The outcome at the court was supported by Episcopal leaders, including the church’s two presiding officers.

“While today’s ruling is certainly a line in the sand and a win for public education and true religious freedom, we must remain vigilant. This case was not about school choice; it was about power, theocratic capture, and the mainstreaming of Christian nationalism,” House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris, a deputy from the Diocese of Oklahoma, said in a written statement. “We must attend to the larger threat, which will require us to be leaders of courageous, faithful witness.”

The case centered on a Roman Catholic school in Oklahoma that was approved as a charter school by a state board in 2023. Opponents argued that the Constitution prohibits such schools from receiving public funds because it would effectively endorse a specific religion.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, a Republican, sued to block the funding, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled against the school. That state ruling stands, after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to overrule it.

Before the U.S. Supreme Court decision, Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe had joined a coalition of Christian, Muslim and Jewish groups in a legal brief opposing public funding for the school.

“The Episcopal Church has consistently supported religious freedom for all in a variety of contexts,” the brief says in summarizing Rowe’s reason for signing. “In 1994, the church urged state legislatures considering ‘moment of silence’ statues for public schools to ‘assure constitutional balance’ in their treatment of the issue by ‘carefully considering the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause as well as its Establishment Clause.’”

Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe on Feb. 17 gives his opening remarks at a meeting of Executive Council held at the Maritime Conference Center in Linthicum Heights, Maryland. Photo: David Paulsen/Episcopal News Service

[Episcopal News Service – Linthicum Heights, Maryland] Executive Council has convened here Feb. 17-19 for its first meeting since the inauguration of President Donald Trump – a political earthquake that Episcopal leaders say has shaken many of the communities the church serves, but not the church’s commitment to serving them.

Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe and House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris, in their opening remarks Feb. 17, did not reference Trump by name but alluded, mostly in general terms, to the sharp shift in many federal policies during the first month since his return to office.

“We are weathering what has proven to be a hard season for us and for the people that we serve, for sure. Many of us are afraid and looking to the church to provide a sense of safety and moral witness,” Rowe said. “As the political landscape of the United States becomes even more confusing and harder to navigate, we are being called to make decisions here in this place that are firmly rooted in the kingdom of God.”

Rowe then repeated a theme that has become common in his public addresses since the inauguration: The people marginalized by society and by our political leaders are at the center of God’s kingdom. In his remarks to Executive Council, he again singled out “migrants, transgender people, the poor and vulnerable.”

In God’s kingdom, “they are not reviled and scapegoated. … They are the bearers of salvation,” Rowe said. “If we believe this to be true, where does that leave us as a church? Where does that lead us as a church?”

Ayala Harris cited a recent lawsuit as one example of the church actively responding to the needs Christ calls on his followers to meet. The Episcopal Church last week joined more than two dozen ecumenical and interfaith partners in suing the Trump administration over policy changes giving immigration agents greater flexibility to conduct enforcement actions in houses of worship and other “sensitive” places.

“This is not about politics. It’s about embodying Christ’s radical hospitality in our very structures and policies,” Ayala Harris said. “The Gospel compels us to welcome the stranger, to care for the vulnerable and to ensure that all who seek spiritual sanctuary can do so freely. And my friends, if we fail to lead with courage, we risk not just stagnation but irrelevance.”

Executive Council is The Episcopal Church’s governing and oversight body between meetings of General Convention and typically meets in person three times a year. Its last gathering, in November, occurred days after both Rowe’s installation as the church’s 28th presiding bishop and Trump’s election as president. The current meeting is being held in suburban Baltimore at the Maritime Conference Center, a frequent venue for Episcopal Church governance meetings.

Executive Council’s initial agenda for this meeting was light on action items – the board spent most of its first morning in a training on emotional intelligence and effective interpersonal relations – though some of its upcoming sessions, both open and closed, will touch on Trump’s suspension of the federal refugee resettlement program, committee work and church leaders’ ongoing recruitment of a new executive officer for General Convention and a chief finance officer for the church. 

On Feb. 18, representatives from Compass, a contractor hired to survey and analyze the churchwide staffing structure, will present their latest findings and recommendations to council members, and on Feb. 19, Rowe is scheduled to offer more details in a closed session about efforts he is spearheading for a “structural realignment” of churchwide operations to better serve the needs of dioceses and congregations. The first phase of those plans won’t be unveiled publicly until after this meeting.

Ongoing tensions among some council members also surfaced again briefly during the morning session Feb. 17 on emotional intelligence session, which was led by three representatives from the consultant Visions Inc. Sandra Teresa Soledad Montes Vela, a lay Executive Council member from the Diocese of Texas, raised concerns about the way Visions had framed discussion, suggesting that it was based in a white-centric understanding of emotion and communication.

“This is completely different to people of the global majority to LGBTQIA+ people. And when we show up as ourselves … we are seen differently than who we are,” said Montes Vela, who is pansexual. “Do you want me to be, like, OK, I need to learn my emotions so I don’t show that I’m angry or that I don’t show that I’m scared? That’s what this seems like to me.”

