$210K for Deputies’ President

From The Living Church-

At its first meeting after the General Convention in Austin, Executive Council voted to provide compensation to the president of the House of Deputies in the amount of $210,000 per year.

At first glance, this appears to be in line with other four top officers of the Episcopal Church, whose salaries are disclosed by canonical mandate on the church website. But Jane Cisluycis of the Diocese of Northern Michigan, who led the subcommittee that researched the compensation issue, said the president will be paid as an independent contractor and will not receive an employee benefits package that includes healthcare coverage and retirement accounts. As a rule of thumb, benefits are valued at about a third of base salary.

The position had always been uncompensated, but the responsibilities of the office have grown steadily over recent decades, and it now is a demanding job. The incumbent, the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings of Ohio, was re-elected to a third and final three-year term in July.


https://livingchurch.org/2018/10/24/210k-for-deputies-president/?fbclid=IwAR14g7pUWHbt4FoV_ipq_Ckgeb1yME4gGL9vQsYaQSjbLh0dTEahtJ3gvw4

The church’s response to sexual assault survivors

From Christian Century- (Gay Jennings)

Since Christine Blasey Ford came forward to tell her story of being sexually assaulted by new Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh when the two were teenagers, many female clergy have been logging long hours listening to stories of sexual abuse and harassment from women they know, and sometimes women they don’t. In Facebook messages, at coffee hour, and in anguished late-night emails, women who belong to the church and women who left long ago are summoning the courage to tell the stories of what happened to them at the hands of fathers, boyfriends, brothers, classmates, colleagues, bosses, and yes, clergy and bishops.

Plenty of clergy are doing heroic work providing support and care for women reliving trauma, and many are doing so while struggling themselves with memories of abuse. But the institution of the church has little to offer abuse survivors in the way of liturgy, public prayer, or formal acknowledgement of the pain that has seared their lives.

More here-

https://www.christiancentury.org/blog-post/guest-post/church-s-response-sexual-assault-survivors

75 Days and Counting: Executive Council Opening Remarks

From The General Convention-

Good morning, and welcome to Austin! It’s 75 days until the first day of legislative business. Just in case you are keeping track. I am!

Since we met in January, I’ve had the privilege of meeting with and communicating with scores of deputies who are preparing for our time together at General Convention. Again this triennium, I am extraordinarily impressed with the commitment and focus of both new and returning deputies, and especially deputy legislative committee officers. As I announced when I appointed them in November, this group of officers is the youngest and most diverse ever to serve at General Convention. Forty-five percent are under the age of 50, 18% are people of color, and at least 15% identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

This House of Deputies will be the first in history to be majority female, and 52% of our legislative committee leaders will be women. Forty-two percent of the 852 deputies are first-time deputies. Twenty-four percent will be deputies for the second time, meaning that two-thirds of the deputies–66%–are new or relatively new. Only 7% of deputies are senior deputies, meaning they have served at seven or more conventions. Twenty-four percent of all deputies are people of color, and 53% are female.

I’m also grateful for the collegial and supportive work of so many members of the Presiding Bishop’s staff. As deputies prepare for convention, we are seeking information and advice from many staff members, and I have been delighted to establish and reestablish such collaborative, collegial working relationships between deputies and staff members.

More here-

https://houseofdeputies.org/2018/04/23/75-days-and-counting-executive-council-opening-remarks/

The House of Deputies Special Committee on Sexual Harassment and Exploitation: A question.

From Preludium-

The President of the House of Deputies has appointed a Special Committee on Sexual Harassment and Exploitation. This was announced this past week (February 28th). The Committee will work in several sub-committees to draft legislation on sexual harassment and exploitation for consideration by the General Convention meeting this summer.

The committee is quite large - 47 members. It is quite a remarkable list and will serve the church well. It will, I hope, provide important proposals to General Convention.

The committee will work in several sub-committees: on Theology and Language, Structural Equity, Title IV and Training, Truth and Reconciliation, and Social Justice for Women. 

