ISSUES
2012

MONDAY JULY 9

OPEN MEETING

of The Consultation

in Meeting Room 144 in the

Convention Center
from 1:15 to 2:15 pm
on Monday, July 9

The Consultation offers the following endorsements for your support:

For Executive Council
Laity
Anita P. George John B. Johnson, IV
Pamela R.W. Kandt Frederica Harris Thompsett
Clergy
Carol Cole Flanagan

Disciplinary Board for Bishops
Laity
A. Joseph Alarid
Clergy
Angela F. Shepherd

GTS Trustees
Laity
Anne Clarke Brown
Clergy
Yamily Bass-Choate
Bishop
Stephen T. Lane

The Episcopal Women’s Caucus Board
has fully endorsed the resolutions presented by the Commission on the Status of Women. They are
A137 Strengthening Families
A138 Ending Statelessness Discrimination Against Women
A139 Gender Violence
A140 Advocate for Maternal and Infant Health
A141 Fund Meetings of the Council of Episcopal Women’s Organizations
A142 Study Expansion of Canonical Residency
A142 Develop a Search Tool Kit
A144 Monitor Women and Other Underrepresented Groups

The Caucus Legislative Team – Elizabeth Kaeton, Marge Christie, Carol Cole Flanagan, Cynthia Black, Pamela Kandt and Zoe Cole (as well as a few others who help when they can while they are here) – meets at 7 AM to follow resolutions through the legislative process.

I want to call attention to resolution A137 Strengthening Families, which was originally assigned to Committee #10 (Social and Urban) but discharged to a CCAB. The resolution asks two things (1) to urge health insurance providers used by churches, dioceses and other church-related agencies to provide insurance options that provide coverage for infertility treatment and, (2) to reaffirm support for maternity/paternity leave for clergy.

One of those who gave witness was a young, male, Episcopal priest who talked about the infertility problems encountered by he and his wife. He said, “With $140,000 in student loan (seminary) debt, an annual salary of $30,000 and health insurance with no provision for fertility treatment, I’m afraid that being called ‘Father’ at work will mean that I am never called ‘Daddy’ at home.”

It is en vogue to talk about “cost sharing” in terms of health care insurance – meaning that the cost of health insurance is actually “shifted” between clergy and congregations without any diocesan responsibility. We sometimes forget the human faces and families behind policy decisions. Indeed, I think we sometimes forget that clergy are human, with human needs and human concerns and human challenges.

If we want younger clergy in the church – as we so often say we do – we are going to have to be prepared for the particular challenges they face and bring to the church.

Ellizabeth Kaeton, EWC

FOR SALE!
The Consultation's member organizations exhibit together and furnish the collaborative space in part with IKEA chairs, tables, shelves and other items. All these will be for sale when the exhibit is dismantled on Tuesday, July 10. Please come by and see us under The Consultation banner and check out what we have to offer before Monday noon. Each organization will be handling its sales and removal arrangements for the furnishings in its space.
Mary Miller, The Consultation

Joy in Samaria

Dr. Louie Crew will be in Indianapolis on Sunday and Monday. For those of us who have been around awhile, it seems powerfully strange not to have him here, not to see him on the floor of the House of Deputies or scribing for one of the Committees, a task he truly loved. But Louie will be here for a time--the last time he says--and the most important thing about him will be as strong as ever I expect, because nothing can take away Louie's joy that he is a child of God, loved by Jesus and gifted with the Holy Spirit.

This truth has always been the most important thing for Louie. And it has always been what his ministry in the church was and is about: joy.

In 1994, at the last General Convention here in Indianapolis, Louie was the preacher at the Integrity Eucharist at Christ Church Cathedral. The Gospel proclaimed was the Woman at the Well (John 4) and Louie began with words, "Welcome to Samaria!"

Looking back, that invitation was a turning point for the church. It was an invitation for the church to join its LGBT members in the land off the beaten path, spoken of with fear and--sometimes loathing--in the land of difference, of looking at the same religious tradition from a "queer" perspective.

