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Episcopal Church extends invite to online service to pray for 2022 General Convention

July 1, 2021
Office of Public Affairs

On Saturday, July 17, at 2 p.m. Eastern, bishops, deputies and alternate deputies of The Episcopal Church will gather online for a convocation of prayer to prepare for the 80th General Convention, which will take place in July 2022. The service will be open to everyone at https://www.episcopalchurch.org/convocation-of-bishops-and-deputies.

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry will preach, and House of Deputies President Gay Clark Jennings will give opening remarks and officiate at the service, which will be led by deputies, bishops and others from across the church. The service is scheduled for the Feast of William White, who was the only person to serve as both The Episcopal Church’s presiding bishop and president of its House of Deputies.

“Although we cannot be together in person this summer, we are looking forward to gathering online to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church as we prepare for the 80th General Convention,” Curry said. “The reason for our gathering is solely for the purposes of praying together and to rededicate ourselves to the work of Jesus and his way of love as our way of participating in God’s mission and work in the world.”

“William White is the architect of our polity and our system of shared governance, and, as the collect for his feast day says, he governed in a time of turmoil and confusion,” Jennings said. “It seems fitting that this year on that day, deputies and bishops will gather to pray together and listen for God’s call to General Convention. May we all be blessed, as he was, with wisdom, patience and a reconciling temper.”

The General Convention is the governing body of The Episcopal Church. It is a bicameral legislature that includes the House of Deputies, with more than 800 lay and clergy members, and the House of Bishops, with more than 300 bishops. General Convention typically gathers every three years to support the mission and ministry of the church by adopting legislation of concern to the church; amending the Book of Common Prayer and the Constitution and Canons of the church; adopting a triennial budget for The Episcopal Church; and electing candidates to offices, boards, and other committees. The 79th General Convention met in Austin, Texas, in July 2018, and the 80th General Convention will meet in Baltimore July 7-14, 2022.

Invitations were sent to deputies and bishops the week of June 28 to register on Zoom to attend the convocation. Others can join the livestream at https://www.episcopalchurch.org/convocation-of-bishops-and-deputies. The convocation will be available for on-demand viewing after July 17.

For more information, please contact The Very Rev. Miguelina Howell, dean of Christ Church Cathedral in the Episcopal Church in Connecticut and a chaplain to the House of Bishops, Lina.howell@cccathedral.org, or the Rev. Lester Mackenzie of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, chaplain of the House of Deputies, lmackenzie@stmaryslb.org.

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The Episcopal Church welcomes all as it seeks to follow Jesus Christ into loving, liberating and life-giving relationship with God, each other and the earth. Embracing a legacy of inclusion, The Episcopal Church encourages the expression of leadership gifts by all peoples of the church. As a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion, the third largest group of Christians in the world, The Episcopal Church includes 109 dioceses in 17 nations and territories, with about 1.8 million members. Learn more at episcopalchurch.org.