There is no question in my mind that each of these areas of concern needs immediate and deep attention, and each will invite us all into a greater common effort  "so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." (Ephesians 4:11-13)

More here-

https://anglicanfuture.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-house-of-deputies-special-committee.html

Standing With Tamar: A Letter from the Presiding Bishop and President Jennings

From The House of Deputies-

Dear People of God in the Episcopal Church:

In recent weeks, compelling testimony from women who have been sexually harassed and assaulted by powerful men has turned our minds to a particularly difficult passage of holy scripture:  the story of the rape of King David’s daughter Tamar by her half-brother Amnon (2 Samuel 13: 1-22). It is a passage in which a conspiracy of men plots the exploitation and rape of a young woman. She is stripped of the power to speak or act, her father ignores the crime, and the fate of the rapist, not the victim, is mourned. It is a Bible story devoid of justice.

For more than two decades, African women from marginalized communities have studied this passage of scripture using a method called contextual Bible study to explore and speak about the trauma of sexual assault in their own lives. Using a manual published by the Tamar Campaign they ask, “What can the Church do to break the silence against gender-based violence?”

It is, as the old-time preachers say, a convicting question. As our societies have been forced into fresh recognition that women in all walks of life have suffered unspoken trauma at the hands of male aggressors and harassers, we have become convinced that the Episcopal Church must work even harder to create a church that is not simply safe, but holy, humane and decent. We must commit to treating every person as a child of God, deserving of dignity and respect. We must also commit to ending the systemic sexism, misogyny and misuse of power that plague the church just as they corrupt our culture, institutions and governments.

More here-

http://houseofdeputies.org/2018/01/22/standing-tamar-letter-presiding-bishop-president-jennings/

One nation, divided under God

From The Church Times-

SIX days after it was confirmed that the United States had elected Donald John Trump as its 45th President (News, 11 November 2016), the President of the US Episcopal Church’s House of Deputies, the Revd Gay Clark Jennings, warned the Church of the baptismal promise to “resist evil”.

“The desire to foster ‘reconciliation’ is deep in Christians’ bones,” she wrote. “But too often the Church preaches reconciliation when what we really want is to avoid unpleasantness, or get approval from worldly powers and principalities. . . Reconciliation is holy work. Resistance is, too. We need to watch and wait to see what God is calling us to do.”

In the 12 months that ensued, Episcopalians and their leaders proved ready to take the latter course of action. Among the presidential actions opposed by bishops were the withdrawal from the Paris agreement on tackling climate change (News, 2 June); the proposed ban on transgender people in the military (News, 4 August); and the halving of refugee resettlement numbers (News, 3 February).

In September, 125 Episcopalian bishops signed a full-page ad in The New York Times, asking the President not to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which protected from deportation undocumented immigrants who first came to the United States when they were children — the “Dreamers”. They also filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court case challenging the travel ban on people from seven Muslim-majority countries (News, 22 September).

More here-

https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2017/10-november/features/features/one-nation-divided-under-god#.WgbsI34CNHo.facebook

Episcopal Diocese of Ohio celebrates bicentennial, holds 201st convention

From Ohio-

 For the Most Rev. Michael Curry, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, the years ahead could mark a "new Reformation" for Episcopalians.

"This is a diocese and this is a bishop... for whom their leadership is helping the Episcopalian church broadly to begin to understand anew our witness to the gospel of Jesus in our time," he said.

The Episcopalian Church is governed by two bodies, the House of Bishops, and the House of Deputies, which is made up of appointed clergy members and lay leaders from each diocese.

Both Curry, the leader of the House of Bishops, and the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, president of the House of Deputies, traveled to Cleveland for the 201st convention of the Diocese of Ohio, this weekend. 

More here-

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2017/11/top_officials_in_episcopal_chu.html

Presiding Bishop, President of House of Deputies on DACA: We stand with the Dreamers and will do all that we can to support them

From The Episcopal Church-

Today our hearts are with those known as the Dreamers—those young women and men who were brought to this country as children, who were raised here and whose primary cultural and country identity is American. We believe that these young people are children of God and deserve a chance to live full lives, free from fear of deportation to countries that they may have never known and whose languages they may not speak. As people of faith, our obligation is first to the most vulnerable, especially to children. In this moment, we are called by God to protect Dreamers from being punished for something they had no agency in doing.