Like all true invitations, it was made in freedom and for freedom, and, therefore, it has been received in joy and in caution and in horror. The journey has been a difficult one for all of us. It's consequences are still being played out and will be for another generation. There is incredible sadness that some ultimately have said "no" but a growing sense of rightness on the part of those who have traveled into that strange land.

Those who have believed that this land of Louie's beckoning was a land of sexual license or even the sexual freedom of a certain group of people have not understood his invitation. It has always been an invitation to joy, joy in the One on whose behalf the invitation has been issued, and joy in the gift we are to one another not in spite of our differences but because of them.

For LGBT Episcopalians, Louie has, of course, been a beloved leader on whose shoulders we have ridden. He has been mentor and friend. He has also challenged us to love when we did not want to love, hope when we felt we had none, and joy when we were tempted to fear. He, of course, done that for all of us. Joy to absoluely everyone!

Michael Hopkins, Integrity

The Labor Movement as Social Justice

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., called the labor movement the “first and pioneer anti-poverty program,” understanding that when workers organize and bargain collectively, they lift themselves up out of poverty, and in turn, the whole community benefits. We should not forget that when Dr. King was assassinated, he was in Memphis to support the sanitation workers’ strike, seeking recognition for the union from the city.

One of the finest moments in our nation’s history was the great march on Washington in August 1963, a moment in which people of good will from many quarters came together and helped to lift the country to a higher place. An unforgettable image shows King, the Rev. Ralph Abernathy, and labor leaders Walter Reuther, A. Philip Randolph, and Cleveland Robinson marching arm-in-arm to the Lincoln Memorial.

We in the Episcopal Church should reflect on this history, and reach out to our brothers and sisters in the labor movement, community organizations, the environmental movement, and to all people of good will, in seeking to live out our call to be faithful to the Kingdom of God.

Now, more than at any time since the 1930s the rights of workers to organize are under attack. We as the Church must speak out clearly that our understanding of community means that everyone has a right to be at the table. Our understanding of justice means that the right of workers to organize is as sacred as the right to worship God according to one’s own conscience. While we recognize that the labor movement has improved wages and benefits for millions of working people, at the heart of the right to organize is the recognition that workers should have a say in the decisions that affect their lives. It is about respecting the dignity of every human being.

Please support Resolution D028 – “The Labor Movement” when it comes to the floor. It sends a clear message that our Church supports the rights of working people, and affirms our gospel understanding of community.

Tim Yeager,EPF

Susan Williams

The Speaker's Corner

MON July 9
1:00 pm- Immigration Issues: Dianne Aid (chair, Episcopal Network for Economic Justice), Laura Russell (supervising attorney for New York Legal Aid Society), and Kate Conway, (Immigration and Refugee Policy Analyst in the Episcopal Church Office of Government relations, based in Washington,)

2:00 pm - Terri Pilarski and Joyce Matthews

Terri is the rector at Christ Episcopal Church in Dearborn, Michigan, a diverse interfaith community. She is also the consultant to the Episcopal Church for the WordsMatter Expansive Language Project and the creator of the Episcopal version of the WordsMatter conversation Guide.

Joyce is the Associate Rector at Christ Church Cranbrook, Bloomfield Hills, MI. Joyce is a trainer in the WordsMatter project and has assisted in WordsMatter project in the Diocese of Michigan and at the 2012 UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York City—Episcopal NGO parallel events.

TUES July 10
1:00 - EPF Young Adult Initiative. This is the third year for the EPF program to create space and direction for young adult leaders who are passionate about peace and justice Issues. This year’s YAI leaders will share some of their wisdom with us.
There is no 2:00 pm speaker because the Exhibit Closes at 2:00 pm on Tuesday.

Human Trafficking: What can the Church do?This General Convention you will be asked to vote on a resolution against Human Trafficking. But, unlike the resolutions against trafficking in the past, this resolution will also try to link Provinces together, so that each can learn from the other about how trafficking effects their Province. If Provinces work together, they can understand where victims are trafficked from and interact and discuss the issues with provinces where victims are trafficked to. Trafficking can not be combated by only one area of the world. One must understand the factors that allow for women and children to be forced into this modern day form of slavery, as well as understand why the demand for trafficking victims exists.

