Diocesan Convention

Susan Givens, Ben Neuhaus, James Roll and I represented Harcourt Parish at Diocesan Convention last weekend. This year the meeting was held at a hotel in Cleveland with dinner and the convention eucharist at Trinity Cathedral. Here are some of the things discussed.

Haiti
You may remember we were a part of the Rebuild our Church in Haiti campaign last Easter. (Harcourt Parish was able to buy one brick for every person in attendance on an average Sunday, thanks to your generosity.) All 109 dioceses in the Episcopal Church were encouraged to participate in this program. The Diocese of Ohio raised the most money of any diocese--over $80,000. The bishop of Haiti spoke to us during convention and preached at the Eucharist. He told powerful stories of the earthquake and the rebirth happening in Haiti and thanked us for our generosity.

Fraking
One of the debatable resolutions (a parliamentary term, not a descriptive term) presented was to call for a ban on horizontal fraking in Ohio until more results are in studying the effects on surrounding land and water. Someone speaking for the amendment encouraged us to watch the documentary Gas Land to learn more. The resolution passed.

Youth Service Corps
Trinity Cathedral is a new site for an Episcopal Youth Service Corps group. ESC has been around for two decades and offers young adults an internship year to live in intentional community and serve the neighborhood in which they live. These internships could be valuable options for many Kenyon students. A friend of mine is the interim director for the Los Angeles Urban Intern Program. More information about the Trinity program can be found here.

Vision for Diocesan Camp and Retreat Center on a Working Farm
The bishop's address cast an exciting vision for the creation of a state-of the art eco-friendly diocesan camp and retreat ministry centered around a working farm. His vision for this place would include space for 100 campers and staff in tents, yurts, and simple cabins. There would be a retreat center with single- and double-occupancy rooms attached to meeting space, and hermitages for individual retreats. The dining hall could feed 250 and would be served by a licensed commercial kitchen which would be used to create the meals but also would be used for food preservation, classes, and other events. There would be a variety of worship spaces, both indoor and out. Everything would be built green, and the members of the diocese may help with the building. It would utilize hay bale construction, geothermal heating, solar panels, and composting everything. The bishop has a vision of our diocese becoming a leader in healthy living. He presented a very compelling vision (link here at bottom of 3rd paragraph).

Episcopal Youth Event
We heard from several high school students who attended the Episcopal Youth Event this summer. The week was an energizing and life-changing experience for them. They met so many other young Episcopalians like themselves, they were energized by the worship and bible studies, and they had fun at church! I attended one of these events as a youth, and heartily concur. They're fantastic events, and I hope that someday some of our youth will participate.

Elections
Every diocesan convention includes elections. This year both Greg Stark and I were elected as provisional deputies to General Convention which will happen next July in Indianapolis. The diocese pays the way for four clergy and four lay deputies to attend this meeting. Provisional deputies can pay their own way and attend the convention and have a chance to be on the floor to vote if one of the deputies would like to have some time off. I've been to several General Conventions and always am inspired by them.
I also was elected this fall as our Mission Area Representative to Diocesan Council, so will be spending about one day per month with other leaders of the diocese doing things similar to a vestry but on a diocesan level. Our first event will be a planning retreat the first weekend of December.

A Welcome Surprise
Delegates to convention were almost giddy as we realized we were ahead of schedule. We chose to work through our scheduled lunch break in order to complete our business two hours ahead of schedule. It was a lovely way to end a convention.