Diocesan Conventions in New York
by Raymond Dague

The mission of the church is to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Most people think this means planting new churches. But not in the Diocese of Central New York or the Diocese of Rochester. Here churches close with few or no worshipers, and a convention prepares to declare "extinct" a worshiping congregation over the objection of their people, their vestry, and their rector. Somebody probably thinks to call this "ministry." The upstate New York landscape with its thin cold layer of the season’s first snow chills the bones of delegates as they trudge off to their annual diocesan meetings, but the cold weather is nothing compared to the iciness of these conventions.

At the opening of the Central New York diocesan convention in Syracuse, New York on Friday evening, November 18, 2005, Bishop Skip Adams of Central New York announced that this year he recently has or would soon "deconsecrate" four of the churches in the diocese. Those parishes are now gone, or soon on the way out, and the buildings will be abandoned and sold.

At the Diocese of Rochester’s convention which met at the same time as its counterpart in Syracuse, the diocesan chancellor spent time justifying to delegates why one of the 61 parishes in that diocese should be snuffed out of existence by a convention vote to be held Saturday, November 19, 2005. Bishop Jack McKelvey and his standing committee submitted a resolution to the convention that All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Rochester, New York be declared "extinct, its vestry dissolved, and its real property and tangible and intangible assets transferred to the Trustees of the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester." The vote on Saturday afternoon is one which both sides expect the parish will loose. So long as we are snuffing out the next guy’s church and not mine, that is apparently ok, reason the delegates who will vote "yes" on the motion for extinction.

In Central New York it is little different. The credentials committee report is usually routine in most meetings. It reports on parishes represented and seats their delegates. The credentials report indicated that 69 parishes out of about 100 in Central New York had delegates present. The report went on to say that two parishes, St. Andrew’s in Syracuse and St. Andrew’s in Vestal, were not going to be seated. They had not paid their assessments to the diocese. This despite the fact that six other parishes were seated who had not paid their assessments. Why the difference between the two St. Andrews’ and the other six? Well, these two disagreed with the vote of Bishop Adams and the diocesan delegation for Gene Robinson to be a bishop, and to permit same sex blessings at the 2003 General Convention of the Episcopal Church. When a motion was made to seat the two St. Andrew’s parishes it lost by about a 2/3s margin. Once again, so long as it is the next parish, vote ‘em out.

The dynamic was the same in Rochester. Vocal opposition to revising Christian morality to allow homosexual behavior is what really landed All Saint’s Rochester in trouble.

And there is more. The diocesan board in Central New York distributed in the convention packet their "policy for parishes not paying full diocesan assessment" which permits the diocesan board to "begin the process for enabling the parish to move to unincorporated or chapel status and or a combined ministry with other parishes in the area." That is a nice euphemism for what the Rochester Diocese calls "extinct." At least Rochester is more honest with its blunt, albeit draconian, way of saying it.

And the Windsor Report? Well, last year’s Central New York convention referred it to the constitution and canons committee of the diocese. Paul Curtin, the diocesan chancellor, delivered their report to the convention Friday night after a year of consideration. The unanimous conclusion of the committee was that the Windsor Report "has no impact on the diocesan constitution and canons" and hence that committee had no authority to act on the report.

A "Listening Forum" was set up instead so that the delegates could hear from people as the deputies prepare to head to General Convention 2006 next summer. A resolution to define marriage as a being between and man and a woman was withdrawn by the maker. But a resolution condemning the war in Iraq made it to the list of resolutions to be considered.

On Saturday, November 19th, both of these conventions continue. Lord, help us!

Raymond Dague is a member of St. Andrew’s Church in Syracuse, and was one of the delegates denied a seat at the Central New York convention