All Saints' Episcopal Church

If you had closed your eyes and not remembered that you were at the keynote address for Annual Council, you might have wondered about the delivery, the energy and the cadence of the speaker. You may even have thought you were at a Baptist revival. Bishop Sean Rowe from the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania, the church’s youngest bishop (age 32), gave a powerfully spoken address using a portion of Mark’s gospel to express the theme of “Let It Go”, and a theme that resonated with a large number of delegates on Friday night as we continue to struggle with our relationship with the wider Anglican Communion.

Meeting in Williamsburg at the Lodge, annual council was again a time to renew old acquaintances, make new friends and reflect on the changes as well as the stability of the oldest Christian faith in North America. To be both an Episcopalian and a Virginian is indeed a gift from God! The delegates representing All Saints’ this year were John Kearley, Dave Howell, Linda Sawyer (serving as an alternate for Gus Brothman), John Hadfield, Segar Gravatt, and Stan Sawyer.

Later in council, Bishop Buchanan’s address stressed a theme of “To Everything There is a Season” as he gave what is very likely to be his last address as assisting bishop of the diocese. Bishop Buchanan spoke of making councils “greener”; of starting a capital campaign to update and modernize (my words, not his) Camp Chanco; and assuring the diocese is appropriately funded prior to electing the next bishop.

One of the reports that was presented was from the Standing Committee’s retiring President, Gordon Tayloe. Gordon spoke about the process of identifying candidates who would be considered for election as the Tenth Bishop of the diocese. During the summer there will be a “walk about,” meaning there will be a time for people to meet the candidates at several venues through out the diocese. The election will be held on September 27 th at the Special Council in Powhatan with the consecration held on the Friday evening of next year’s annual council. All of the details will be published in future editions of the Jamestown Cross.

During the course of council, several resolutions were considered, including changes to the diocesan canons. The most discussed canonical change was the funding process for the diocese’s budget. For over 20 years, the amount coming from each parish has been through voluntary giving. Monies for diocesan programs has steadily declined over the years, leaving the diocese with little more than half of the amount it had (in terms of real dollars) 20 years ago. The change in canon will continue the voluntary nature of each parish’s giving, but the process will begin with a specific request made by the diocese based on a budget that is approved by the Executive Board. The request of any particular parish will be based on its past giving to the diocese, the amount it received from pledges and other offerings as well as the needs of the diocese. Parishes that do not agree to the requested amount will be asked to explain why they cannot meet the request. An alternative approach was offered but later withdrawn from consideration. Three other canonical resolutions were adopted that primarily could be called “housekeeping” changes.

A number of resolutions were also considered. These generally reflect the sense of council at the time and do not have the same importance as canonical changes; they do not become “church law.” Many of the resolutions were published in the Jamestown Cross and will not be repeated here. For instance, R-1 (Millennium Goals) was passed; R-2 (opposed to payday lending) was passed. Again, the most hotly debated resolution, R-3 (related to compliance with the Windsor Report) was overwhelmingly defeated, but after a lot of very vigorous debate.

During the course of debate on the various resolutions, council was asked to consider the budget for the year. Although final passage was delayed until after the adoption of Canonical Resolution R-1 dealing with the change in the funding process, the delegates agreed to the largest budget ($2,384,382) that has been adopted in over 20 years. It has become very apparent that the diocese has made its budgeting process and spending approach much more transparent. It has taken significant steps to put their financial house in order and has clearly shown all of us why we should be supporting the diocese and its programs. It has been a long time in coming but it is also obvious that many are once again proud to call themselves Episcopalians in the Diocese of Southern Virginia.

Much of the time at council is devoted to electing folks to various offices as was described in the Jamestown Cross . There were two people elected to the Ecclesiastical Court; two elected to the Standing Committee; one to the Provincial Synod; and 8 (four lay and four clergy) elected as deputies to General Convention. None were from All Saints’.

As Sunday morning dawned, delegates were packing up, saying their last goodbyes and heading off to breakfast, then the closing service for council. By noon, the Williamsburg Lodge was nearly deserted, waiting again for next February and the 117th Annual Council of the Diocese of Southern Virginia. (Maybe there will be one or two other events there before next council!)