In an event that’s been fraught with debate and controversy over Prayer Book revisions and same-sex marriage, the 79th General Convention of The Episcopal Church turned joyous on Tuesday with a historical moment.
The Episcopal Diocese of Cuba, which has long been exiled and treated as a separate Anglican province since 1957, was officially received back into the Episcopal Church by the House of Bishops and House of Deputies on a unanimous vote, abiding the reunification plan of Resolution A238. In an adjoining move, the Bishop of Cuba, the Right Rev. Griselda Delgado del Carpio, was officially received and welcomed back into the House of Bishops.
The Diocese of Cuba will be part of Province II, which includes the six dioceses of New York, the two dioceses of New Jersey, and the off-shore dioceses of Haiti, the Virgin Islands, and the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, according to the official province2.org website.
“Several bishops, myself included, stood up and spoke in favor of the resolution for Cuba to be officially received back into the Episcopal Church,” said Bishop Greg Brewer in a video feed from Austin, Texas. “And when Bishop Griselda took to the microphone in tears of gratitude, she expressed deep appreciation for being welcomed back home into her Episcopal family.
“It was an extraordinarily tender and joyous moment,” Bishop Brewer said, “and sets free lots of possibilities for building missionary relationships with what in fact has been a very, very beleaguered and yet faithful congregation of people. So, I urge you to give thanks with me that this has happened, and I look forward to how we might more deeply connect with the Episcopal Church of Cuba in the future.”
The readmission of the Diocese of Cuba back into the Episcopal Church opens up the possibility of the Diocese of Central Florida becoming missionary neighbors with the Province II diocese. Cuba is just 300 miles south of Miami, and only 90 miles from Key West.
The Diocese of Central Florida, which has 11 representatives, including Bishop Brewer, at the General Convention, already is a companion diocese of the Diocese of Honduras in Province IX.
“I feel the breadth of the Holy Spirit,” said Bishop Delgado in Spanish through an interpreter, according to a news story by the Episcopal News Service. “Thank you for the support now and the support all the years and for everyone who has supported us from the Episcopal Church. I’d like this special moment to remember that special generation … those who are no longer with us who suffered with hope we would return to our family.”
In legislative news, a convoluted Book of Common Prayer resolution that passed the House of Deputies a few days ago was reorganized into a substitute proposal, amending Resolution A068, and was passed by the House of Bishops. The proposal calls for “liturgical and prayer book revision for the future of God’s mission through the Episcopal branch of the Jesus movement,” according to a story by the Episcopal News Service.
The revised resolution provides for new language for the version that the House of Deputies approved on July 7, meaning that it must now go back to the House of Deputies for consideration.
The language in the amended resolution calls for the establishment of a 30-member task force on liturgical prayer book revision, comprised of 10 lay people, 10 clergy, and 10 bishops, as chosen by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, president of the House of Deputies, according to the Episcopal News Service. The task force will team with the Standing Commission on Governance, Structure, Constitution and Canons in offering revisions for liturgical changes.
“I reported (Monday) that a convoluted resolution came out of Deputies clearly fraught with amendments trying to please every single constituency that they would get what they want, and the Prayer Book would still be renovated,” Bishop Brewer said. “I reported that reactions from the House of Bishops was mixed at best, with a vast majority expressing some kind of genuine opposition some of which on theological grounds, some of which were on monetary grounds.
“Clearly, people had done their homework the night before; no surprise,” Bishop Brewer said. “So, a serious collection of bishops had come together, written a new resolution which in essence functioned as a substitute motion. And the substitute motion said this: While the effort to do Prayer Book revision was dropped, instead what the resolution said was that they would memorialize this 1979 Book of Common Prayer as a Prayer Book in the Episcopal Church. In other words, officially recognizing its status, but yet still (moving) forward with some of liturgical renovation outside of trying to change the 1979 Book of Common Prayer.”
Bishop Brewer said the new resolution has the same “mishmash” of theological goals, but financially will be less burdensome. Officials estimate liturgical revisions will cost $200,000 over the next three years, and an additional $200,000 for translation into Spanish, French and Haitian Creole.
Although the price tag of the amended resolution is far less than the resolution that passed the House of Deputies – a whopping $2 million for three years that is projected to expand to $10 million by the end of the Prayer Book renovation in 2030 – Bishop Brewer said two questions remain.
“First of all, that resolution now has to go back to (House of) Deputies,” he said. “What is Deputies going to do with this by the way? And then, the really big question is, is there going to be money for it in the budget?”
Bishop Brewer said Bishop Stephen Lane of the Episcopal Diocese of Maine, who is vice-chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget and Finance, reported Tuesday that a budget had been finalized and includes no money for liturgical revisions.
“So, where are they going to get $200,000 to do these liturgical renovations even though they’re not touching the Prayer Book, much less $200,000 for translations,” Bishop Brewer said. “That remains to be seen. I will be curious to see what actually ends up in the budget when we sit down and look at it together.
“Money is scarce and there is the overwhelming sense that even though we are spending money we honestly don’t have, many of us are still deeply committed to fulfilling the missionary cause which is in the Episcopal Church,” Bishop Brewer said. “And only a very few bishops at least believe that liturgical renovation is going to result in new missionary expression or bring in a whole new group of people into the Episcopal Church. It’s been a mythology that’s been around for a while, but it is frankly not proven itself to be statistically true. We’re still in flux in other words. We’ll see what happens. Thank you again for your prayers. They matter deeply and tremendously.”