House of Bishops Daily Account for Wednesday, March 30, 2011

March 30, 2011

by Office of Public Affairs

The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church met at the Kanuga Conference Center in North Carolina from March 25 to March 30. The following is an account of the activities for Wednesday, March 30.

Following Morning Prayer and Bible Study, Emcee for the Day Bishop Ed Little of Northern Indiana opened the session.
The theme for the Day was a continuation of the previous eveningsâ topic: Selection, Recruitment, and Formation of Young Leaders.
Bishop Neil Alexander of Atlanta introduced a conversation about theological education.

Small group discussion questions were:

– What is your vision for theological education and how does that vision connect with the particular needs of your diocese?

– What are the obstacles and opportunities to fulfilling that vision?

– What is/are the gift(s) in all this for the church?

Following the small group discussion, a panel reviewed the current theological education and possibilities for the future with the seminary deans:

Mr. Bob Bottoms. Seabury-Western Theological Seminary

The Very Rev. Joseph H. Britton, Berkeley Divinity School at Yale

The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Virginia Theological Seminary

The Rev. Dr. Katherine Ragsdale, Episcopal Divinity School

Dr. Robert Reber, Bexley Hall Seminary

The Very Rev. Mark Richardson, Church Divinity School of the Pacific

The Very Rev. Dr. William S. Stafford, School of Theology â” University of the South

The Very Rev. Dr. Justyn Terry, Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry

The Very Rev. Douglas Travis, Seminary of the Southwest

Bishop Peter Lee, interim dean of General Theological Seminary

(The Very Rev. Robert S. Munday, Nashotah House was not present on Wednesday)

Each of the deans described a key action of each seminary.

Bishops Tom Breidenthal of Southern Ohio and Joe Burnett of Nebraska spoke from their experiences as both seminary faculty members and as bishops and how these experiences have shaped their perspectives on current needs for theological education in the church.

Bishop Alexander facilitated a plenary discussion on seminary education which included such topics as Spanish language offerings, faculty tenure, student costs, seminary financial stability, and new forms of education for those who are unable to attend a seminary.

The afternoon session began with the three visiting Anglican Communion Primates – Archbishop Fred Hiltz of the Anglican Church of Canada, Archbishop Henri Isingoma, Primate of Congo and Archbishop Paul Kim, Primate of Korea – offering reflections about their time with HOB, ranging from the content of the meeting to the Anglican Covenant discussions, the Islam-Christianity presentations, worship and Bible Study, and the theological education conversations.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori called the business meeting to order.

Among the actions taken:

HOB elected Alison St. Louis from Virginia Theological Seminary to the College for Bishops Board of Directors for a three year term.

HOB elected the following bishops to the Disciplinary Board for Bishops: Dena Harrison, Texas; Herman Hollerith, Southern Virginia; Scott Mayer, Northwest Texas; James Magness, Federal Ministries; Prince Singh, Rochester; Robert Fitzpatrick, Hawaii; Dorsey Henderson Upper South Carolina; Francisco Duque, Colombia; James Waggoner, Spokane; Catherine Waynick, Indianapolis.