What's this General Convention?

Until July 18, I'll be working my butt off at the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, trying to move us closer to full inclusion of all baptized people, including LGBT people, in all the life of the Church. This time is what we political junkies call "campaign mode" -- the crazy, exhausting 18 hour days of frenetic activity that sometimes win changes we seek and sometimes lead only to deep disappointment.

I'm hopeful about how this project will work out. If you are curious about how we're doing, you can follow all the General Convention news at the LGBT advocacy group Integrity's GC portal.

I don't expect to blog during this time except perhaps a few photos, but I've got at least a rudimentary post set up for everyday, many of them more reflective than the time-sensitive political commentary I often write here. Enjoy.

To get this time started, here's a video [3:11] about the General Convention. H/t to Jim Dela, President of Episcopal Communicators by way of The Lead.



This thing is big -- Episcopal News Service has used this boilerplate to describe it:

The Episcopal Church’s General Convention, held every three years, is the bicameral governing body of the church. General Convention, the second largest legislative body in the world, is comprised of the House of Bishops, with more than 200 members, and the House of Deputies, with clergy and lay representatives from 110 dioceses in 15 nations, at over 700 members.

Wish us luck.