The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church is meeting in retreat at the Camp Allen Conference & Retreat Center in Navasota, TX (Diocese of Texas) from March 16 to March 20.  The following is an account of the activities for Saturday, March 17.

The spring retreat meeting of the Episcopal Church House of Bishops continues the House’s ongoing theme of The Church for the 21st Century, with a focus on The Gift of Episcope/El Don el Episopado. The schedule calls for prayer-filled sessions, and bishops will participate in daily Bible study, reflection and worship.

The Rev. Stephanie Spellers, Diocese of Massachusetts www.diomass.org and one of the HOB chaplains, celebrated and preached at morning Eucharist.

The morning was devoted to retreat, prayer, reflection and discussion on Proclamation of the Gospel, led by Bishop Michael Curry of North Carolina www.dionc.org

Emcee for the day was Bishop Edward Little of Northern Indiana www.ednin.org

The afternoon session was dedicated to a conversation on same-gender blessings and was led by the bishop members of the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music: Bishop Tom Ely of Vermont www.dioceseofvermont.org, Bishop John “Kee” Sloan of Alabama www.dioala.org and Bishop Pierre Whalon of Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe www.tec-europe.org  along with Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves of El Camino Real www.edecr.org  and Bishop Jeff Lee of Chicago www.episcopalchicago.org. The House continued discussion in small groups, as a body, and then in Indaba settings, an opportunity for each member of the House to speak his or her mind in a smaller, open setting.  The Indaba process is derived from African traditions and was used by the bishops at the 2008 Lambeth Conference.

The daylong session concluded with Evening Prayer led by Bishop Andrew Waldo, Diocese of Upper South Carolina www.edusc.org.

Visitor at HOB:

The Rt. Rev. Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham, Church of England https://durhamdiocese.org/

Media Briefers for Saturday, March 17

Bishop John Bauerschmidt of the Diocese of Tennessee www.episcopaldiocese-tn.org
Bishop Holly Hollerith of the Diocese of Southern Virginia www.diosova.org
Bishop Mark Lattime of the Diocese of Alaska www.episcopalak.org