Since 2012, individuals who are undocumented and who were brought to the U.S. as children have benefitted from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Through this program, those eligible have the opportunity to obtain a work permit and can secure protection from deportation. The nearly 800,000 recipients of DACA have proven that when given the opportunity, they succeed and contribute positively to our country. Without protection afforded by DACA or a legislative solution, these young people will live in fear of arrest, detention, and deportation to countries they may not remember. In six months those fears may become reality, so we must use that time wisely to advocate for their protection.


https://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/presiding-bishop-president-house-deputies-daca-we-stand-dreamers-and-will-do-all

Texas Bathroom Bill Has Emotions, and Stakes, Running High

From The New York Times-

And on Wednesday, the presiding officers of the Episcopal Church wrote to the speaker of the Texas House and suggested that if the bill passed, the church would cancel its nine-day General Convention in Austin scheduled for July 2018.

“In 1955, we were forced to move a General Convention from Houston to another state because Texas laws prohibited black and white Episcopalians from being treated equally,” read the letter from Bishop Michael B. Curry and another leader. “We would not stand then for Episcopalians to be discriminated against, and we cannot countenance it now.”

Jeff Moseley, chief executive of the Texas Association of Business, the state’s most influential business lobby, announced that the group was taking its opposition to the bill to the airwaves by making a “seven-figure media buy.” The group has long aligned itself with the state’s conservative causes and issues, and has rarely taken public stands on social issues.

More here-

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/21/us/texas-bathroom-bill-transgender.html

Executive Council begins turning its attention to next year’s General Convention

From ENS-

The Episcopal Church’s Executive Council spent three days in a historic meeting here marked by relaxed conviviality during which the members trained their sights on the next General Convention, a year from now.

This was the first time that council met in a Province IX diocese since February 2008 and it is believed to be the first meeting ever in Puerto Rico. Presiding Bishop Michael Curry said during a post-meeting news conference June 11 that it was important for council to have come to the U.S. territory “as Puerto Rico is struggling and seeking to discern its future.”

Puerto Ricans voted that day to become the country’s 51st state. The vote was contentious and attracted the fewest number of people to the poll since 1967. Most observers say that the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress will never grant Puerto Ricans’ request, in part because the territory leans towards the Democratic Party.

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2017/06/12/executive-council-begins-increasingly-turning-its-attention-to-next-years-general-convention/

Episcopal Church Launches Racial Healing Program to Become 'Beloved Community'

From Christian Post-

"Part of this work is actually to help to build bridges — bridges that will connect people not only through their stories but in a sustained way over time through relationships that are built," stated Presiding Bishop Michael Curry during a webinar held via Zoom on Thursday.

"Relationships will break the back of racism every time and in the long run, relationship is the key. And this attempt is really trying to foster those relationships. That's a game-changer."

During the webinar, the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, president of the House of Deputies, identified herself as a "white woman of privilege," explaining that she is "keenly aware" of how she has benefited from "white privilege."

"Over the years what I have tried to do is to make sure that change for which I've advocated wasn't just change that would benefit middle-age white women like me, but would truly bring the church closer to ... the Kingdom of God," said Jennings. "Those of us who live with white privilege have to figure out how we can be allies."

More here-

http://www.christianpost.com/news/episcopal-church-launches-racial-healing-program-to-become-beloved-community-183737/

Becoming Beloved Community: Introducing the Episcopal Church’s Long-Term Commitment to Racial Healing, Reconciliation and Justice

From The Episcopal Church-

Following a year of listening, consulting and reflection, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and House of Deputies President the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings and officers of the House of Bishops and House of Deputies are inviting Episcopalians to study and commit to using Becoming Beloved Community: The Episcopal Church’s Long-term Commitment to Racial Healing, Reconciliation and Justice.

