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By Lucy Chumbley
Washington Window
Vol. 76, No. 7, June 2007
At its May 8 meeting, the Diocesan Council charged its new Committee on Racial Reconciliation with tracking pertinent national church legislation and recommending appropriate policies, actions, discussions and trainings to the diocese.
The council also asked the group, created in March to continue the work of an earlier task force, to continue to provide racial reconciliation training in the diocese, specifically to council members, committee chairs, clergy and seminarians.
"We live in a multi-cultural society," said Bishop John Bryson Chane. "Our diocese needs to reflect that and this is only going to help us."
While agreeing unanimously that this panel should forge ahead with its work, the council decided that another new group, the Task Force on the Impact of Slavery, should await further guidance from the national church before beginning its efforts.
The panel was created in response to legislation passed by January's Diocesan Convention that affirms the 2006 General Convention's request that dioceses compile data about their complicity in slavery and work on ways to "heal the breach."
"I would ask the task force to take some time and wait until there is more shape and form [from the national church]," Chane said. "We really need to see where the national church is moving and where the resources are."
The council also charged its new Task Force on the Millennium Development Goals with identifying potential programmatic efforts in the diocese and developing a work plan for a new committee.
"A key item is working together with the Episcopal Church's Government Affairs Office," governance officer Ann Talty said.
The council also voted unanimously to create a Task Force on the Next Companion Diocese. This group will explore potential partnerships, set appropriate parameters, and report back to the council in six months with its recommendation.
In other matters the council:
- Heard an update from the Rev. Patty Downing, chair of the diocese's Commission on Ministry, on the progress of the diocese's new discernment process.
In April 2006, the Commission on Ministry began work to create processes to assist members of the diocese in discerning lay, priestly and diaconal vocations, Downing said.
The Commission has tackled this work in three sub-committees, she explained, presenting the final draft of the priestly vocations group. This panel began its work by drafting an outline for the new process, she said, then vetted its work with the full Commission and Bishop John Bryson Chane. It incorporated comments from clergy members, and the draft report was posted on the diocesan Web site for public comment, along with that of the lay vocations sub-committee. Open hearings were held in April.
The priestly vocations sub-committee will now present its final draft to the full Commission on Ministry for approval, Downing said.
Key changes to the clergy discernment process include new requirements for Spanish language proficiency and a stipulation that postulants attend an Anglican/Episcopal seminary "because we believe we're in the business of forming Episcopal priests," Downing said.
"This is a very detailed piece of work, which is exceptional," Chane said. "I want to go on record as saying I appreciate that work. It has been a labor of love."
- Heard from Paul Cooney, canon to the ordinary, that the congregation of St. Monica's, Capitol Hill has decided it cannot continue on its own financially and is considering the possibility of merging with another parish.
St. Monica's has explored partnerships with five parishes, Cooney said, but is most interested in joining forces with St. James', Capitol Hill.
Congregational development consultant Bob Gallagher has been facilitating a conversation between the two parishes, Cooney said, "and we're hopeful that conversation will move forward."
- Learned that the Nigerian (Ebo) congregation that has been worshipping at St. John's, Rainier for the past six years will now meet at a Methodist church in Lanham.
"The Rev. Clinton Esonu will continue to be their leader with Bishop Chane's help," Cooney said. "The congregation will become a 501(c). They won't be a mission, they won't be a parish, but they will be a congregation under the spiritual oversight of the bishop."
"We're delighted that they're on their own and we'll have a celebration of new ministry at some point," Chane said.
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