Deputy blog for July 11, 2022 by Mike Morrow
This is my 7th, and will be my last, General Convention as a deputy. I began serving in 2003, and have served in each subsequent convention. In 2012, Larry Bingham was serving in his 7th general convention, and had been chair of the deputation for the previous five general conventions. He decided that 2012 would be his last general convention, and also graciously asked me to take over as chair of the deputation in 2012 in order to provide a smooth transition.
After serving for 22 years, I decided to follow Larry’s precedent, and make this my last General Convention. I also informed the deputies that I would not serve as chair. The deputies selected Michael Funston as chair of the deputation, and she has done an excellent job preparing us for convention.
For the first time since a yellow fever outbreak in 1798, General Convention was postponed from 2021 to this year because of Covid. The convention was also shortened to four days, and all committee work was done on Zoom in advance of convention. For three days, we were on the floor of the House of Deputies from 9:30 in the morning until 9:30 at night in order to act on the resolutions before us, and adopt a budget for 2023-2024. On our final day, we were able to finish during the morning session.
In order for a resolution and the budget to be approved, they must be adopted by both the House of Deputies (lay and clergy deputies) and the House of Bishops. As such, we operate as a bicameral legislature like the U.S. Congress.
Major issues before us included the treatment of people of color, women, and people of different sexual orientations. We also discussed the process for making changes to the Book of Common Prayer. However, no major revision to the 1979 Book of Common Prayer has been authorized. We approved a budget which keeps apportionment for each diocese at 15%. This represents a major reduction from when I began serving, when apportionment was at 21% from 2004-2012, and then was gradually reduced to 15% by 2018.
It has been an honor and a privilege to serve you as a deputy to General Convention. I am humbly grateful that the Diocesan Convention of the Diocese of Kansas gave me this opportunity to serve. I especially enjoyed the opportunity to serve on the committee that rewrote the Title IV canons; I was able to propose key changes that, in my opinion, made the process more just for clergy accused of misconduct.
In 2003, at my first convention, we debated the ordination of an openly gay bishop, and same sex blessings. I was elected for that convention after stating in a questionnaire that I would support the ordination of gay clergy and same sex blessings. I never would have believed that by 2015 the church and the United States would legalize gay marriage. I have been amazed at the work of the Holy Spirit in leading our church and our country to be more inclusive and accepting of people of color, women, and people of different sexual orientations. The election of a woman as presiding bishop in 2006, and an African-American presiding bishop in 2015 would have been unheard of 20 or 30 years ago. The composition of the House of Bishops today looks much more like the country as a whole, and is no longer the exclusive province of white heterosexual men. As we look forward to the future, I believe we must maintain the best of our traditions, while being open to the Holy Spirit leading us in new directions as we worship and serve the wider world in ministry. I encourage others interested in service to the wider church to consider serving as a deputy to the General Convention.
Mike Morrow
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Wichita
835 SW Polk St.