October 16, 2025

Diocesan Convention

The Annual Convention of the Diocese of Oregon, the Episcopal Church in Western Oregon, will be held this Friday and Saturday. Delegates and Clergy from each parish in the Dioceses will gather to take up the business of the church. We will amend the Canons, which are the by-laws that govern our common life. This year we’ll consider cleaning up the language to remove some obsolete references, allowing alternate deputies to General Convention to represent us at Provincial Synod, and limiting the terms of Convocation presidents. We will elect new members to various governing bodies, including the Deputies we will send to General Convention. We will consider a resolution of policy, that articulates the stance of the Diocese in the world. This year’s only resolution is one advocating for Peace and Justice in Gaza. And, of course, we will consider the Diocesan Budget. If you’d like more details on any of these things, you can find them here.

Excited yet?

The business of Convention is what brings us together, but the more important piece of the gathering is just that – gathering. Diocesan Convention is a reminder that we are not alone. We are one parish among many others all of whom love and support one another. Resurrection participates in the lives of Episcopalians and all whom they serve throughout Western Oregon. Doug Bonham, Melissa Handley, and Jack Marietta are our ambassadors. Sandi Orbell serves on the Standing Committee of the Diocese, advising the Bishop, keeping watch over the diocesan ordination process, approving the elections of Bishops throughout the Episcopal Church, among other duties. This year Frank Koch has been nominated to serve on the Diocesan Board of Trustees. If elected he will help keep watch over diocesan finances, development efforts, and especially the disbursement of grants and loans to the parishes of the Diocese. Lauri has been nominated for election as a Deputy to General Convention. If elected, she will take her part in the deliberations and decisions of the greater Episcopal Church. I am finishing a term on Diocesan Council, which, with the Board of Trustees, serves as the Vestry of the Diocese. I am also on the Commission on Ministry, guiding the discernment and ordination process, and I serve as Secretary of Convention and thus of the Diocese as a body. As a parish, our budgeted Diocesan Program Assessment supports the work of our Bishop and Diocesan Support Center to provide advice, assistance, instruction, and financial and spiritual support to all the other parishes and ministries of the Diocese. All that we are as a parish and all that we do affects for good or ill many other lives.

Please keep Diocesan Convention in your prayers this weekend and give thanks for the great cloud of witnesses in which we participate.