Wednesday – June 21, 2006 – The Final day

It rained this morning.  A perfect end.

I checked out of the room and stored my luggage for alter and rode to Convention with Pete Cooper, thus staying out of the rain.  

Is it over yet?

My flight today is at 3:00, so I will have to leave the Convention by no later than 1:00. It will be over soon.

I hope.

We are beginning this morning with a brief joint session with the bishops.
Bishop Skilton has found another former South Carolinian. Remember Horace Ward?

Sam Candler discovers Bishop Salmon is with us.

Smile for everyone! Sam on the left, Bishop salmon on the right.
Just like it is in real life.

 

10:38 – the President gaveled us into our 10:30 meeting. Turned it over to our Presiding Bishop, Frank Griswold.

Frank, our presiding bishop, appealed for us to pass a resolution that they crafted last night which he hopes will signal to the Anglican Communion that we want to be a part of it. Speaking in code to the progressives, he made reference to the need, as he put it, “… to take a step back so that we can move forward.” 

Bishop Skilton has that look on his face...

The resolution is B-033, and will first be debated in the House of Bishops. If and when they pass it, it will be sent to us to concur. 

The PB reads the hoped-for last gasp measure:

Resolved, the House of Deputies concurring, that the 75^th General Convention receive and embrace The Windsor Report’s invitation to engage in a process of healing and reconciliation; and be it further

Resolved, that this Convention therefore call upon Standing Committees and bishops with jurisdiction to exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion.

The bishops then adjourn to their house to debate B-033. We go to the hundreds (literally) of leftover legislations.

One interesting resolution – A155 – would have shortened the length of the GC by one day – that would be 8 instead of 9. All previous conventions were 10 days. They shortened this Convention by one day, and here it is the last day, and we are in an impossible time crunch. Part of the problem lies with the President’s desire for “conversation,” and his allowing too many superfluous speeches, but most of the problem was with endless debate on procedural matters. That’s just about all we did the first couple of days. While we debated about the process, the unfinished work piled up. Now -all we need to do is take away another day!

You should have heard the protests to A155 – and I agree – There is not enough time to get everything done as it is – we are in some sort of meeting from 7:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. and sometimes even 10:00 at night.  Taking another day away simply would not work. And the resolution was "whacked."

Mark spoke to something. Ask him what it was.

Oh by the way - Lydia spoke yesterday and I failed to get it on:

We just got private word that the HOB passed the resolution B-033 unaltered.  I am not happy with the wording, and Don't plan to vote for it. I pray we get it quickly. I have to get out of here by 1:00.

Broke for noonday prayers. When we returned to the business at hand, the official announcement was made - B033 will be brought to the floor.

It's becoming clear I'm not going to get out of here by 1:00 and I need to stay. I get my flight moved to to later in the afternoon. That means it's going to be late tonight getting home.  Sigh.

We debated the appropriateness of debating this again.  It will be debated. We’re suspending all of our house rules to do this. There were a lot of complaints about both sides “hijacking” the debate so that the middle couldn’t be heard. Somebody actually said, "It isn't fair!"

Louie Crew spoke – he is in opposition to the resolution.

Bradbury, Connecticut says I don’t like this resolution, but I can live with it.

Went back and forth… But it appears that there are just as many "no's" are there are "yeses"

Oh brother - they r-e-a-l-y want this to pass! Look who's up at the main podium:

The P.B.-elect pleaded with us to pass this resolution. She used the analogy of conjoined twins. She said this body is not fully one, and is not fully two, and each need the other to survive. That's right bishop, we've created a two-headed monster out of what used to be one wonderful Church!

She goes on to say that the language is the best we are going to do at this convention. She says he fully supports the gay agenda, and does not understand adopting the resolution as slamming the door to gays. She urged us to support it. We had a moment of silence.

Bonnie Anderson, the President Elect took over for the debate on B-033. As chair it became quite clear that she was going to do whatever she needed to do to guide this through to passage.  She did something interesting. She had someone speak in favor, then had the PB-elect speak in favor, and followed that speech with another person speaking another in favor. Three in a row!  Finally she went back to someone opposed to it.

 A vote by orders was requested.

The chair did it again. The vote by orders call contained no comment either way, but she treated it as a “no.”   She called on someone supporting the measure, took the call for a vote by orders, and then recognized another yet another yes.

An amendment was offered to limit this resolution to the next General Convention. (We were asked by the PB not to attach any amendments.) 

Interesting Bonnie Anderson act #3 – the chair allowed three in a row to speak against the amendment. Wonder why, Bonnie?

The amendment was defeated, and we proceeded on to vote for the main resolution.

B-033 passed. Pretty much 75% to 25%.

After the vote, we took a one-hour break for lunch. Lydia and I headed for the food court since we were pressed for time. On the way back into the house we were stopped by a local TV station (Channel 10) and interviewed. After we videoed, off mike, the reporter said that she had a hard time understanding how we could be approving things that were in direct contradiction to the Bible. I told her that I did too.  

Afternoon Session – Oh please – is it over yet? Pretty please?

We grind our way through resolution after resolution, and I know they must be important to someone – at least to the person who wrote them and the committee who worked on them – but I am having a hard time even staying interested. I imagine this must be what is like to be a member of the House of Representatives. I couldn’t even imagine doing this day in and day out for years and years. I guess you have to be wired differently.  

Finally, at 4:00, I began to realize that my time of usefulness has come to an end. I excuse myself, head my to my hotel, get my bag and head to the airport.

As I near the airport, I spy three advertising signs leaning up against a light pole. One of them is advertising our convention:

Alright already! It was only a joke!

7:30 p.m.  - Goodbye Columbus!

Blessedly, I don’t have any problems getting on a plane or off or anything, and finally, at 10:45 p.m., I step back on to solid ground in Charleston, South Carolina.

Oh Yes! The air has humidity! It’s 84 degrees at 10:45!  I'm home!  This is so much more like it! 

And look at this! My church family from St. Peter and St. John and Holy Cross is here to welcome me home! Mercy!

And so, another round of Convention reporting comes to an end. Again, for all of you who have been praying for South Carolina, we all want to say thanks. For those who wrote me, I will write you back now that I’m home. I just need a little sleep for a couple of days….

Thank you for support and for being there for us. God bless you all!

Is it over yet?

 Thanks be to God!!!

It's 2:00 a.m. Goodnight from the Isle of Palms, in South Carolina!