episcopalians, beat ourselves up.

One of my favorite quotes, popularized by author John Eldredge, is “Let the world feel the weight of who you are, and let them deal with it.”

So often we Episcopalians sound so defensive … so apologetic … so squeamish.

The antidote, I argue, is to remember — not just remember, but apologetically proclaim the unique role this wonderful, eclectic, generous part of the Body of Christ has to offer the rest of the Body.

And I close by quoting the sermon we heard this morning by Abigail Nelson of Episcopal Relief & Development.

It’s a sermon worth reading in its entirety,  because — in contrast to the depressive nature of so many socially prophetic sermons — this one left you feeling encouraged .. motivated …

…proud to be an Episcopalian.

posted by John Ohmer

Issue 7 Now Online

Issue 7 of Center Aisle, online at www.centeraisle.net, offers perspectives from the Rt. Rev. Michael Curry of the Diocese of North Carolina; viewpoints on Anglican identity in the United States; and updates on the Public Narrative Project.

Do you have feedback to give to Center Aisle? Contact us with a letter to the editor at centeraisle@thediocese.net.

Ecuador Central Election

Center Aisle volunteers Kate Hahn and Liz Cunningham spent Monday in the House of Deputies covering the debate on the consent to the election of the Rev. Luis Fernando Ruiz Restrepo as Bishop-elect of Ecuador Central.

Earlier today, July 13, 2009, the head of Committee 7, Consecrations of Bishops, told the House of Deputies that the committee had come to the agreement that the Bishop-elect for Ecuador Central was elected by a fair and correct process, and the committee supported passing Resolution B023. At this point the resolution had already passed through the House of Bishops. When it came time for deputies to speak for or against the resolution, there was an overwhelming amount of support from many of the speakers to pass the resolution. Unfortunately, hesitation came after two of the Ecuadorian deputies spoke out against the resolution, saying the Bishop-elect for Ecuador Central, the Rev. Luis Fernando Ruiz Restrepo, came to his appointment through an undemocratic process. The Ecuadorian deputy claimed an election for their bishop was never held, and that three out of the four Ecuadorian deputies were not in favor of the resolution being passed. He also said he had signed documents to prove this statement.

Resolution B023 is the consent to consecration of the Rev. Ruiz as bishop of the Diocese of Ecuador Central. B023 was particularly controversial because there was was a claim from some in the Diocese of Ecuador Central that the process of electing this bishop was not in accordance with the canons.
However, this discord did not come to surface until Resolution B023 came to General Convention. According to Deputy Gay Jennings of Ohio, a well-respected consultant sent by the Office of the Presiding Bishop to Ecuador Central to help see through the process, the election was in order according to the canons.

Deputies from Bishop-elect Ruiz’s home country of Colombia spoke to his great dedication to the Episcopal Church and to the Diocese of Ecuador Central. His election, they said, would unite the diocese and “create an environment of reconciliation.” Not only did deputies from Colombia speak on behalf of the bishop-elect, but so did deputies from Ecuador Central. One deputy stressed the transparency of the process, and said the Diocesan Convention ratified the bishop-elect unanimously.

But the deputies from Ecuador Central are split on the matter. One deputy gave strong testimony against the bishop-elect and B023. That deputy claimed a majority of delegates who attended the last convention reject the way the process was carried out. He also claimed there was an absence of participation by the members of the diocese. “I have documents in my hands that confirm all of these which I will leave to the president,” he claimed as he thrust said papers above his head, adding, “If you send this resolution, we will end forever wounded.”

When the voice vote on B023 was not clear, President Bonnie Anderson ordered an electronic vote. It was at this point that the electronic voting devices were surprisingly malfunctioning, and a recess was called in order to have Eucharist, leaving the House of Deputies in a huge cliffhanger.

The vote was cast and counted by the now-working electronic vote after the recess for Eucharist. B023 was passed by 72.3 percent, or 584 votes. The Rev. Luis Fernando Ruiz Restrepo is now consented to as Bishop-elect of the Diocese of Ecuador Central.

It was evident, through those deputies who were aware of the situation and in support of the resolution being passed, that this was a serious issue. The Diocese of Ecuador Central is currently in need of great love, healing and care due to the turmoil caused by the abandonment and deposition of their bishop, the Rt. Rev. Neptali Larrea, in 2006. For the past three years, the diocese has been under the leadership of provisional Bishop Wilfredo Ramos-Orench. For Ecuador Central to continue to be without a permanent bishop to lead and guide them would be detrimental to these people considering all of the troubles they have recently experienced. It was stated by many of the deputies who spoke to passing the resolution that Bishop-elect Ruiz was more than qualified for this difficult position, as well as passionate about helping to restore this diocese to stability.

After seeing the emotional embraces and joyful tears of Bishop-elect Ruiz’s friends and family, it was obvious that the decision made on B023 was not one to be taken lightly. Going into this, the bishop-elect and his supporters did not know these conflicts would arise during General Convention in regards to his consecration. After the great debates, frustration, and anxiety that went on regarding B023, it is even more evident that the Bishop-elect of Ecuador Central does not have an easy task ahead of him, nor will he take it lightly. Emotions of relief, honor and dedication were written all over the bishop-elect’s face as he processed up the center aisle of the House of Deputies with diocesan members and his wife surrounding him.

A Parish Priest’s Perspective: Antidotes for Drinking the Kool-Aid

I don’t know when, but some time ago I ran across the phrase, “drinking the kool-aid.”  I looked it up in the Urban Dictionary and found the definition as

“To completely buy into an idea or system, whether good or bad, as in ‘Coach Bellichick got his players to drink the Kool-Aid.’”

The definition is a minor lesson in how the English language evolves: While the origins of “drinking the kool-aid” go back to 1978 and Jonestown , no one really associates the phrase with that event any more, and now the term simply means something like “falling into group think.”

And one of the ironies of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church is how much group-think there is.

I say that’s an irony because there’s a great deal of talk out here about the importance of celebrating diversity and respecting others’ viewpoints, especially when those viewpoints challenge our own worldview. But truth be told, there’s an even greater (albeit subtle) pressure out here to conform…to completely buy into an idea or system, good or bad.

To drink the kool-aid.

So I got to thinking: what are the various kinds of group-think out here? What assumptions have we subconciously fallen into?

I was able to come up three or four pretty much right off the top of my head, and I wrote about two of them — “Civility Cherry” and “The-State-of-the-Church-is-just-fine Strawberry” for tomorrow’s (Tuesday’s) print version of the Center Aisle.

You can read it here.

posted by John Ohmer

Issue 6 Now Available Online

Visit www.centeraisle.net for views on the denominational health plan, perspectives on Latino ministry, letters to the editor, and the first-ever Center Aisle perspective poetry.