Convention delegates in the Diocese of Olympia said they are "leery" of the presentation of an "exclusionary" Anglican Covenant at the 2008 Lambeth Conference and approved a resolution calling for postponement of next year’s conference of bishops.

The Nov. 2-3 annual meeting at the Tacoma Sheraton Hotel and Convention Center was the first since Bishop Greg Rickel was consecrated in September.

By a vote of 299-79, clergy and lay delegates voted to approve an amended resolution calling for the 2008 Lambeth Conference to be postponed “until the listening process is more complete.”

This resolution was submitted by Bishop Suffragan Nedi Rivera after convention began. The wording of the resolution will comprise the text of a letter sent to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori over the signature of bishops Greg Rickel and Rivera. This letter is to serve as the input requested by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who asked for advice from the House of Bishops on how to respond to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who has asked the primates for their advice as he weighs a decision on the House of Bishops “response ‘to questions and concerns raised by our Anglican Communion partners’.”

The text approved by the convention said, “We are leery about using the occasion of the [2008 Lambeth] Conference to present a Covenant that is exclusionary, that centralizes authority, or that adds to the core doctrine of our faith. The cost of holding the Lambeth Conference under the present circumstances is disproportionate to its benefits, and the good we can do elsewhere in the mission of the church.”

In other action, the convention acknowledged and recognized “the struggle by our brothers and sisters in Oak Harbor and Poulsbo.” Majorities at St. Stephen's, Oak Harbor, and St. Charles', Poulsbo, voted to disaffiliate from The Episcopal Church in 2004. Bishop Rickel’s predecessor, Bishop Vincent Warner, worked out a “covenant” agreement with the leadership of those two parishes which enables the congregations to continue using the church property for worship rent free for a specified period of time. Even before Bishop Warner retired, however, the agreement was criticized by some in the diocese.

Convention also approved a resolution supporting “our bishop, standing committee, and board of directors” in the stewardship of property. Also, the convention committed to “studying and engaging the difficult issues we face as a Church with attention and compassion, remembering our bond as brothers and sisters in Christ and our responsibilities as delegates of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia.”

With regard to the situation in Oak Harbor and Poulsbo, Bishop Rickel told The Living Church that negotiations are underway. There is a need to resolve issues that all parties have had with the July 2006 agreement, he said.

Robert R. Chapman, Jr.

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