The View from the Front

Joseph S. Ferrell, Secretary of the Convention

Organizing our diocesan convention and keeping it running smoothly is quite an undertaking. It's a little easier than herding cats, but not much. Imagine a meeting room about the length of a football field and half as wide. The room is filled with tables bearing signs emblazoned with the names of the 120 congregations of the diocese. At the tables are seated 289 lay delegates (if all congregations had sent full delegations there would have been 300), 175 of the 272 clergy of the diocese (many are retired or non-parochial and do not attend every convention), youth representatives, and members of the Diocesan Council and Standing Committee. Another hundred or so alternate delegates, spouses, and visitors are seated at the rear of the room. Members of the diocesan staff, media technicians, pages, news reporters, and a host of volunteers from parishes in the host city scurry about, tending to their duties.

Bishop Curry rises and calls the Convention to order. The bustle of bodies and buzz of conversation subsides. The Chairman of the Credentials Committee certifies that a quorum is present in both the lay and clergy orders. The Church in the Diocese of North Carolina is in Council and ready to do its work.

By the end of the first legislative session on Thursday, all nominations for election to office have been received, the Bishop has announced his appointments to various commissions and committees, the Convention has elected a treasurer and a secretary, and delegates have introduced 22 resolutions, many of them sure to excite intense discussion and debate. Thursday night, hearings are held on all of the resolutions. Delegates pack into the hearing room and overflow into the hall outside for the hearings held by the Committee on Faith and Morals and the Committee on the Administration of the Diocese. Hearings go on until nearly midnight and the committee members meet and deliberate into the wee hours. Unable to complete its business on Thursday, Faith and Morals holds another hearing on Friday.

Eventually, the elections are completed and all of the committees have reported their recommendations on the resolutions referred to them. All of the resolutions that would have disassociated the Diocese of North Carolina from actions of the 74th General Convention of the Episcopal Church were defeated, as were resolutions that would have facilitated withdrawal of parishes from the Diocese. Instead, the Convention acknowledged the strong differences of opinion among us, affirmed our continued support for the doctrine, discipline, and worship of the Episcopal Church, and resolved to continue to strive for accomplishment of the mission and ministry of the Church in this diocese.

While there were strongly held views on both sides of the important issues under discussion, the Convention went about its work in a spirit of civility and respect, and amid continual prayer. That spirit was perhaps best exemplified when the principal introducer of many of the defeated resolutions rose to thank the chairman of the Committee on Faith and Morals for the thoughtful, courteous, and respectful way in which it had done its work. He said that while he was disappointed in the committee's recommendations, he had no grounds for complaint about the process.

What was the view from the front? Hundreds of servants of our Lord Jesus Christ, gathered in His Name to do His work, completed the work of the 188th Convention of the Diocese of North Carolina in good order and went forth in peace, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit. Thanks be to God.