The full document is available here.

“You’re not looking at a set of programs,” Presiding Bishop Curry explained. “You’re looking at a path for how we, as the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement, can more fully and prayerfully embody the loving, liberating, life-giving way of Jesus in our relationships with each other. Look at the scriptures, at Christian history. There is no doubt that Beloved Community, healing, justice and reconciliation are at the heart of Jesus’ movement in this world.”

More here-

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/becoming-beloved-community-introducing-episcopal-churchs-long-term-commitment

Episcopal Church Leaders Signal Support for Transgender Student in Supreme Court Case

From Christian Post-

Among the briefs submitted in support of Grimm on Thursday was one that included as signatories a number of leaders from Mainline American Christian denominations, including leaders in the Episcopal Church and United Church of Christ.

The brief was signed by the Episcopal Church's Presiding Bishop the Rev. Michael Bruce Curry and the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, the president of the Episcopal Church's House of Deputies.

Both Curry and Jennings serve as the presiding officers of the Episcopal Church's General Convention and are the chair and vice chair of the Episcopal Church's Executive Council who presided over the Episcopal Church's decision in 2016 to adopt a resolution affirming its support for laws that prevent discrimination on the basis of gender identity and gender expression and opposition to legislation that would take away discrimination protections for transgender individuals.

Read more at-

http://www.christianpost.com/news/episcopal-church-leaders-signal-support-for-transgender-student-in-supreme-court-case-176566/

Letter to Episcopal Church from Presiding Bishop, President of House of Deputies

From ENS-

Presiding Bishop and Primate Michael Curry and President of the House of Deputies the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings have written the following letter to the Episcopal Church.

June 28, 2016

Dear People of God in the Episcopal Church:

We all know that some things in holy Scripture can be confusing, hard to understand, or open to various ways of understanding. But some essential teachings are clear and incontrovertible. Jesus tells us to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves, and he tells us over and over again not to be afraid (Matthew 10:31, Mark 5:36, Luke 8:50, John 14:27).

There’s no confusion about what Jesus is telling us, but it often requires courage to embody it in the real world. Again and again, we become afraid, and mired in that fear, we turn against Jesus and one another.

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2016/06/28/letter-to-episcopal-church-from-presiding-bishop-president-of-house-of-deputies/

Also here-

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/us.episcopal.church.leadership.calls.for.repeal.of.north.carolina.transgender.law/89481.htm

Letter to Episcopal Church from Presiding Bishop, President of House of Deputies

From ENS-

Presiding Bishop and Primate Michael Curry and President of the House of Deputies the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings have written the following letter to the Episcopal Church.

June 28, 2016

Dear People of God in the Episcopal Church:

We all know that some things in holy Scripture can be confusing, hard to understand, or open to various ways of understanding. But some essential teachings are clear and incontrovertible. Jesus tells us to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves, and he tells us over and over again not to be afraid (Matthew 10:31, Mark 5:36, Luke 8:50, John 14:27).

There’s no confusion about what Jesus is telling us, but it often requires courage to embody it in the real world. Again and again, we become afraid, and mired in that fear, we turn against Jesus and one another.

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2016/06/28/letter-to-episcopal-church-from-presiding-bishop-president-of-house-of-deputies/

Also here-

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/us.episcopal.church.leadership.calls.for.repeal.of.north.carolina.transgender.law/89481.htm

A Letter from Lusaka: Episcopal Church’s ACC members write to the church

From ENS-

The Episcopal Church‘s three members on the Anglican Consultative Council have written the following letter to the church at the conclusion ACC-16 in Lusaka, Zambia.

April 19, 2016

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ in The Episcopal Church:

The 16th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council concluded today at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Lusaka, Zambia, and tonight and tomorrow, we are saying farewell to our fellow ACC members from across the Anglican Communion and making our way home.

