This gathering is for the purpose of taking counsel together as a Church. While there is a significant amount of legislative work accomplished during the Convention the real benefit is the coming together of every aspect of the life of the Church for conversation, prayer and looking toward our future.

Today's Episcopal News Service Headlines / Convention Daily Newspaper / General Convention News webcast

Today's Maine Deputy of the Day report / Statements from Bishop Chilton Knudsen and Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold

july 30 / july 31 / august 1 / august 2 / august 3 / august 4 / august 5 / august 6 / august 7 / august 8

Members of the diocese are invited to contact any of the deputies below with questions and
concerns about the work of General Convention.  Please be aware that not all deputies will have access to email during General Convention.  Please feel free to contact the Diocesan Communications Officer Heidi Shott, if you would like to have a message forwarded to a member of the Maine deputation

Deputy of the Day Reports:

Day 1: July 30, 2003
Lay Deputy Harold "Brownie" Brown, St. Patrick's, Brewer

Day 2: July 31, 2003
First Lay Alternate Susan Partridge, St. Ann's, Windham

Day 3: August 1, 2003
First Clergy Alternate Paige Blair, St. George's, York Harbor

Day 4: August 2, 2003
Clergy Deputy Anne Stanley, Christ Church, Norway
Clergy Deputy Christopher Chornyak, St. Dunstan's, Ellsworth

Day 5: August 3, 2003
Triennial Delegate Elizabeth Ring. St. Bart's, Yarmouth

Day 6: August 4, 2003
Clergy Deputy Anne Stanley, Christ Church, Norway

Day 7: August 5, 2003
Clergy Deputy Holly Lyman Antolini

Day 8: August 6, 2003
Clergy Deputy Anne Stanley, Christ Church, Norway

Day 9: August 7, 2003
First Lay Alternate Susan Partridge

Day 10: August 8, 2003
First Lay Alternate Susan Partridge

GENERAL CONVENTION DEPUTIES

The Rt. Rev. Chilton R. Knudsen, Bishop of Maine

Elected at the 2001 Diocesan Convention
Clerical Deputies:
The Rev. Holly Antolini, St. Elizabeth's, Portland
The Rev. Cn. Linton Studdiford, Canon to the Ordinary
The Rev. Christopher Chornyak, St. Dunstan's, Ellsworth
The Rev. Anne Stanley, Christ Church, Norway

Lay Deputies:
The Hon. Marge Kilkelly, St. Philip's, Wiscasset (Chair of Deputation)
Ms Nicole Janelle, St. Nicholas', Scarborough
Ms Rita Redfield, St. Saviour's, Bar Harbor
Dr. Harold "Brownie" Brown, St. Patrick's, Brewer

Clerical Alternates:
The Rev. Paige Blair, St. George's, York Harbor (diocese sends first alternate to General Convention)
The Rev. Susan Murphy, Aroostook Episcopal Cluster
The Rev. G. Thomas Luck, St. Mary the Virgin, Falmouth
The Rev. Calvin Sanborn, St. George's, York Harbor

Lay Alternates:
Dr. Susan Partridge, St. Ann's, Windham (diocese sends first alternate to General Convention)
Ms. Beverly Breau, St. Martin's, Palmyra
Sr. Cyndy Anderson, St. Ann's, Windham
Ms. Sheila Seekins, St. Peter's, Rockland

Representatives to the Episcopal Church Women's Triennial Gathering
ECW National Boardmember Barbi Tinder, Christ Church, Norway
Elizabeth Ring, St. Bart's, Yarmouth
National Altar Guild Representative Julia Walkling, St. Paul's, Brunswick

Good Prayers

Prayer from Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold's opening address to Convention:

"During these past months a prayer has crossed my path from several sources, which made me feel that the prayer was meant to become my own.  It is the prayer of Philaret, a Russian bishop of Moscow in the 19th Century, and I pray it now with you at the beginning of this Convention."

Poem  from Garrison Keillor's public radio program, "Writer's Almanac" on July 31
The Monks of St. John's File in for Prayer
by Kilian McDonnell from Swift, Lord, You Are Not (St. John's University Press).

In we shuffle, hooded amplitudes,
scapulared brooms, a stray earring, skin-heads
and flowing locks, blind in one eye,
hooked-nosed, handsome as a prince
(and knows it), a five-thumbed organist,
an acolyte who sings in quarter tones,
one slightly swollen keeper of the bees,
the carpenter minus a finger here and there,
our pre-senile writing deathless verse,
a stranded sailor, a Cassian scholar,
the artist suffering the visually
illiterate and indignities unnamed,
two determined liturgists. In a word,
eager purity and weary virtue.
Last of all, the Lord Abbot, early old
(shepherding the saints is like herding cats).
These chariots and steeds of Israel
make a black progress into church.
A rumble of monks bows low and offers praise
to the High God of Gods who is faithful forever.

Prayer for a General Convention Participant

God of all
light and life:
As General Convention draws near,
fill me with energy for the work before me;
show me your surprising face in the people around me;
delight me afresh with the variety of your creation;
inspire me with a vision of justice becoming concrete in the world;
and above all, teach me to love you and my neighbor more fully,
less grudgingly, and with more forbearance day by day,
and give me the grace of good humor, the leaven of laughter,
and the tonic of hope through it all,
in Jesus’ name. Amen.