Another member, Thomas Chu of the Diocese of Long Island, who is gay, rose to object to Montes Vela’s generalizing about all people of color and LGBTQ+ people.

“I’m feeling mad, sad and scared,” Chu said, referencing some of the emotions listed on a Visions graphic. “Sandra, you can speak what you’re saying. But I’m an LGBTQIA+ person, a person of color. I feel very differently from you. And I accept what you said, but please don’t represent us. … This is [about] process – it’s not about what you said, it’s about how you said it, and you had an impact on me right now.”

Executive Council is chaired by Rowe, as presiding bishop, and Ayala Harris is vice chair. It has 38 other voting members, a mix of bishops, other clergy and lay leaders. Twenty are elected by General Convention to staggered six-year terms – or 10 new members every three years. The Episcopal Church’s nine provinces elect the other 18 to six-year terms, also staggered.

Ayala Harris, in her opening remarks, underscored the importance of Executive Council in upholding the church’s faith values, especially in today’s world.

“Our decisions here ripple through the life of every diocese, every congregation, every seeker who is looking to The Episcopal Church right now as a beacon of radical welcome and transformative love,” she said.

“As we make decisions about resource allocation and policy, we directly influence the capacity of our congregations to serve their communities, whether that’s supporting a food panty in Appalachia, sustaining a ministry with immigrant families in Los Angeles or enabling a small parish in Puerto Rico to rebuild after a natural disaster.”

Rowe, too, emphasized the critical role that the church plays, through Executive Council’s work, in responding to the challenges of the day.

“We live in a world in which the enemy is bound and determined to keep us separated and sow division among us,” Rowe said, but Christians belong to God and “can find the face of Christ in one another.”

“We must remember that our job as the board of The Episcopal Church is to lead an institutional structure that has tremendous power to serve and comfort and transform God’s people and congregations and ministries in all the countries we serve.”

He continued that, although there are times when it is appropriate to “speak with one voice” to world leaders who fail to uphold Christ values, the greater power of the church is not in making “a barrage of statements” reacting to all the news of the day. “Instead, our power lies in a churchwide structure rooted in Christ and in the kingdom principles that can make a strong and effective witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ,” he said.

“Friends, we are leading this church we love through uncharted waters, and I do not pretend that it is easy, or that it will be simple. I only know that we are here to do the work that God has given us to do. We must do it faithfully and with love for one another and for the Lord we serve.”

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.

“We read this news with concern and urge our new president and congressional leaders to exercise mercy and compassion, especially toward law-abiding, long-term members of our congregations and communities; parents and children who are under threat of separation in the name of immigration enforcement; and women and children who are vulnerable to abuse in detention and who fear reporting abuse to law enforcement,” Rowe and Ayala Harris said.

Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe and House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris.

Scripture teaches that “because our true citizenship is not here on earth but in heaven, we are called to transcend the earthly distinctions made among us by the leaders of this world,” the presiding officers said. “This sacred call shapes both our churchwide commitment to stand with migrants and the ministries of congregations across our church who serve vulnerable immigrants and refugees in their communities.”

They also committed The Episcopal Church to continued advocacy and ministry alongside and on behalf of “the most vulnerable among us.”

Trump, only the second U.S. president to lose re-election and return victorious four years later, was inaugurated to his second term at noon Eastern Jan. 20. In the hours after the ceremony, he issued a barrage of executive orders that included measures targeting refugees, migrants, transgender people and federal employees while weakening environmental protections and pardoning the crimes of more than 1,500 Jan. 6 rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol in a failed attempt to reverse Trump’s 2020 election defeat.

Some of the executive orders are expected to face legal challenges, such as Trump’s move to end birthright citizenship, which is guaranteed by the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. Others seek to upend federal laws and programs that were established by Congress, raising concerns that he is overstepping his legal authority as president.

The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program is one such initiative. It was established by Congress in 1980, and it created an in-depth process for screening, vetting, welcoming and supporting the resettlement of refugees who are fleeing war, violence and persecution in their home countries. The Episcopal Church has helped facilitate more than 100,000 of those admissions to the United States through Episcopal Migration Ministries and its local affiliates.

The law requires the U.S. president each year to set a ceiling, or maximum number of refugees to be admitted. During Trump’s first term, his administration decimated the resettlement program by reducing the ceiling to a historically low 15,000 refugees. President Joe Biden reversed that policy when he took office in 2021, raising the ceiling to 125,000 refugees, though it took several years for EMM and other agencies to rebuild their networks and capacity.

As he started his second term, Trump issued an executive order Jan. 20, suspending the program entirely “until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States.”

His order claims those interests are not aligned because the United States “lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees.”