ACC16 was filled with joy, grace and love as close to seventy Anglican sisters and brothers in Christ, laypeople, priests and bishops, came together in prayer, Bible study, and worship.  Our time together over the last thirteen days has visibly demonstrated, once again, our unity in diversity as the provinces of the Anglican Communion. Meeting fellow Anglicans from around the world in discussions, around the altar, in tea breaks, and at meals, we learned from each other what intentional discipleship across our differences means as the Body of Christ in the world today.  We are thankful to God and to The Episcopal Church for this privilege of representing our church on the Anglican Consultative Council.

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2016/04/19/a-letter-from-lusaka-episcopal-church-team-writes-to-the-church-at-conclusion-of-acc-meeting/

Episcopalians Intend to Vote

From The Living Church-

The House of Deputies Newsletter reports in “Primates Meet, Confusion Ensues” that the Episcopal Church’s members of the Anglican Consultative Council expect to vote when the council meets in April.

In the communiqué they issued on Jan. 15, the primates wrote that, “while participating in the internal bodies of the Anglican Communion, [Episcopalians] will not take part in decision making on any issues pertaining to doctrine or polity.”

The deputies’ newsletter reports on those who question whether the primates have any authority to make that decision:

Experts across the communion, including Norman Doe, director of the Centre for Law and Religion at Cardiff University and one of the drafters of the proposed Anglican Covenant, argued that they did not. “I find it utterly extraordinary,” he told the Church Times. “No instrument exists conferring upon the Primates’ meeting the jurisdiction to ‘require’ these things. … Whatever they require is unenforceable.”

More here-

http://www.livingchurch.org/episcopalians-intend-vote

On the Primates Meeting: A Letter from the House of Deputies President

From ENS-

January 15, 2016

Dear Deputies and Alternate Deputies:

Many of you have received the news that the meeting of Anglican primates that has just concluded in Canterbury has voted to issue what it calls “consequences” to the Episcopal Church for our full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in our common life.

This news may be painful for some of us, particularly for LGBT people who have been excluded too often and for too long by families, churches, schools, and other institutions mired in homophobia. It may also be hurtful or unsettling to those of us who value our mission relationships with Anglicans across the Communion.

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2016/01/15/on-the-primates-meeting-a-letter-from-the-house-of-deputies-president/

Anxious white Protestants

From Christian Century- (Gay Clark Jennings)

Religious people have been their own worst enemies in recent weeks.

First came a study from the journal Current Biology showing that children from religious families are less generous and more punitive than their peers, and that the more exposure to religion they received, the worse they behaved. 

It gets worse, especially for white Protestants, of which I am one. Two weeks ago, the Public Religion Research Institute released its 2015 American Values Survey, “Anxiety, Nostalgia, and Mistrust.” In it, we learn that more than half of white Protestants agree that “America’s best days are behind us,” while more than half of black Protestants, Catholics, people who aren’t Christian, and people who aren’t religious think that America’s best days are head of us.

What’s more, a whopping 73 percent of white evangelical Protestants and 63 percent of white mainline Protestants believe that the values of Islam “are at odds with American values and way of life,” and more than seven in ten white Protestants believe that the “killings of African American men by police are isolated incidents.”


More here-


http://www.christiancentury.org/blogs/archive/2015-11/when-were-reeling-instead-responding#content-start

A Letter to The Episcopal Church From the Presiding Bishop, President of the House of Deputies

From ENS-

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and President of the House of Deputies the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings have issued a letter calling on Episcopal congregations to participate in “Confession, Repentance, and Commitment to End Racism Sunday” on September 6.

The letter follows:

September 1, 2015

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:

On June 17, nine members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, were murdered by a white racist during their weekly bible study. Just a few days later at General Convention in Salt Lake City, we committed ourselves to stand in solidarity with the AME Church as they respond with acts of forgiveness, reconciliation, and justice (Resolution A302).

Now our sisters and brothers in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church have asked us to make that solidarity visible by participating in “Confession, Repentance, and Commitment to End Racism Sunday” on Sunday, September 6. We ask all Episcopal congregations to join this ecumenical effort with prayer and action.

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2015/09/01/a-letter-to-the-episcopal-church-from-the-presiding-bishop-president-of-the-house-of-deputies/