Dear Friends,
I am writing this letter from the floor of the House of Bishops at the 81st General Convention being held in Louisville, Kentucky. General Convention is a once-every-three-year meeting of the leadership of our denomination. Lay and Clergy deputies along with bishops spend the better part of a week in discussion, meetings, voting, and worship. Of course, like all conventions, the best part of the experience is seeing old friends and making new ones.
Members of St. Bart’s are prominent participants in this event. Donald Romanik, the President of Episcopal Church Foundation is here as is Rob Radtke who leads Episcopal Relief and Development. Mary Kate Wold heads the Church Pension Group and her organization is well represented. The Reverend Canon Stephanie Spellers and the Reverend Zack Nyein, helped organize the revival preached by Bishop Curry, are here, as well as St. Bart’s staff members Bailey Reagan and Teagan Sage. I’m proud of St. Bart’s involvement in this important gathering and the contributions being made by members of our community of faith.
We elected the Right Reverend Sean Rowe on the very first ballot to serve as our next Presiding Bishop. He was one of five gifted candidates nominated for the position. I’ve worked with Sean for many years in the House of Bishops and know him to be a bright, faithful and very gifted leader. I believe the Episcopal Church will be well served by his gifts.
During the business sessions of Convention, we considered more than 300 pieces of legislation on topics ranging from the crisis in the Middle East to creating a new missionary diocese in Navajoland and the merging of three existing dioceses into one in Wisconsin.
I spent the early part of the week welcoming representatives from around the Anglican Communion to our convention as well as meeting with ecumenical and interfaith visitors. Our visitors included, The Most Reverend Hosam Naoum, Archbishop of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, and Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem; Thabo Makgabo, the Archbishop of Capetown and the Primate of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa; The Right Reverend Elizabeth Eaton, Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; The Most Reverend Linda Nicholls, the Primate and Archbishop of the Anglican Church in Canada; The Reverend Susan Johnson, National Bishop of the Evangelical Church in Canada; as well as The Right Reverend Anthony Poggo, the General Secretary of the Anglican Communion; and The Most Reverend Mark Strange, Primus of Scotland. Dozens of other bishops and dignitaries from around the globe were also present and it was interesting to hear how the Christian faith is thriving in other parts of the world.
I also served as Master of Ceremonies with Bishop Gayle Harris of Virginia for the House of Bishops and Spouses dinner where we honored Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and his wife, Sharon for their extraordinary service to Christ and the Church. The program concluded with this blessing of our beloved Presiding Bishop.
“May the Lord who has enabled you to witness and fulfill the role of bishop, continue to richly bless and keep you throughout your life. And may the blessing of the liberating, life giving, loving God, bless you and Sharon on this night and forevermore. Amen.”
There is so much taking place this weekend. Pride Sunday will take place at St. Bart’s this coming Sunday and I look forward to participating fully in the Pride March with many of our members. Whenever I’m away, I miss St. Bart’s and I am reminded of the amazing gifts with which our parish has been blessed. See you soon!
Faithfully,
The Right Reverend Dean E. Wolfe, D.D,
Rector
General Convention 81