Rather than an escalating crisis on the southern border, illegal crossings had fallen to their lowest level in four years during the final months of the Biden administration. Trump’s description of the refugee resettlement program also contrasts sharply with the lived experiences of the refugees themselves, who often have been praised for quickly establishing themselves in their new communities and contributing to those communities both economically and culturally.

Washington Bishop Mariann Budde, in her Jan. 21 sermon at Washington National Cathedral, spoke directly to Trump, who was seated in the front row, and asked him to show compassion and mercy for refugees and other immigrants.

“They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals,” Budde said in the cathedral’s Service of Prayer for the Nation. “They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, gurdwara and temples.”

The Episcopal Church also has ministered to and spoken out in support of other migrant groups, including asylum-seekers and undocumented minors, known as Dreamers, who were brought to the United States as young children. The church’s Washington, D.C.-based Office of Government Relations regularly advocates for federal action that aligns with hundreds of resolutions adopted by General Convention, and the Episcopal Public Policy Network helps mobilize Episcopalians to engage on the same issues.

“As more immigration enforcement policy changes are announced, our churchwide ministries will continue to provide practical pathways to protect the most vulnerable among us,” Rowe and Ayala Harris said in their letter.

The letter specifically urges support for Dreamers, opposes mass deportations, advocates humane border management and reaffirms the church’s support for the refugee resettlement program and other programs that have allowed people from other countries to legally live and work in the United States.

The presiding officers also invited Episcopalians to join them in “speaking out against anti-immigrant rhetoric and actions, including race-based targeting, vigilantism and violence, family division, and detention and deportation without charges or convictions.”

“As one church united in the Body of Christ, please pray especially for families who live under the shadow of separation, and for all who seek asylum for protection from persecution. Pray, too, for the people of our congregations and dioceses who work tirelessly to serve immigrants and refugees, and who now face new and heartbreaking challenges to their ministry.”

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.

Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe gives opening remarks Nov. 7 at a meeting of Executive Council at the Heldrich Hotel and Conference Center in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Photo: David Paulsen/Episcopal News Service

[Episcopal News Service – New Brunswick, New Jersey] Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe opened his first Executive Council meeting as chair of the church governing body on Nov. 7 with brief remarks that acknowledged the momentous events of the past few days while committing the church to careful discernment about its future.

“It might be an understatement to say this has been quite a week,” Rowe told fellow council members as they convened in a ballroom of the Heldrich Hotel and Conference Center in this college town south of Newark.

Rowe took office on Nov. 1, and the next day, the church celebrated the beginning of his nine-year term during a livestreamed investiture held in the chapel at The Episcopal Church’s New York headquarters. One of his first acts as presiding bishop was to issue a letter to the church responding to the Nov. 5 election of former President Donald Trump to a second term.

In his opening remarks at Executive Council, Rowe underscored his message in that letter – that “regardless of our political allegiances, God has called us to seek Christ in all persons” and to strive for justice and respect human dignity, as affirmed in the baptismal covenant. To that end, supporting Episcopal Migration Ministries’ work of welcoming the stranger will be a “top priority,” Rowe said, as the refugee resettlement agency braces for expected cuts under the new Trump administration’s anti-immigrant policies.

“We need to be prepared for what may lay ahead,” Rowe said.

House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris, in her opening remarks, also addressed feelings of uncertainty and trepidation after the presidential election. “We gather today in a moment that calls for both courage and compassion,” Ayala Harris said, and she invoked a verse from Isaiah: “Do not fear. I am with you.”

“As a woman, as a Latina, as the mother of a teenager girl, as the daughter of an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, holding leadership in this moment I feel the weight of our communities’ struggles,” said Ayala Harris, who serves as vice chair of Executive Council. “Our baptismal promise to ‘respect the dignity of every human being’ stands not as a political statement but as a divine calling, a gospel imperative that transcends partisan divisions.”

Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe and House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris speak Nov. 7 at Executive Council’s meeting in New Brunswick, New Jersey, as seen on the livestream of the plenary session.

Executive Council’s Nov. 7-9 meeting is its first of the triennium, with half of its 38 elected members new to the council and starting six-year terms. Much of their time this week in the Diocese of New Jersey will be spent in plenary sessions focused on orientation, board norms and mission strategy discussions. Rowe and Ayala Harris also are asking the council to consider a series of proposed bylaws changes, the most significant of which would streamline the council’s standing committee structure while empowering ad hoc committees to form around specific tasks.

As the church’s governing body between meetings of General Convention, Executive Council’s membership is a mix of bishops, other clergy and lay leaders. Twenty are elected by General Convention to staggered six-year terms – or 10 new members every three years. The Episcopal Church’s nine provinces elect the other 18 to six-year terms, also staggered. Meetings typically are held three times a year. The next will be in February in suburban Baltimore, Maryland.

The bylaws discussion was scheduled for the afternoon Nov. 7 and could continue in subsequent days. On Nov. 8, Rowe said council members will hear from representatives of Compass, the contractor hired by the church to study the church’s staffing structure and help facilitate changes under a “structural realignment” that was requested by Executive Council in its last term.

