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The 78th General Convention of the Episcopal Church was held in Salt Lake City from June 25-July 3. The General Convention, which meets every three years, is the governing authority of the Episcopal Church.

At General Convention, bishops and deputies voted for liturgical marriage equality and for reforms to the Title IV church disciplinary canons. The Convention also authorized the development of processes to revise the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and the 1982 Hymnal.

The 2016-2018 budget for the Episcopal Church, which was authorized by Convention, reduces the assessment expected from dioceses from 18% of the diocesan budget after certain offsets in 2016 to 15% in 2018. It includes a total of $6.5 million for various evangelism initiatives and $2 million for racial reconciliation work. Read more about the budget.

Read General Convention coverage in Episcopal News Service and Deputy News.


Presiding Bishop-Elect Michael Curry

On June 27, the House of Bishops elected the Rt. Rev. Michael Curry, bishop of North Carolina as the next presiding bishop. Curry will be the first African American to hold the job when he takes office on November 1. On the final day of convention, he preached a powerful sermon at the closing Eucharist.

General Convention Media

The Rev. Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows, director of networking in the Diocese of Chicago and deputy to General Convention, wrote a commentary for Deputy News titled “Maybe Love Does Win.”

The Rev. Bonnie A. Perry, rector of All Saints’ Episcopal Church and deputy to General Convention, was quoted and pictured in an Associated Press story about convention’s marriage equality vote.

On June 28, Bishops United Against Gun Violence held “Claiming Common Ground Against Gun Violence,” a procession through the streets of Salt Lake City to urge people of faith to work together against gun violence. About 1500 people turned out for the event, and Bishop Lee was interviewed in the Fox 13 story. The Deseret News also covered the event.