General Convention 2009 of the Episcopal Church will be the topic of a live webcast on Wednesday, May 13 at 8 am Pacific (9 am Mountain, 10 am Central, 11 am Eastern).

General Convention 2009 (GC09) will be held July 8 – 17 at the Anaheim Convention Center in California. The webcast will originate from Anaheim, the site of this year’s General Convention.

The Episcopal Church’s General Convention, held every three years, is the bicameral governing body of the church. General Convention, the second largest legislative body in the world, is comprised of the House of Bishops, with upwards of 200 members, and the House of Deputies, with clergy and lay representatives from the 110 dioceses, at over 700 members.

Participants in the live webcast will be: Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori; President of the House of Deputies Bonnie Anderson; Executive Officer and Secretary of the General Convention, the Rev. Gregory Straub; and Bishop J. Jon Bruno of the Diocese of Los Angeles, the host diocese.

Questions will be accepted via email and from the invited guests in the audience.

To access the live webcast, go to the Episcopal Church website: www.episcopalchurch.org.

For more information: General Convention: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/gc2009.htm

Diocese of Los Angeles: http://www.ladiocese.org/

Also, the Report to the 76th General Convention, commonly referred to as the Blue Book, contains the reports of the committees, commissions, agencies and boards to the General Convention, as well as some of the hundreds of resolutions that will be considered at the July event, and is available online at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/gc2009_106480_ENG_HTM.htm.

The Episcopal Church, with 110 dioceses in 15 nations, is a member province of the Worldwide Anglican Communion.

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Note to media and editors:

General Convention 2009 will be the only topic discussed at this event. Questions on topics other than the GC09 will not be addressed. Media are invited to attend the event, or to submit questions via email. Email questions will be accepted from credentialed media only. Advanced credentials required. Contact Neva Rae Fox at newsline@episcopalchurch.org for onsite or off-site credentials.