Rowe also spoke of the importance of creating a task force to study potential changes to the way the church gathers every three years for its General Convention. Such a task force was requested by a resolution adopted in June by the 81st General Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. The next General Convention is scheduled for 2027 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Rowe also reflected on his election and confirmation at the 81st General Convention. “The day I was elected in June, I asked bishops and deputies to think about the time between then and November as a kind of relational jubilee, a time of letting go of the resentment, anger and grudges that have too often weakened the leadership of our church to look for new ways to work together.”

He asked council to extend that spirit to this week’s meeting. “I hope the way that we treat one another here can be a witness to power of the Good News of God in Christ,” Rowe said. “And I hope that where we are divided, we can find the courage to forgive one another and begin again.”

Ayala Harris said Executive Council’s leadership can be a model for the church and the wider world. “Looking around this room, I see the incredible diversity of gifts and experience that each of you brings,” she said. “Let us begin our journey together with hope, with courage and, yes, even with joy. Let us be bold in our dreaming and faithful in our doing.

“The work before us is holy work. The community we build together matters more now than ever.”

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.

House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris addresses the House of Deputies on June 25 after her election to a second term as president. Photo: Scott Gunn

[Episcopal News Service — Louisville, Kentucky] House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris was re-elected June 25 at the 81st General Convention, winning decisively on the first ballot and fending off challenges from the Rev. Rachel Taber-Hamilton, the deputies’ vice president, and Zena Link, a former Executive Council member.

The victory sends Ayala Harris to a second term — and her first three-year term, after she was first elected in 2022 to a two-year term at the pandemic-delayed 80th General Convention.

“I am humbled and thank you for your confidence in me and my leadership,” Ayala Harris said after the election results were announced in the deputies’ convention hall at the Kentucky International Convention Center. She thanked Taber-Hamilton and Link for discerning their calls to run for the office.

Ayala Harris concluded her brief remarks by saying, “Now, church geeks, let’s roll up our sleeves and get back to work.”

Ayala Harris, of the Diocese of Oklahoma, received 521 votes out of the 826 votes cast by the 829 deputies who were certified to be on the floor for the election. Link, of the Diocese of Western Massachusetts, placed second with 241 votes and Taber-Hamilton a distant third with 64. An election on that ballot required 414 votes. Taber-Hamilton, a priest from the Diocese of Olympia, has said she will not run for re-election as vice president, and the election of her successor is scheduled for June 27.

The election was unusual for featuring an incumbent House of Deputies president facing a challenge. A sitting president has only faced a challenger once in modern history, in 2003, and like Ayala Harris, the incumbent that year prevailed.

Unlike the presiding bishop, who is elected to head the House of Bishops for a nine-year term, the House of Deputies president is elected to a term that spans from one General Convention to the next – typically three years – and can be re-elected for two additional terms.

The House of Bishops will hold its own leadership election, at nearby Christ Church Cathedral on June 26, when it will vote for the 28th presiding bishop in a closed session and then ask the House of Deputies to confirm the result.

House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris took questions during a June 25 press conference following her reelection to a second term. Photo: Janet Kawamoto

In addition to chairing the House of Deputies during convention, the president is canonically required to serve as vice chair of Executive Council and vice president of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, or DFMS, the nonprofit corporate entity through which The Episcopal Church owns the property and does business. The House of Deputies president is responsible for appointing hundreds of people to interim bodies and legislative committees. The president also travels throughout the church, speaking at conferences, representing the church at official functions and other gatherings, and meeting with deputies and other Episcopalians.

This week, at the 81st General Convention, is the first time an incumbent president has sought re-election since the role became a paid position, under a plan adopted in 2018 to pay the president as a contractor “for specific services rendered in order to fulfill duties required by the church’s Constitution and Canons.” The president’s base pay in 2024 is $236,756, plus reimbursement for health, retirement and other benefits. The vice president remains an unpaid position.

Three deputies have declared candidacies for vice president: the Rev. Charles Graves IV of the Diocese of Texas, the Rev. Ruth Meyers of the Diocese of California and the Rev. Steve Pankey of the Diocese of Kentucky. A forum with the candidates is scheduled for 7 a.m. June 27. The election is scheduled to take place later that day. Episcopal Church Canons require that the two House of Deputies positions be held by leaders from different orders, clergy and lay.

Ayala Harris holds a bachelor’s degree from Trinity International University and a master’s degree from the University of Oklahoma. She is a doctoral student in leadership development at the University of Oklahoma and a member of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Norman, Oklahoma. Her professional background includes working in social service organizations serving women, children, and people with disabilities and international aid work in Kenya and South Sudan from 2005 to 2008.

Ayala Harris, 43, had faced some criticism, direct and implied, from her two challengers on various aspects of her leadership style over the past two years, including in the areas of communication and collaboration. Taber-Hamilton also aired her grievances against Ayala Harris more specifically on the day before the election.

