Diocesan Convention

The 234th Diocesan Convention was held on Saturday, November 2, 2019 at the Back Bay Events Center in Boston. Eucharist was at Emmanuel Church on Newbury Street.

The convention opened with a video presentation of “The Way of Love,” Bishop Curry’s visitation in Boston and his invitation to engage those foundational practices of our faith – prayer, repentance, and sabbath renewal – that have grounded, nourished, and guided Christians for 2,000 years and that help us to know the transformative power of Christ’s love to change lives and change the world.

Actions included approving a $9 million Diocesan Budget for 2020 and electing Diocesan Officers and members to the various boards of the Diocese. The convention voted to form an advisory committee, organized by the bishop’s discretion and reporting to the bishops and Diocesan Council, to oversee the work of engaging young adults fully in the life of our church and adopting the recommendations of the 20s and 30s Task Force by our bishops, Diocesan Council and other leaders, including the assignment of staff time and the identification of additional funding opportunities within and beyond our diocesan budget. Other actions included approving a resolution to support a requirement that all persons sentenced to life-long prison terms in Massachusetts be given the opportunity to seek parole starting at 25 years of incarceration; a resolution calling upon all our clergy and lay members to take the Creation Care Pledge with each congregation forming a “Next Step” group that commits them to specific actions that fulfill the goals of the pledge, to reduce the carbon footprints of their households and church property and to support mutual efforts by participating in programs like The Episcopal Church’s Sustaining Earth, Our Island Home and our own diocese’s Creation Care Tithing.

A resolution that passed after much discussion was the resolution on becoming a Safe Haven Diocese, which stands in solidarity with those who are vilified because of their immigration status, color of their skin, their gender, their national origin, their age, their disability, their language, their religion or whom they love; and through its leadership, condones and will materially support clergy persons and lay persons within the Diocese of Massachusetts, who imitate our Lord Jesus Christ by refusing to cooperate with, or by committing nonviolent acts of interference against, operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, (ICE) or by providing sanctuary and seclusion from ICE to undocumented children of God within parochial or diocesan facilities, excepting instances in which the one sought by ICE has committed felony crimes.

Detailed information about the 2019 Diocesan Convention can be found on the Diocesan website.

North Shore Deanery

The North Shore Deanery met four times in 2019: March (St. Peter’s/San Pedro, Salem), June (St. Peter’s, Beverly), October (St. Andrew’s, Marblehead), and December (All Saints, Danvers).

Sending & Serving Grant requests were approved this year for the North Shore Deanery Executive Committee and the ministries of St. Peter’s (Beverly) and St. Stephen’s (Lynn). House of Mercy Grant requests were approved for St. Stephen’s (Lynn) and St. Mary’s (Rockport).

Respectfully submitted,

Annette Nicolas & Denise Ann Shea, Convention Delegates