General Convention 2009

The Rt. Rev. Charles G. vonRosenberg, third bishop of the Diocese of East Tennessee, was consecrated Feb 27, 1999. Bishop vonRosenberg will be attending his fourth General Convention. Biographical information about Bishop vonRosenberg may be found at http://etdiocese.net/pages/bishopCGvR.htm.

 

The General Convention is the governing body of The Episcopal Church (TEC) that meets every three years. The Convention is a bicameral legislature that includes the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops. The work at Convention is carried out by deputies and bishops representing each diocese.

During its triennial meeting deputies and bishops consider a wide range of important matters facing the Church. Legislation considered at General Convention must pass with exactly the same wording in both Houses to be official policy of The Episcopal Church.

All bishops of the Episcopal Church, active and retired, are entitled to seat, voice and vote in the House of Bishops. As of August, 2008, about 51% of bishops in The Episcopal Church were active bishops and about 49% were retired.

The House of Bishops is chaired by the Primate of The Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. There are currently 300 bishops in The Episcopal Church.

One of the resolutions to be considered at the 2009 General Convention concerns removal of the vote from retired bishops. A resolution has been proposed previously and was passed by the House of Bishops but the proposal failed in the House of Deputies. Thus, currently retired bishops retain a vote equal to that of active bishops, with a few canonical exceptions, most notably: retired bishops cannot vote in the vote to consent to the election of a bishop; only bishops “with jurisdiction” may vote to consent. Only one bishop has jurisdiction in each diocese, usually the Ordinary, or diocesan, bishop. Those who wish to remove the vote for retired bishops point out that they are no longer accountable to any constituency. Those who want them to keep the vote point out that retired bishops are thus free to vote their informed conscience perhaps even more than active bishops.