Weekend Update July 13

I have discovered that I have not had nearly enough time to update this blog. There is almost no break in the day, and even meal times are taken up with meetings, so now I will have to play catch up a bit. A friend remarked that Convention goes through three stages--introduction, confusion, and resolution. During the weekend it was almost business as usual in the sense that committee meetings and legislative session continued, but we did not seem to be accomplishing a whole lot, and the controversial topics have yet to be addressed. Here are some of the important legislation that was passed, however. 1. We reinstated the MDG spending in the budget. That comes to about a million dollars a year. Instead of simply reinstating the 0.7%, Convention increased this asking to a full 1%. Dioceses and parishes will be asked to do the same. 2. Pension benefits are now extended to all lay church employees who work over 1000 hours a year. 3. We adopted a new denominational health plan which should save a lot of money to most Dioceses. 4. We also adopted a new strategy for Hispanic mission, yet it is unclear if we can afford the price-tag of 3.5 million. If we can, Arizona will benefit directly from this. The one change the routine came yesterday morning at the United Thank Offering Ingathering service which is the main festival Eucharist of the Convention. All the bishops put on their "rochetes and chimeres" (red and white robes) and process into the hall. I've included a short video of the Presiding Bishop in procession along with the two previous PBs, Bishops Griswold and Browning. About 8000 were in attendance. I especially enjoyed this service since my old parish in Los Angeles sent a busload of parishioners to attend. Seeing everyone was a bit like old home week. Today Laura is with other bishop spouses doing a work project at a low income trailer park. This afternoon we expect some more heated discussions in HOB, and I will try to report on that shortly.