[Magdalen] DioVA convention

[cady soukup]

Virginia conventions:

The Diocese is comprised of 180+ churches & missions, with schools and
other entities (conference centers, etc.) spread across the northern
half of Virginia - it can take 3-4 hours to drive to the convention
site (either Richmond or suburban Washington, DC; the 2019 convention
will be in Crystal City).

Wed-Thur sessions are mostly training classes (elder abuse awareness,
etc.) rather than sessions. Thursday night is registration and a
small-ish reception.

Friday morning is the main business session, with full Eucharist at
4pm and a larger reception Friday night. Some people choose only to
attend Friday. There are working lunches for key committees/groups,
and useful afternoon workshops. I did not attend any this year as I
assisted with the Eucharist. The total possible number of clergy is
434 (157 present). Total number of possible lay delegates is 308 (221
present; alternates are invited but are not voting members)
representing some 75,000 congregants. Youth delegates may be appointed
by region (16 regions); they have full voting ability. There was an
increased, very welcome, and joyously diverse presence of deacons this
year. The previous bishop of DioVA did not support diaconal ministry.

Business that is not handled on Friday is moved to Saturday morning.
The convention is over at 1pm Saturday.

For the past 3 years, I have been a regional president, first under
the "old system" (Region XIII) and now under the "new system"
(Culpeper Region). Given the enormous change in regional system
assignment (from number of communicants in each region roughly = 5000
to geographic), it has been a huge change! We are now a region
representing less than 1000 communicants, with 3 (of 10) churches have
have very limited or no email or web presence, supply/retired clergy
(or no clergy), and historic (country) churches. I was requested and
have committed to be the region president for at least another 2 years
to try to encourage it at least to be functional. (The more urban
regions retained their structure, so very little change happened for
them.)

I have attended as alternate/delegate (more off than on!) since the
mid 1990's. During the time when congregations chose to leave the USA
Episcopal Church, the conventions were far more contentious. At least
we now all honor our Baptismal Covenant to honor and respect the
dignity of every human being!

It is still awesome for me to find there are more than one or two
other Episcopalians out there in the world, and it is as important to
them to live up to their Baptismal Covenant to the best of their
ability as it is to me. So, for me, convention is a personal stretch,
but one done in the presence of community and joy.

Having just voted ...

hugs & prayers & joy & singing even in the presence of our broken
selves and shattering world - Cady