There are two newsworthy Christian gatherings in the US this week : The Episcopal Church in the USA (ECUSA) General Convention, being held in Columbus and the June meeting of the US Catholic bishops, meeting in LA later this week.
(Southern Baptists and Presbyterians are meeting, too…so 4X the news!)
The agenda will include discussion and vote on: extending the annual appeal for the Retirement Fund for Religious beyond 2007, adaptations of the Order of Mass, liturgical translations by the International Committee on English in the Liturgy, and a request by the Stewardship Committee to begin drafting a document entitled Stewardship and Teenagers. The bishops will hear reports on the work of Priorities and Plans, on Catholic Relief Services, on their Hurricane Task Force, on a new DVD by the Committee on Vocations, “Fishers of Men,” and a report by the Task Force on Catholic Bishops and Politicians.
The bishops will spend a half day on study and reflection on the theme of the New Evangelization.
Let’s just hope they don’t call in the rector of the Milan duomo for advice on that last item.
Anyway, there will be lots of coverage of both events, and I’ll try to keep up. Doug at Get Religion has an intro to the coverage. The big news focus at ECUSA will be on homosexuality, clergy, bishops and the wider Anglican Communion. A USA Today guide to the issues. Via Titus One Nine, which will be one of the best sources for stories.
The USBishops will get the most attention for their discussions/vote on the English translation of the Order of the Mass, which almost every other English-speaking body of bishops in the world has approved.
Though the plenary session is two days away, the meeting’s marquee order of business begins this morning, as the Bishops’ Committee for the Liturgy (BCL) sits to accept or decline proposed amendments to the new translation of the Order of Mass in advance of the final ballot on the text, scheduled for Thursday afternoon local time. While the action item will be presented on the floor by Bishop Donald Trautman of Erie, chair of the BCL, in a notable addition, pre-debate remarks will also be made by the chairman of the International Committee for English in the Liturgy (ICEL), the English Bishop Arthur Roche of Leeds.
By the way, via the CANN liveblog of the General Convention, TONS of links to folks liveblogging the gathering. Including ECUSA blogging bishops – where are OUR blogging bishops?
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