In a gathering on February 20 that lasted lower than a full workday and was held over Zoom, the Govt Council of the Episcopal Church elected a brand new member and chosen a possible website for the 2030 Common Conference.
The Joint Standing Committee on Planning and Preparations permitted Pittsburgh as host for the triennial churchwide gathering. Govt Council endorsed the committee’s determination. The following step can be to ballot the presidents of the provinces for his or her recommendation and selection on the matter.
A key consider deciding on a possible website is the variety of out there resort rooms, a criterion by which San Juan, within the Diocese of Puerto Rico, falls quick. The bulk Spanish-speaking diocese has sought to host the Common Conference 3 times.
Council member Annette Buchanan of New Jersey alluded to a spirited dialogue held earlier in regards to the significance of holding the conference “outdoors the boundaries of the U.S.” to make it extra accessible for Episcopalians from Province IX, which includes many Latin American and Caribbean dioceses.
Though San Juan was among the many 5 cities thought of, the capital of Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, requiring these in Province IX who should not U.S. residents or everlasting residents to use for a visa to attend. The province includes the dioceses of Central Ecuador, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Litoral Ecuador, and Venezuela.
The Rt. Rev. Rafael Morales Maldonado, Bishop of Puerto Rico and a council member, remains to be hopeful that his diocese could host the Common Conference quickly.
“In 2033, we could have the resorts, the variety of rooms,” Maldonado stated, explaining that the Puerto Rican authorities, with which he has been in dialog, has plans to construct new resorts and increase the conference middle.
Morales stated celebrating the conference in Puerto Rico can be significant and historic. The yr 2033 can be notable for him, as he plans to retire round that point. Morales was consecrated bishop in July 2017.
The following Common Conference can be held in Phoenix on July 3-8, 2027.
Since its earlier conferences, the 38-member governing physique has welcomed new members, as two moved on to different ministries, one resigned, and in the summertime of 2025 the Ven. J. Stannard Baker of the Diocese of Vermont died simply earlier than that season’s Govt Council assembly concluded.
Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, in his opening remarks, welcomed the Rev. Andrea Gardner of the Diocese of Pennsylvania and the Rev. Mark Nabors of the Diocese of Arkansas as the most recent members of the physique.
Gardner fills the unexpired time period of Baker, which ends in 2027. Nabors will full the unexpired time period of the Very Rev. Shay Craig of North Dakota, ending in 2030. Craig was elected bishop of North Dakota in October 2025.
Throughout the February 20 assembly, Carolyn Lee Mok of the Diocese of Rochester was elected on the second poll to fill the remaining time period of council member Sandra Montes of the Diocese of Texas, which ends subsequent yr. Montes resigned from the council in October 2025.
Mok is a lay chief and a member of the Rochester diocese’s fee on ministry, which advises the diocesan bishop on candidates for ordained ministry.
One other election for a brand new council member can be held between now and the summer time in-person assembly of the governing physique, this time for the seat left by Canon Heidi Kim of Minnesota. Kim was appointed in January as the primary government director of the Episcopal Coalition for Racial Fairness and Justice, a volunteer group dedicated to the work of changing into beloved neighborhood.
The Govt Council features because the board of administrators of the Episcopal Church and is entrusted to hold out insurance policies adopted by the Common Conference. Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe and Julia Ayala Harris, president of the Home of Deputies, function the physique’s presiding officers.
The council meets not less than 3 times a yr and is anticipated to carry an in-person, retreat-style gathering within the Diocese of Puerto Rico this summer time.
Caleb Maglaya Galaraga is The Dwelling Church’s Episcopal Church reporter. His work has additionally appeared in Christianity As we speak, Broadview Journal, and Presbyterian Outlook, amongst different publications.
