Whether and how financial divestment can be a tool for effecting social justice promises to be a significant topic of discussion at the upcoming 229th annual convention of the Diocese of Massachusetts, to be held on Nov. 8 at St. Stephen’s Memorial Church in Lynn.
Convention will also vote on the proposed $8.2-million diocesan budget for 2015
and elect alternate deputies to next summer’s General Convention of the Episcopal Church, among other business.
The legislative gathering brings together about 600 clergy and lay delegates elected from each of the diocese’s congregations to conduct the annual business of the diocese as well as worship together and celebrate the shared ministry of Episcopal churches across eastern Massachusetts. The diocese’s new bishop, the Rt. Rev. Alan M. Gates, will deliver his first address to the convention, and the Rt. Rev. Gayle E. Harris, Bishop Suffragan, will preach at the midday service of Holy Eucharist.
Online registration closed on Nov. 3.
Resolutions
Four resolutions will come before the Diocesan Convention, three of them focused on divestment. [Full text of resolutions is available in the convention handbook, here.]
One speaks indirectly to divestment as a strategy by asking for recognition “that there are a diversity of approaches to sustainable and responsible investing” and for the convention's endorsement of “a broad, inclusive approach” that is “consistent with diocesan investment policy.”
While the resolution itself doesn’t specifically mention divestment, its proposers say in their accompanying explanation that it is “a specific response to the recent and current proposals to divest fossil-fuel related stocks,” and one that favors “local action as opposed to top-down directives.”
Last year’s Diocesan Convention adopted a measure, under the umbrella of “environmentally responsible investing,” that asked numerous commitments and actions of various entities, including a freeze by “all managers of Episcopal endowments” in “all direct investments in the Carbon Tracker top 200 fossil fuel companies.” It also asked the Trustees of Donations to report back to this year’s convention with a plan for making the Diocesan Investment Trust free, by November 2018, of investments that are not deemed “best in class” and to design “an alternative investment vehicle” that excludes fossil fuel production companies. The required report from the trustees is available here.
This year’s convention is being asked to put a similar measure before the Episcopal Church’s triennial General Convention in July 2015, proposing specific ways that the Church Pension Fund and the Episcopal Church Endowment Fund be requested to “divest from fossil fuel companies and reinvest in clean renewable energy.” It also asks General Convention to “encourage all dioceses and the Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes to engage the topic of divestment from fossil fuels and clean energy reinvestment within the coming year.”
A third divestment resolution before the Diocesan Convention on Nov. 8 would direct the Trustees of Donations “to divest from their portfolios any shares of Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola Solutions” and that the same request be put before the Episcopal Church’s General Convention. The resolution’s proposers, in their explanation, say the resolution targets the named companies because they “are contributing to non-peaceful pursuits in Israel/Palestine.”
Finally, the convention will consider a resolution, also to be submitted to the General Convention, calling for multifaith education for Episcopal clergy and lay leaders.
Budget
The convention will vote on a diocesan budget for 2015, which, as proposed, reflects core and supplemental revenues and expenses totaling $8.2 million. [The budget booklet is available here.]
As required by diocesan canon, the budget is balanced, and, according to diocesan treasurer Jim Gammill and the Budget Committee’s chair, the Rev. Stephen Voysey, in a letter introducing the budget, it is “based upon the expectation of essentially level funding for the coming year with no significant new initiatives.”
Elections
Diocesan Convention will elect the following lay and ordained people to serve as alternates to the eight deputies elected last year to represent the diocese at General Convention: William C. Boyce (Grace Church, New Bedford); Betsy Ridge Madsen (Church of the Advent, Boston); Michele Griffin-MacGregor (St. Andrew’s Church, Framingham); Julie Shea (St. John’s Church, Winthrop); The Rev. Canon Connie Ng Lam (Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston); The Rev. Karen B. Montagno (Director of Congregational Resources and Training, Diocese of Massachusetts); The Rev. Holly Antolini (St. James’s Church, Cambridge); and The Rev. Julie Carson (St. Andrew’s Church, Framingham).
Convention will also elect a member of the clergy from among the following to serve on the Standing Committee: The Rev. Chris Wendell (St. Paul’s Church, Bedford); The Rev. Karen Coleman (St. James’s Church, Somerville); The Rev. Clyde Elledge (St. Andrew’s Church, Marblehead); and The Rev. Cheryl V. Minor (All Saints’ Church, Belmont).
More information and all convention materials are available here.
--Tracy J. Sukraw