A064 Amend Canon I.1.6.d Capturing Clergy Records
Resolved, the House of ________________ concurring,
That the 81st General Convention amend Canon I.1.6.d to read as follows:
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d. The Recorder shall prepare and present to each session of the General Convention a list of all Priests and Deacons ordained, received, transferred out, released and removed, returned, suspended, deposed, or restored; of all Bishops ordained, received, released and removed, returned, suspended, deposed, or restored; and of all Bishops, Priests, and Deacons who have died; such list to cover the period from the last preceding similar report of the Recorder through the thirty-first day of December immediately preceding each session of the General Convention.
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d. The Recorder shall prepare and present to each session of the General Convention a list of all Clergy Priests and Deacons ordained, received, suspended, transferred out, released and removed, returned, suspended, deposed, or restored; , and of all Bishops consecrated, ordained, received, released and removed, returned, suspended, deposed, or restored; and of all Bishops, Priests, and Deacons and other Clergy who have died; such list to cover the period from the last preceding similar report of the Recorder through the thirty-first day of December immediately preceding each session of the General Convention.
And be it further.
Resolved, that Canon III.1.3 be amended as follows:
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Sec. 3. The provisions of these Canons for the admission of Candidates for the ordination to the three Orders: Bishops, Priests and Deacons shall be equally applicable to all persons in the process.
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Sec. 3. The provisions of these Canons for the admission of Candidates for the ordination to the three Orders: Bishops, Priests and Deacons shall be equally applicable to men and women to all persons in the process.
Explanation
This proposal is addressing two issues: terminology and the capturing of all clergy on record in The Episcopal Church.
Terminology: This proposal changes all references of consecration of a bishop when used in place of or with ordination in the canons of the church to provide consistency with Canon III.11 and 1979 Book of Common Prayer, which address the ordination of bishops, in which the consecration is a part of the larger ordination service, not a service on its own. Further, a consecration cannot stand alone as a complete ordination.
Comprehensive reporting: Under the current system for reporting on clergy, there are cracks into which people fall if they are outside of a small handful of categories. This language expands the areas of status that must be kept on record and reported while also applying it to all three orders of ordination.
As TEC recognizes a diversity of gender expressions and understandings, the binary language of “men and women” is not inclusive and does not accurately reflect our understanding of gender.