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February 1 , 2007
Spotlight: Annual Council Concludes
The 212th Annual Council of The Diocese of Virginia met January 26 and 27 to consider the adoption of canonical and constitutional amendments, resolutions and a budget. 1,000 delegates and visitors gathered at the Richmond Marriott to pray, conduct their annual business and celebrate the election of a bishop coadjutor.
In addition to a series of courtesy resolutions adopted to honor individuals and institutions, council delegates approved the following resolutions:
R-1: Day Laborers
R-2: Resolution Process
R-3: Millennium Development Goals
R-4: Designation of October 30 as a Memorial for James Markham Ambler
R-5:
"Local Option" Regarding the Blessing of Same-Sex Unions
R-6: Support for Faithful Episcopalians in Congregations within which a Majority Vote to Leave the Episcopal Church
R-7: Companion Diocese Relationship Study
Five constitutional and canonical amendments were discussed on the Council floor. A proposed amendment which called for parish-level absentee balloting failed, while two proposed amendments—one concerning the appointment of vestry committees and one on church incorporation—were referred back to the Committee on Constitution and Canons. Delegates adopted new amendments on the inclusion of college students as council delegates and on Commission on Ministry membership.
Council delegates also approved a $4.5 million budget, as well as a petition for church status submitted by former mission parish Church of the Messiah, Chancellor.
Council convened on Friday, Jan. 26 to elect a bishop coadjutor to succeed Bishop Peter Lee. The Very Rev. Shannon S. Johnston, rector of All Saints’, Tupelo, Miss., was elected on the third ballot.
In his pastoral address to Council delegates and visitors, Bishop Lee focused on the “ONE Church : ONE Mission” theme of Council when he said, “It is clear to me that the great majority of our churches, our clergy and our people share two emphases: the mission of reconciliation at the heart of our Christian faith and the unity we have with one another and the Anglican Communion across the world. We recognize that some people experience that unity and breadth as insufficient for the exercise of their faith. We respect their consciences but also must respond when people who no longer share our mission, seek to leave and take with them property that belongs to all of us and to our grandchildren in the faith.”
Bishop Jones read a statement issued by Province III bishops in support of Bishop Lee, noting, “We commend Bishop Lee for the many ways over several years in which he tried to pastorally minister to, find appropriate compromises, and charitably respond to his detractors. We are proud to be his colleagues.”
The full text of Bishop Lee’s pastoral address and Bishop Jones’ report, in addition to the resolutions and canonical and constitutional amendments, can be found online at http://www.thediocese.net/diocese/annual_council.shtml.
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