[Magdalen] Council vs. Convention

[Suzie Buchanan]

I am really glad that the Diocese of Virginia will probably change the name
of its annual diocesan gathering from "Council" to "Convention" tomorrow.

After having left the Diocese of VA for New Hampshire 12 years ago, I
discovered that most other dioceses (pronounce that however you'd like)
call their gathering a convention.  I had become an Episcopalian in
Virginia, went to seminary there, ordained there and served my first 8
years as a priest there.  It's all I knew.

Now that I'm back, I've had a few friends in NH ask about the name, so I
did some research, and discovered that in Virginia, as in everywhere in the
Episcopal Church, it was known as a Convention . . . until the Civil War.
The dioceses that were part of the Confederacy adopted the name Council for
their annual meeting (reasons are not spelled out in historical records,
but it seems as if this was one way of distinguishing themselves from the
North).  The best historical conjectures seem to agree that after the war,
the diocese kept the name as a way of appeasing those who still were not
truly reconciled with being part of the *United* States.

There are currently 8 dioceses who use the term "Council" - 7 of them in
the former Confederate States, plus Nebraska.  Of the 7 in the south, all
the others had gone back to using Convention at some point, and then back
to Council.  Only Virginia seems to have believed itself to have
consistently used the term "Council" since 1862.  Except . . . research has
just turned up this month that this diocese may have used the term
Convention for one year's meeting in the 1950s.

The resolution we are voting on tomorrow is set forth in the spirit of
repentence for the racism in our history.  I think it's an important vote,
and I'll be glad to change the name!  Once I figured out why our gathering
was called a Council, I was a bit sorry to have to explain it to my friends
in New Hampshire.  I didn't know at that point that this move was already
afoot in this diocese to make this change.  I am glad it is coming.

Susan