Obviously, the big news today was the House of Deputies consent to the election of Father Provenzano.
But the convention has much business to deal with. The first legislative session was held this morning. It was largely devoted to housekeeping and administrative tasks, such as electing officers, approving the schedule of meetings, and similar matters.
The opening Eucharist of the Convention followed the legislative session . Bishop Schori was the Celebrant. Sharing the Eucharist with over a thousand people was a very moving experience. The distribution of the elements was an example of the planning involved in a convention of this size. It only took about ten minutes for everyone to receive the bread and wine. Priests and Lay Eucharistic Ministers were stationed all around the floor. Hearing a thousand vioces respond "And also with you" as one voice was thrilling.
The rest of the morning and most of the afternoon were taken up with Legislative Committee hearings, sessions devoted to explaining the budget process (not the budget itself. That will be disussed later in the Convention.) and visiting the exhibits. Special interest groups, the many Societies and Religious orders that are present in the Episcopal Church (I was amazed at how many there are!) , and vendors of everything from vestments to columbariums were hawking their wares and services.
The afternoon legislative session again dealt first with procedural issues, suchs as codifying the rules for electing Trustees of the Church Pension Fund, officers of the House of Deputies and Members of the Trial Court of a Bishop. A significant resolution (which was adopted) set out dates and times for two sessions where the House of Deputies would meet (but not vote) as a committee of the whole to discuss the subject of Episcopal Elections and the Anglican Communion. The reasoning behind this resolution is to allow discussion on the issues that have created a divide between the Episcopal Church USA and other members of the Anglican Communion. There are passionate partisans on both sides of the divide, and these meetings will hopefully provide a forum for their passions to be given voice and made known to the Convention as a whole. At the same time the meetings will allow for voting to take place later in a (hopefully) calmer, less inflamed and more studied atmosphere.
Further on in this posting you will see a photo of the backdrop to the dais. The display of flags is very deliberate, as they are the flags of all the nations of the Dioceses of the Episcopal Church.
Many other resolutions dealing with specific matters were adopted. These will all be published in a journal issued after the convention.
P.S. The photos displayed in my postings are of better resolution that they appear to be. I'm working for the time being without a decent photoediting software package. Hopefully I'll find a way to incorporate better images.
The flight to California was a reminder of how vast is this country: even at an average airspeed of 500 miles per hour it still takes the better part of six hours to go from coast to coast. Changing planes in Salt Lake City was a brief opportunity to see the Great Salt Lake (from the air) and the Rocky Mountains. Even on July 4th there were traces of snow on the higher peaks.