In the end, however, those arguments for a change of leadership failed to sway a majority in the House of Deputies, which erupted into applause when Ayala Harris’ victory was announced.

Given the margin, the election still revealed that more than 300 deputies were in favor of new leadership in the house. Ayala Harris said later at a news conference that she took that feedback to heart.

She acknowledged that communications had been “a little rough” during her first term and that that may underlie some of the other concerns raised by Taber-Hamilton and Link. Improving communications would be one goal of her second term: “I hear their concerns, and I will adjust accordingly,” she said.

Some other criticisms that certain individuals and groups have aimed at Ayala Harris have left her “heartbroken,” she said, “heartbroken for our leadership and heartbroken for our house.”  She said she would pursue healing, mediation and reconciliation in some form in her next term.

Ayala Harris also expressed optimism about the next three years for The Episcopal Church. “It’s an exciting time in the church and to continue in this role,” she said, again expressing gratitude to her challengers, saying the decision to run for a public office isn’t easy.

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.

The Rev. Rachel Taber-Hamilton, left, and Julia Ayala Harris participate in a candidate forum June 21 for the House of Deputies June 25 presidential election. Photos: Randall Gornowich

[Episcopal News Service – Louisville, Kentucky] On the eve of the House of Deputies’ presidential election, the incumbent vice president, the Rev. Rachel Taber-Hamilton, published a blog post June 24 laying out specific allegations she previously had only alluded to against incumbent President Julia Ayala Harris.

Taber-Hamilton’s blog post accuses Ayala Harris of using her office to “manipulate, intimidate, silence, mistreat and marginalize people” – including by excluding Taber-Hamilton from leadership roles – and of treating Taber-Hamilton and certain other church leaders as potential threats rather than as collaborative partners.

“Over the past two years, the president has journeyed to this General Convention on a veritable corduroy road of people that she has thrown under the bus,” Taber-Hamilton said.

Ayala Harris and Taber-Hamilton were both elected to their current positions for the first time at the 80th General Convention in 2022. They and Zena Link, a former Executive Council member, now are the three declared candidates for president in the House of Deputies election set for June 25. Taber-Hamilton has said she does not intend to run again for vice president.

Ayala Harris, in response to an Episcopal News Service request for comment on Taber-Hamilton’s post, said she was “disheartened” by it and called Taber-Hamilton’s criticism “a misrepresentation of my presidency” and “in direct conflict with my values and approach as a leader.”

“Throughout my presidency I have strove to include a diverse set of leaders in my appointments that reflect the broad diversity of our church,” Ayala Harris said. “I believe in our house’s ability to discern their choice for president, focused on skills, experience and vision, not on personal accusations. I continue to pray for our house and all candidates running for elections throughout our convention.”

Taber-Hamilton, a priest in the Diocese of Olympia, previously had alluded to tensions in churchwide leadership, without openly criticizing Ayala Harris, when she announced in April that she would run against Ayala Harris for president. Now, Taber-Hamilton’s latest blog post more fully airs her grievances from the past two years.

“Being elected president is not what I am seeking. The salary that press articles keep noting again and again is not what I am seeking,” Taber-Hamilton wrote. “I am seeking a healthy church with healthy leaders … . Please give that to me and to us all. We deserve better.”

Unlike the presiding bishop, who is elected to head the House of Bishops for a nine-year term, the House of Deputies president is elected to a term that spans from one General Convention to the next – typically three years – and can be re-elected for two additional terms.

In addition to chairing the House of Deputies during convention, the president is canonically required to serve as vice chair of Executive Council and vice president of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, or DFMS, the nonprofit corporate entity through which The Episcopal Church owns property and does business. The House of Deputies president is responsible for appointing hundreds of people to interim bodies and legislative committees. The president also travels throughout the church, speaking at conferences, representing the church at official functions and other gatherings, and meeting with deputies and other Episcopalians.

The vice president chairs House of Deputies sessions in the absence of the president but has far fewer canonical duties and responsibilities than the president. The vice president has a seat but no vote on Executive Council and also has a seat on the Joint Committee on Planning and Arrangements.

Planning and Arrangements recommends to General Convention future meeting sites, helps choose the actual locations, sets the meeting dates and leads the planning of General Convention meetings (Canon I.1.13). One of Taber-Hamilton’s complaints was that she was excluded from most of the planning of the 81st General Convention.

This General Convention is the first time an incumbent president has sought re-election since the role became a paid position, under a plan adopted in 2018 to pay the president as a contractor “for specific services rendered in order to fulfill duties required by the church’s Constitution and Canons.” The president’s base pay in 2024 is $236,756, plus reimbursement for health, retirement and other benefits. The vice president remains an unpaid position.

Taber-Hamilton announced her candidacy for president in an April 21 blog post, writing then in general terms that she was running because of “unaddressed internal dynamics that in my professional opinion are contributing to an unhealthy corporate culture, jeopardizing our ability for forming the collaborative relationships necessary for effectively moving forward in the crucial work of The General Convention.”

