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Deputies
House of Deputies Necrology
It is the custom of the House of Deputies to pray for deputies to General Conventions who have died during the previous triennium or who have not been memorialized at a previous convention.
The Rev. Canon Michael Barlowe, Secretary of the General Convention, recently sent out a request to all deputies asking for their help in compiling this memorial list. For more information, please click here.
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Attendee Resources
Registration Open for Children’s Program; Applications Accepted for Youth and Adult Volunteers
Early registration is open for a dynamic children’s day camp at the 81st General Convention that will include hands-on projects, music, field trips, and other activities. Applications are also being accepted for volunteers and junior counselors for the program, which runs June 22-28 at the Hyatt Regency in Louisville, Kentucky.
Discounted registration—which runs through April 15—is $45 daily for the first child, $35 daily for each additional child in the same family. Regular registration—April 16 through May 24—costs $60 daily for the first child and $40 daily for each additional sibling. The discounted seven-day rate is $245.
Led by Sarah Petersen, director of Children’s Ministries at Saint Barnabas Episcopal Church in Scottsdale, Arizona, the day camp is open to children of clergy, convention deputies, staff, Episcopal Church Women convention deputies, and program volunteers. Children from birth through sixth grade are eligible.
“The General Convention Children’s Program is being re-imagined as the Waves of Gratitude Day Camp, offering children an engaging and formative experience through a full day of meaningful activities,” said Petersen, who is in her ninth year as children’s program director. “We’ll be practicing gratitude while creating art, exploring the science of water, and interacting on field trips and with visitors to the program.” The program will partner with other Episcopal Church organizations, including the United Thank Offering, Good News Gardens, Episcopal Relief and Development, Godly Play, and more. “This is a wonder-filled opportunity for kids to experience General Convention in a safe, fun, and formational environment,” Petersen said.
Young people ages 12-18 can apply to serve as junior counselors. The cost is $20 per day and includes snacks, lunch, field trips, training, and a T-shirt. Applications will be accepted through April 15. Learn more and apply.
Adults who have completed Safe Church, Safe Communities training within the last three years and are interested in volunteering for a minimum of three shifts can apply online here.
For additional information, email Petersen at [email protected].
Individual Registration for General Convention is Now Open
While official deputations to Convention are registered by their diocesan offices, individual attendees may register from now until May 15th. Onsite registration is available once Convention begins, with passes for day visitors, youth visitors, and access to the exhibit area only.
To view the schedule of fees and to register, please visit the General Convention website.
Volunteers Needed!
Volunteering is one of the most meaningful experiences a person can have, making people feel connected to their community. Be a part of history and volunteer at the 81st General Convention of The Episcopal Church! From Registration, Legislative Sessions, and Worship, to Information Resources, Revival and Community Awareness, there are many volunteer opportunities to consider. We invite you to sign up for one or many shifts available by clicking here.
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Legislation
Legislative Committee Meeting Schedules Now Available
Legislative Committee Orientation was on February 8 and committees are beginning their work and scheduling meetings. To see a list of meetings and to register to observe a meeting (or testify at a hearing) go to https://vbinder.net and go to Legislative Committee Meetings. Participants may register to observe a meeting at any time. However, if you are planning on testifying, we encourage you to register at least 2 business days prior to the meeting, as the list of testifiers is submitted to the committee 1 business day prior to the hearing.
You can also view the roster of each Legislative Committee here.
VBinder: Resolutions and Legislative Committee Meetings FAQs
When looking up Legislative Committee meetings, you can search for meetings by committee. If you don’t see a committee that you are looking for it just means they have not yet scheduled a meeting.
- Resolutions do not show up in the virtual binder until they have been referred to a committee by the Presiding Officers. Check back regularly as resolutions are assigned on a rolling basis.
- Not all legislative committee meetings are open hearings. So, some will never have resolutions attached.
- Open hearings may be initially scheduled without any resolutions attached. As resolutions are assigned to a hearing, they will be listed. Check back regularly as resolutions do come in on a rolling basis.
Resolution Submission Process
The Rules of Order for the House of Deputies were changed in 2022 to allow legislative committees to do work online in advance of General Convention. Per those rules, Committees can hold hearings between March 22 and June 8. All submitters are being strongly encouraged to get resolutions submitted by early March so that Committees can give them their full attention and the entire Church has an opportunity to weigh in. In 2022 over 2,000 people participated in the online legislative committee process.