The Other Prayer for a General Convention Participant

All-wise and perplexing God:
though you have made these sisters and brothers of mine,
I confess I find them strange and thorny;
though you convene this Church I love and serve with such passion,
I confess I find it irritating, disappointing, too slow and too hasty,
and often lacking the signs of grace I seek in it;
though your Spirit moves through all our meetings,
I confess there are people I wish were not present
and moments for which I find no gratitude.
Transform my heart to be more tender toward others,
more wondering toward their passions and particularities,
more patient toward our common work,
and more joyous and confident of your coming reign
for which all of us labor, and in which each has a part,
through Christ our Savior. Amen.

Today's ENS Headlines

August 8: Episcopal News Service Headlines

Observer provides Anglican voice at U.N.
Sharon Sheridan

Resolutions fly as convention nears end
Deputies tackle social justice issues, canons, youth, international affairs
Sarah T. Moore

General Convention approves triennial budget
James Thrall and David Skidmore

Bishops approve Title III revisions
David Skidmore

Deputies approve compromise resolution on same-sex unions
Sharon Sheridan and James Thrall

August 7: Episcopal News Service Headlines

Excerpt from today's editorial in the Dallas Morning News

Statement from Bishop Chilton Knudsen

Bishops turn down development of same-sex liturgies
Richelle Thompson

PB&F presents budget to joint session
$146 million projected for next triennium
James Thrall

Some stay and some go in response to Robinson consent
David Skidmore

A statement from the Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church, USA

Deputies protest Robinson confirmation
James Thrall

August 6: Episcopal News Service Headlines

Venezuela admitted as diocese of Episcopal Church
James Thrall

Deputies 'encourage' language, cultural study for priests
Sarah T. Moore and James Thrall

PB Nominating Committee to be selected Thursday
Sarah T. Moore

August 5: Episcopal News Service Headlines

Robinson approved as bishop

Report to the House of Bishops
Rt. Rev. Gordon P. Scruton, Diocese of Western Massachusetts

Robinson investigation to proceed
Conservative group says bishop-elect deserves fair treatment
David Skidmore

Bishops concerned about 2006 convention dates
Richelle Thompson

Hiroshima bombing to be commemorated
Survivor relates his Aug. 6 experience; remembrance planned at Peace Garden
Sharon Sheridan

Young adults' voices are strong, informed
Michelle Gabriel
with a quote from Maine Lay Deputy Nicole Janelle, a seminarian from St. Nicholas, Scarborough!

August 4: Episcopal News Service Headlines

Allegations Stall Robinson Vote

Deputies OK Robinson as bishop
David Skidmore

New same-sex rites resolution emerges
Blessing may appear in Enriching Our Worship
Sharon Sheridan

Eucharist imbued with the spirit of Anglican unity
Nan Cobbey and Sally Vallongo

August 3: Episcopal News Service Headlines

Committee prepares same-sex blessings resolution for bishops
David Skidmore

Puerto Rico officially joins Episcopal Church
Richelle Thompson

August 2: Episcopal News Service Headlines

Robinson consent sent to House of Deputies
David Skidmore

Bishops reject direct ordination idea
Richelle Thompson

Church's youngest members find convention home
Sally Vallongo

Festive start for ECW Triennial
Terry Jolliffe and Evelyn Piety

August 1: Episcopal News Services Headlines

Committee approves ratification of Robinson

Deputies vote to admit Diocese of Puerto Rico
James Thrall

Committee passes guidelines for stem cell research
Richelle Thompson

July 31: Episcopal News Service Headlines

Presiding bishop holds up church’s 'diverse center'
David Skidmore
Episcopal News Service

Bishops approve procedure for Robinson consent
David Skidmore
Episcopal News Service

July 30: Episcopal News Service Headlines

Hearings on sexuality resolutions scheduled
Two key resolutions addressing the standing of gays and lesbians in the life of the church 
will be reviewed in hearings Friday, August 1, and Saturday, August 2.
Episcopal News Service
David Skidmore
Episcopal News Service
Posted: 7/30/2003

Convention 'full of opportunity,' presiding bishop says
Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold told bishops and deputies they have arrived at a "solemn and 
hopeful moment full of possibility," on the eve of the opening of the 74th General Convention of the Episcopal Church

Soul-Searching: Episcopalians showed how to approach issue
Editorial, Dallas Morning News, 08/07/2003

[Excerpt] "By the time the bishops finally sat down to discuss whether to
approve the Rev. Robinson as the bishop of New Hampshire, they were
reflective and prayerful. Few places in society today allow for a
thoughtful exploration of beliefs about homosexuality. Watching these
Episcopalians of all beliefs reason their way through their disagreement
on this issue could serve as a guidepost for the larger society, as it
wrestles with such potentially rancorous questions as gay marriage and
civil unions. Despite having only 2.4 million members, Episcopalians
have always had a disproportionate influence on American society,
because of the denomination's deep, historical roots with this country.
Perhaps their thoughtfulness and mutual respect for one another on this
issue will have a positive impact on how all of us Americans carry on
our larger societal debate. At least we hope so."

please email me the full editorial


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