Link, a deputy and lay leader from the Diocese of Western Massachusetts, announced her candidacy on May 19, saying that “with the support of colleagues, I feel called to unify diverse perspectives within the church and act on our shared mission.”

Ayala Harris, a deputy and lay leader from the Diocese of Oklahoma, was joined by Taber-Hamilton and Link on June 8 for an online forum hosted by the Deputies of Color and Virginia Theological Seminary. Taber-Hamilton and Link mostly avoided openly criticizing Ayala Harris at that time, while alluding to a need for improved churchwide leadership.

Effective collaboration “hasn’t happened” consistently in the past two years, Link said in response to a question about dealing with conflict. She also alluded to past “mishaps” without elaborating.

The Deputies of Color released a statement June 23 endorsing Link, following a second candidate forum held in Louisville before the June 23-28 legislative sessions began.  At that event, Taber-Hamilton and Link were more forceful in arguing for new leadership while still not directly criticizing Ayala Harris’ two years as president.

Link, when invited to comment for this story, noted that after her Executive Council term was over in 2022, its leadership called her back as a consultant in 2023 “to address certain challenges and strained relationships between the leadership and various members of the council that impacted organizational culture.” She referred ENS to past reporting on leadership tensions but did not specify further.

During the June 21 forum, Link described what she saw as a strained relationship between the House of Bishops and House of Deputies, which can be repaired with “a little more communication, transparency, accountability and competency.” Taber-Hamilton advocated a greater sense of trust and mutuality between the two houses.

Ayala Harris, at one point in the forum, responded to suggestions that her transition to president had not gone smoothly, saying that she has grown into the role over less than two years.

“One of my colleagues pointed out something that’s a huge difference between the presiding bishop and the PHOD,” she said, using a common shorthand for president of the House of Deputies. “When the gavel goes down [at the end of General Convention], for PHOD, there is no transition committee, there is no orientation, there is no set anything – you’re just now PHOD.”

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry receives applause from bishops and deputies during his opening remarks before a joint session June 22 at the 81st General Convention, with House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris behind him. Photo: Scott Gunn

[Episcopal News Service – Louisville, Kentucky] This wasn’t a true goodbye. Presiding Bishop Michael Curry doesn’t officially conclude his nine-year term until Oct. 31.

But with the 81st General Convention ready to convene June 23-28 for what will be the last churchwide meeting of Curry’s momentous tenure as the chief pastor and public face of The Episcopal Church, his opening remarks to a joint session of the House of Bishops and House of Deputies were framed partly as a fond farewell address.

“I do want to say to this entire body, to this church, it has been a great privilege,” Curry said. “It has been an honor. I thank God that I have been able to serve as presiding bishop of this church.”

The assembled crowd of hundreds of bishops and deputies from more than 100 dioceses rose to their feet to shower Curry with applause and cheers.

Curry’s remarks, along with those of House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris, also set the tone for a weeklong General Convention that will spend part of its time looking necessarily inward. In addition to electing and confirming Curry’s successor as presiding bishop and a churchwide budget for the 2025-27 triennium, much of the conversation so far in Louisville has focused on how The Episcopal Church will respond to membership decline and denominational contraction after weathering pandemic disruptions to congregational life.

Get full, updating ENS coverage of the 81st General Convention here.

House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris gives her opening remarks to the 81st General Convention on June 22 to a joint session of the House of Deputies and House of Bishops at the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville. Photo: Randall A. Gornowich

“We have navigated through unprecedented challenges as church,” Ayala Harris said in her opening remarks. In addition to COVID-19, she cited the national and global reckoning with systemic racism, continued fights for LGBTQ+ rights, political polarization and economic uncertainty. The church has engaged in its own racial truth-telling processes while researching its historical role in Indigenous boarding schools and considering reforms to its clergy disciplinary canons.

“I have seen firsthand the depths of your faith, the strength of your commitment and the power of our unity in Jesus,” she said. “We find ourselves at a crossroads. The road behind us is long and winding. The road ahead is foggy and uncertain, but one thing is clear: We cannot go back to where we were before. The world has changed and so have we. The only way forward is to keep walking together in love.”

General Convention, The Episcopal Church’s primary governing body, typically convenes every three years in a different host city and diocese. It divides its authority between the House of Bishops and House of Deputies, and according to early estimates at least 167 bishops, two bishops-elect, 829 deputies and 239 alternate deputies were registered to attend the 81st General Convention, hosted by the Diocese of Kentucky.

Although the two houses will hold six days of legislative sessions, preconvention events and committee meetings will extend the duration to longer than a week. Total attendance in Louisville could approach 10,000, including staff, exhibitors, church-affiliated groups and other visitors.