Technically, the resolution deadline remains the 2nd day of General Convention; however, with a 6-day Convention and a Presiding Bishop election, resolutions submitted closer to or at General Convention probably will not have time to make it through the process.
When a resolution is submitted there are many things that have to happen before it reaches a committee. It needs to be reviewed, formatted, translated, and the committee referral has to be agreed upon by the Presiding Officers, all before it is sent to the Committee. This process can, at times, take a few weeks, especially if in the review process some error is found and it needs to be sent back to the proposer.
For deputies, bishops, dioceses, or provinces who wish to submit a resolution, here is a link to the Resolution Guidelines. Please consult these guidelines to ensure the resolution is submitted in proper form.
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Need to Find Something Quickly? Visit GC81 Resources
There is a lot of information coming out about the 81st General Convention these days, with even more to come. While searching old copies of the newsletter may work for you, a quick way to find information relating to GC81 is on the GC81 Resources section of our website (also linked at the top of each newsletter). There you can find comprehensive and up-to-date list of links to various General Convention resources, such as:
- Attendee resources (housing, registration, volunteering, exhibits, accessibility guide, Children's Program)
- Blue Book Reports
- Information on the Budget
- Calendars (the official schedule and others as they are available)
- Legislative resources (resolution and memorial submission, legislative committees, and the Virtual Binder)
If you have a question regarding General Convention, this page is a great place to start, or reach out to us at [email protected]
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Data, Learning, and Technology | |
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Speed Up Your 2025 Parochial Report with the Online Register App
The General Convention Office has collaborated with WorshipTimes to develop an online version of the service register book that automatically connects to the Parochial Report filing site. The online Register App is available here, along with an instructional guide.
You can enter your service information online for 2024 and at the end of the year all the of the tracking and math of your worship services will already be in the Parochial Report database. You will also have the ability to access ongoing analysis and reports throughout the year.
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Spotlight on Software – The General Convention Data Portal
The Office of the General Convention uses a variety of both commercial and custom built software to facilitate the work of the General Convention. Today I would like to talk about the General Convention Data Portal. This is the new name of what used to be called the “Extranet.” When this application was initially imagined almost 15 years ago one of its core purposes was to provide messaging and file sharing options for Interim Bodies. Hence the name “Extranet.” However, it also included multiple other functions which soon became even more important. Meanwhile, as of 2021 we began moving group members to using Microsoft Teams, starting with legislative committees and later with other groups. Therefore, the old name no longer applies. Take a look at the below screen shot to see a current behind-the-scenes staff view of this application, opened to just one of its many modules, most of which can be seen in the left side menu.
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While this application contains multiple important modules within it for managing a variety of tasks, one of its most important jobs is as the place where the GCO stores our important data. This is where we store official information on:
- current and past deputations,
- active or resigned bishops,
- canonical dioceses,
- diocesan administrators,
- ecclesiastical authorities,
- standing committee presidents,
- bishop election results,
- interim bodies/legislative committees,
- group members,
- meeting information,
- canonical publications and other official documents,
Multiple other applications access the GC data portal to pull this information. Therefore, we have chosen to rename the former “Extranet” to the “General Convention Data Portal” to better reflect its primary function. While the name doesn’t matter for the function, still we will make changes to the name in parts of the code bit by bit as time and budget allow.
Twila Rios
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Blue Book Reports are Available to View
Reports to General Convention, commonly known as "Blue Book Reports," are now being posted. These reports include summaries of work by interim bodies, agencies, boards, and other organizations whose mandates require them to report to General Convention. These groups also can propose resolutions (categorized as A Resolutions), which are posted to the VBinder after they are processed, translated, and assigned to a legislative committee.
Blue Book reports are being published online only with new reports posted every Friday. Visit the publications section of the General Convention website to view the reports.
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The Executive Office of the General Convention | |
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The Rev. Canon Michael Barlowe, D.D., Secretary of the General Convention and Executive Officer
Ms. Betsey Bell, Executive Assistant to the Executive Officer
The Rev. Carrie Combs, Legislative Data Specialist
Ms. Iris DiLeonardo, Data Specialist and Meetings Assistant
Mr. Patrick Haizel, Deputy for Administration and Operations
The Rev. Molly F. James, Ph.D., Deputy Executive Officer of General Convention
Ms. Brittney Laws, Meeting Coordinator
Ms. Jennifer Mendez, Administrative and Language Specialist
Mr. Brian Murray, Governance Technology Specialist
Ms. Fiona Nieman, CMP, Deputy for Convention and Meeting Planning
Ms. Twila Rios, Manager of Digital Information Systems
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