An awful lot happened on the last day before General Convention officially opens. Legislative Committees held meetings and Open Hearings at seven a.m. We all, Bishops and Deputies, gathered in the House of Deputies to hear opening statements from Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori and President of the House of Deputies Gay Clark Jennings. The House of Deputies had a two hour orientation to the new “Virtual Binder,” and at 1:30 in the afternoon we got the opportunity to hear from all four candidates for Presiding Bishop.   In the evening there were receptions hosted by The National Cathedral, The American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, Integrity and a “host” of others. Then at seven p.m. the legislative committees reconvened for more meetings and open hearings. My day ended with a gathering of the Deputation from our diocese debriefing the meetings and hearings we had attended, sharing our impressions of the candidates for Presiding Bishop, and speculating about the shape and scope of the resolutions that would come out of the various committees in the next few days. It was a very busy day!

There are lots folks posting news, reviews, and resources to help the whole church stay informed about what is happening here.

I would highly recommend the opening statements by our Presiding Bishop and the President of the House of Deputies. You can view a video of their presentations here. If you are a Trekkie, and you know who you are, you will appreciate the way that Bishop Katherine riffs on the TREC (Task Force for Re-imagining the Episcopal Church) and the Episcopal Church’s mission to go where only one man has gone before… You can read an article about their opening remarks on the Episcopal News Service here. You can read the text of Bishop Katherine’s remarks here and the text of Rev. Jennings remarks here.

Our joint session for the presentation of the candidates for Presiding Bishop is also available to view on line. You can watch it here. And the accompanying article from the Episcopal News Service is available here. You can watch a short video of Deputies to convention sharing their impressions of the candidates here.

After all of this “pre work” the Convention officially opens today with an eight am legislative session to elect officers and begin the process of organizing the convention, the opening Eucharist, a full afternoon of legislative meetings and hearings, a two hour legislative session late this afternoon and more meetings and hearings after dinner.

I will post again later today with more news about the work of the various committees and the resolutions that are coming before the convention. Don’t forget to check out the Diocese of Milwaukee at General Convention for resources and info. We also have a facebook page where we are posting updates. The Rev Dorota Pruski, Associate at Saint Andrew’s in Madison is writing for Episcopal Herald, and our Bishop, The Rt. Rev. Steven Miller, is blogging at MilwaukeeBishop.

Peace,

Andy+