This also will be the last General Convention for the Rev. Michael Barlowe, who is scheduled to retire in August as executive officer. As Curry noted in his remarks, Barlowe wears many other hats in church leadership, including General Convention secretary, and veteran deputies will fondly anticipate his way of methodically introducing each order of business in that house.

After delivering a spirited “It’s showtime!” to kick off the June 22 joint session, Barlowe took a few moments to acknowledge his own pending farewell. “It has been a singular honor to serve you and The Episcopal Church, and I thank God and I thank you.”

As executive officer, Barlowe heads the General Convention Office, which is responsible for planning all aspects of the triennial gathering, which serves as a hub for fellowship, networking, church governance and discerning the church’s positions on a range of spiritual and public policy matters. The General Convention Office also facilitated the move to online committee meetings and hearings in response to the pandemic.

Committees were expected to complete most of their work in advance of meeting in person. Though most committees still met in person starting June 22 to take up some final resolutions, Ayala Harris underscored what she saw as the benefits of moving most of the committees’ work online. The committees, she said, held 47 meetings and 55 hearings on Zoom – opening church governance to anyone with a computer and an Internet across the United States and the world. Those meetings logged more than 2,500 attendees, she said.

Of those attendees, 519 registered to testify, while more than 2,000 registered as observers, according to the Episcopal Church’s Office of Public Affairs.

“Those are the people of our church speaking directly to the governance of our church in a way that has never been possible before,” she said.

Ayala Harris also touted what she called a “voluntary House of Deputies community covenant,” which 574 house members have signed so far, “committing ourselves to the values of respect, trust and mutual care that must guide our work together.”

“As we gather for this 81st General Convention, may we come with open and expectant hearts,” she said. “May we draw strength from the living waters of our faith, trusting that the same God that has brought us this far will surely lead us into our future church.”

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry addresses the 81st General Convention on June 22. His successor is scheduled to be elected and confirmed on June 26, and his nine-year term ends Oct. 31. Photo: Randall A. Gornowich

Curry is scheduled to deliver the sermon June 22 at church’s evening revival before an 8,000-capacity crowd at the KFC Yum! Center, a nearby arena overlooking the banks of the Ohio River. During his afternoon remarks to the joint session of General Convention, Curry said he would save the preaching for later – while also joking to his knowing audience of bishops and deputies that he had an applicable Bible lesson or two to share with them.

He primarily invoked the Gospel of John and Jesus’ final teachings to his disciples. “You will have tribulation, but be of good cheer,” he said, quoting John 16:33. For The Episcopal Church, the tribulation might be parochial reports showing decline in membership or church attendance, Curry said, but Episcopalians should not lose hope. Follow in Jesus’ footsteps, he said, and “we shall overcome.”

“I’m not worried about the future of The Episcopal Church. … It’s not going to be easy. It never has been easy,” Curry’s said, his voice rising. “This Episcopal Church is stronger, more durable and has a future that God has decreed. And I’m here to tell you, don’t you worry about this church. Don’t you weep and don’t you moan. Just roll up your sleeves and let’s get to work.”

His concluding line was delivered with his much-beloved oratorical fire, and the bishops and deputies, standing again, roared their approval and their appreciation.

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.

Incumbent House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris, former Executive Council member Zena Link and incumbent Vice President the Rev. Rachel Taber-Hamilton participated in an 80-minute forum on June 21 held at the Louisville Marriott Downtown Hotel. Photo: Randall A. Gornowich

[Episcopal News Service – Louisville, Kentucky] Three women of color who are running for president of the House of Deputies shared their presiding officer qualifications, hopes for The Episcopal Church and some leadership differences in an 80-minute forum on June 21.

The three are incumbent President Julia Ayala Harris, incumbent Vice President the Rev. Rachel Taber-Hamilton and Zena Link, an educator and union and community organizer.

This is only the second time since 1964, when the House of Deputies first expanded the role of president beyond presiding at General Convention, that an incumbent president has faced a contested election; the other was in 2003.

The election is scheduled for June 25.

Each candidate offered an opening statement and then took turns answering questions posed by a five-member panel that not only elicited answers but areas of disagreement. The Rev. Michael Barlowe, General Convention’s executive officer, moderated the forum.

When asked, if elected, what they would do during their first 30 days in office, Link, who is African American, said she would survey deputies’ experiences and desires. She said she would seek input about who should serve on her Council of Advice and not make it just a circle of friends. She said she’d appoint people who didn’t vote for her as well as members of the Official Youth Presence.

Taber-Hamilton, who is Shackan First Nation, said dialogue with the new presiding bishop, who will be elected by the House of Bishops on June 26, would be key, as well as creating a transition committee that would bring broader engagement into the president’s office. She said currently “people are excluded intentionally.”

The processes for transition for a new presiding bishop and president of the House of Deputies are very different, Ayala Harris, the first Latina to hold the office, said. When she was elected at the 80th General Convention in July 2022, there was no transition committee or orientation to help her get started; instead, “you just serve.” She said that church canons dictate who is on the presiding bishop’s Council of Advice, but there is nothing specified for the president of the House of Deputies’ council. Her plan for an 18-member council had to be reduced to 12 people because of budget cuts.

