When they gather for the upcoming Diocesan Convention, clergy and delegates will be taking up the annual business of the diocese with a new bishop as chair and an invitation to consider together what it means to be "One Body in Christ, Members One of Another: Reconciliation and Belonging in an Age of Division"--this year's convention theme.
Diocesan Convention, the primary representative governing body of the diocese, convenes on Saturday, Nov. 9 at the Marriott Boston Quincy Hotel in Quincy.
Bishop Julia E. Whitworth will give her inaugural Diocesan Convention address during the opening service of Holy Eucharist scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.
Among the business coming before the convention is a $9.2-million proposed budget for 2025 and a resolution on "Dismantling Racism through Racial Healing," a new antiracism training program for the diocese.
The diocesan Racial Justice Commission and its Subcommittee on Forming Antiracist Episcopal Communities has developed the new program. The proposed resolution would designate it as "the preferred and primary instrument for antiracist training because of the care in crafting training specific to the context of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts," and commends use of the curriculum over the coming year as a trial period, after which a final version will be made ready "for adoption for required use for all clergy and lay leaders of the diocese and encouraged for all members of the diocese for our growth in Christ and for living out of our commitment to the Baptismal Covenant."
The convention will also recognize the 300th anniversary of the Boston Episcopal Charitable Society through a proposed resolution that encourages ongoing membership and financial support to continue the society's work.
Established in 1724 by a group of Anglicans in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, the society continues to provide grant assistance to individuals in Episcopal congregations in this diocese, through their clergy, who are facing financial hardship. The society also makes block grants annually to congregations located in areas of need.
Find full text of the resolutions in the convention Handbook (English/Español).
Anyone can register to attend the convention. Canonically resident clergy and two lay delegates elected from each congregation in union with the diocese participate, in person, as voting members, with a livestream planned for guest viewing. Visit www.diomass.org/diocesan-convention-2024 for links, materials and other details. Registration is open until Nov. 7.