The United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons (2000), as well as United States’ legislation. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act, both discuss the factors that lead to this modern day slavery. Victims who are without economic means; who have been abused as children; who are not appreciated as females; and feel there is no hope are easily coerced into believing there is a better life some where else. Once they leave, they are extremely vulnerable to trafficking. By working together, provinces can come to learn why it is so complex an issue as to stop human trafficking from occurring, and what provinces and states can do to help. Trafficking is not just an international problem. Victims are trafficked frequently within the borders of the United States, and sometimes within their own states, many from rural to urban areas.

The Church must continue to stand up to this modern day slavery, and seek to ends its practices.

Laura Russell, ENEJ

UBE and Young Adults

The Union of Black Episcopalians is delighted to witness and provide support and encouragement to participants of The 2012 SOUL Conference. The annual event provides a protective place for Youth and Young Adults of African Descent from across the church to meet and grow together in relationship with one another and with Christ.

Young participants of The SOUL conference July 5-8 are at least 14 years old and entering grades 9-12. Young adult participants whose ages range from 18-30 years or have completed high school will attend the conference July 8-12.

Members of The SOUL conference build relationships with one another and Christ and participate in workshops toward leadership development. The workshop activities include but are not limited to: Worship and Bible Study, Spiritual Formation, Leadership Skills Development, Advocacy Training, Problem Solving and Conflict Management, Fellowship, Team Building and Group Dynamics as well as the experience of participating in The 77^th General Convention of the Episcopal Church.

The SOUL conference originated in 2006 from efforts of The Office of Black Ministries to address the shortage of African American young adults actively participating in ministries in the Episcopal Church. The conference has and continues to be a successful mechanism for developing young leaders from the African American community for ordained and lay ministry in the wider church.

UBE continues its mission and tradition of being an intergenerational organization and requests that efforts are made to acknowledge the presence of all youth and young adults participating in General Convention.

Zena Link, UBE

Would That We Would Only See

Greetings from the Right Reverend Edmond L. Browning and Patti Browning

Dear friends at the 77^th General Convention: We both extend our love and warmest greetings and thank you for the incredibly hard work everybody does. We remember fondly!

We particularly appreciate the careful attention of the Convention to the pursuit of a just resolution in Palestine/Israel, where injustice has prevailed for far too many years and seen too many lives lost and too many hearts broken. One injustice – the horror of the Holocaust – cannot be corrected by committing another injustice – the dispossession of Palestinians from their land. The oppression of Palestinians is not of God and a resolution to address this injustice that protects, affirms and sets free both Palestinians and Israelis (the oppressed and the oppressor) must be found.

The witness for justice through non-violent resistance by grassroots Christians, Jews and Muslims reminds us of alliances by those who joined with African Americans led by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the civil rights era. And of the long struggle against Apartheid led by our revered Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela.

We encourage the Convention to continue our corporate witness against the Occupation including:

• Corporate Engagement. This existing policy of our Church needs to be pursued with enormous energy so that not one penny of the Episcopal Church’s treasure will be used in any way to support the Occupation of the Palestinian people.

• Settlements which daily foreclose the possibility of a state for Palestinians and stand as ample evidence of Israel’s duplicity. Would that we would only see. Products made there should never be available for purchase anywhere.

• Kairos Palestine: We assume that our Church would want to read what nearly 2,800 Palestinian Christians have cried out for us to hear. For too long, Palestinian voices have been ignored in the halls of Congress, the White House and across our country.

We extend our heartfelt love and compassion and we pray with all people of good will for the peace of Jerusalem.

Edmond L. Browning & Patti Browning

If you want to shop, step to it!

Among the exhibitors in the Exhibit Hall are a number of worthy and important organizations; many of them offer articles for sale which can be interesting additions to your living space or which would be appreciated as gifts. In the busy schedule between now and Tuesday at 2:00 pm treat yourself to a visit to the Exhibit Hall and find those things you just can't do without. They will be glad and you will support a worthy cause.

The editors