An article from the Cathedral Times
by the Very Reverend Samuel G. Candler,
Dean of the Cathedral of
St. Philip
Please join me this Sunday, September 16, 2012, for the
inaugural Dean's Forum of the program year. As usual, I will present a
forum almost every Sunday in Child Hall, at 10:10 a.m., following the
conclusion of the 8:45 Eucharist. Throughout this Fall, I hope to
present various reviews and analyses of the state of the Episcopal
Church, the Anglican Communion of Churches, and, indeed, the Christian
Church.
This Sunday, I will begin a review of the
work of The Episcopal Church at General Convention, 2012. Many of us,
representing the breadth of the church, met in Indianapolis, Indiana,
from the 4th through the 13th of July. Several issues garnered a lot of
attention, including the authorization of a liturgy that would bless
same sex unions, and including much discussion about how the structure
of The Episcopal Church might be re-organized. Budget issues loomed
large this past summer, too.
But there were other
notable resolutions. We discussed the Anglican Covenant, a means by
which some hoped to hold together differing factions and opinions across
the Anglican Communion. We discussed whether to sell the New York
building which houses our church offices (815 Second Avenue, New York).
We discussed how far we must re-affirm baptism as a requirement for
receiving communion. We discussed whether or not the next presiding
bishop must also give up his or her diocesan bishop position. Finally,
of course, we confirmed the elections of several new bishops, including
that of our own new bishop-elect, Rob Wright; that was certainly a
highlight for our own Atlanta delegation!
Join me
this Sunday for further exploration of these issues. In the following
Sundays, I will examine further where we are as The Episcopal Church,
and where we are as The Cathedral of St. Philip. I look forward to
seeing you on Sundays!
The Very Reverend Sam Candler