Three Waves of Emotion
The first ballot results as projected onscreen to the House of Deputies at the KICC, reflecting Ayala Harris’s reelection.
On Tuesday, June 25th, General Convention was marked by three waves of emotion. The first was the election of the President of the House of Deputies, the second-highest ranking officer of the Episcopal Church after the Presiding Bishop. This year there were a challenge to the incumbent’s occupancy of the role: Rachel Taber-Hamilton of the Diocese of Olympia, and Zena Link from the Diocese of Massachussetts. In the days leading up to the election, there was a good deal of mudslinging from especially Taber-Hamilton, as her critique of Ayala Harris made waves around the convention (she posted a particularly harsh blog post that circulated on Monday). Read the Taber-Hamilton blog here: https://greeningspirit.com/
When the dust settled and the vote occurred, Julia Ayala Harris, a deputy from the Diocese of Oklahoma, was reelected overwhelmingly. Full disclosure: I am a part of President Ayala Harris’ deputation, an appointee to Committee 23 on Privilege & Courtesy (more on that work in a later blog!).
Later on Tuesday, the missionary field known as Navajoland was formally received by both houses as a new missionary diocese. Emotional testimony in favor of the resolution brought many in the House of Deputies to tears. Read more about that here: https://livingchurch.org/news/news-episcopal-church/deputies-give-navajoland-a-joyous-welcome/?utm_source=The+Living+Church+Email+Updates&utm_campaign=e57e84676f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_01_27_06_48_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-89e9a46b3d-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&mc_cid=e57e84676f&mc_eid=20e747243e
Finally, celebration. Tuesday evening was reserved for fellowship dinners and events across the Church. For many of us in Louisville, that meant our seminary alumni dinners, always a festive and meaningful reunion. I attended the Virginia Theological Seminary / General Theological Seminary dinner and program at the Mellwood Art Center in Louisville. A panel of current students spoke to the conjoined seminaries’ two parallel models of formation (VTS is residential, based in the DC area; GTS, in New York, is a hybrid model of online & in-person classes).
Today (Wednesday the 26th) promises to be an emotional day in Louisville, too: the House of Bishops will elect the 28th Presiding Bishop to succeed Michael Curry.
President of the House of Deputies Julia Ayala Harris greets the House after her re-election on Tuesday, June 25th.
The VTS/GTS dinner at the Mellwood Center featured a moderated panel of six current students reflecting on their models of formation.