A question about the disparity of leadership and financial resources available to people and dioceses outside the United States led all three to describe ways the church can be more inclusive.

“We can’t make decisions for people without them,” Taber-Hamilton said, adding that she would establish a fund from which grants could help these dioceses better participate in church gatherings. Where the church decides to hold General Convention, usually with an eye toward keeping costs down, is a moral issue and should include traveling to where some of the  least-resourced people live.

Ayala Harris said that there were deputies to General Convention from countries outside the United States, many of them younger people, who could not get international travel visas necessary to attend. Offering legislative committees online, which is a post-pandemic practice, with simultaneous interpretation was one way to include more diverse voices, but she said more creative ideas will be needed going forward if the U.S. doesn’t change its visa-granting process.

How the church decides to share the money it has impacts under-resourced dioceses, Link said. Rather than requiring them to ask for grants, the church should change the way it allocates money. And while online meetings can be helpful, she said in-person meetings are necessary. Making that happens means the church would have to decide to differently share the resources it has.

Disagreement between Ayala Harris and the other two candidates emerged when asked how the next House of Deputies president could create an effective collaboration with the new presiding bishop. Ayala Harris said that she and Presiding Bishop Michael Curry have worked well as a team and that there is a sense of trust between the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops, something that hadn’t always been the case.

Link disagreed, saying that she has not seen a strengthened relationship between the two houses but a strained one. That can be repaired, she said, with “a little more communication, transparency, accountability and competency.”

Taber-Hamilton said a greater sense of trust and mutuality is needed between the two houses, and the new president would need to work to find common ground with the new presiding bishop.

After the event concluded, Eastern Oregon deputy David Kosar told Episcopal News Service he found it very helpful to see the three candidates in person and that his initial impressions of them had changed somewhat as a result. “I think it teaches us that the Spirit works in different ways as we are hearing the voice and the heart versus just reading and seeing it online,” he said.

New York alternate lay deputy Nick Gordon said he could feel a sense of tension in the room as the candidates spoke, but that it was helpful to see the three of them together. The House of Deputies is facing an interesting election, he said, as the church needs to “think about the kind of leadership we want that is going to lift up a variety of voices.”

In addition to chairing the House of Deputies during convention, the president also is canonically required to serve as vice chair of Executive Council and vice president of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, or DFMS, the nonprofit corporate entity through which The Episcopal Church owns property and does business.  The House of Deputies president is responsible for appointing hundreds of people to interim bodies and legislative committees. The president also travels around the church, speaking at conferences and other gatherings and meeting with deputies and other Episcopalians.

This year will mark the first time an incumbent president has sought re-election since the role became a paid position. In 2018, General Convention adopted a plan to pay the president as a contractor “for specific services rendered in order to fulfill duties required by the church’s Constitution and Canons.” The president’s base pay in 2024 is $236,756, plus reimbursement for health, retirement and other benefits. The vice president remains an unpaid position.

A video of the forum is available on the General Convention Media Hub here.

—Melodie Woerman is a freelance reporter based in Kansas.

Louisville, Kentucky, is the state’s largest city with about 250,000 residents and sits on the banks of the Ohio River. Photo: David Paulsen/Episcopal News Service

[Episcopal News Service – Louisville, Kentucky] The Episcopal Church’s home base for the next week will be at the corner of Fourth and Jefferson streets, where a steady stream of bishops and deputies has begun filing through the Kentucky International Convention Center as they check in for the 81st General Convention.

Downtown hotels are full. Restaurants are buzzing with conversations among bishops, clergy and lay leaders, their color-coded name badges hanging from their necks. The exhibit hall opened at noon June 21, and legislative committees are preparing to kick off their final hearings and deliberations in morning sessions June 22.

“It’s a blessing to be here,” Presiding Bishop Michael Curry said during a morning press conference on June 21 in a lower-level room reserved for media in the convention center. He was joined for the hour-long session by House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris and the Rev. Michael Barlowe, General Convention’s executive officer.

“Louisville is an extraordinary place. It has an extraordinary history,” Ayala Harris said. “It’s also such a fun town.”

Get full, updating ENS coverage of the 81st General Convention here.

Barlowe noted that the Christian mystic, monk and writer Thomas Merton had his spiritual awakening on a corner in downtown Louisville. The city also was the hometown of boxing great Muhammad Ali. And Barlowe emphasized the Diocese of Kentucky’s ministry of advocacy and healing after the March 2020 killing of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman fatally shot in her home by police.

“I am thrilled to be in the Diocese of Kentucky and in the city of Louisville to add to their witness,” Barlowe said.

From left, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry; the Rev. Michael Barlowe, General Convention’s executive officer, and House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris participate in a news conference June 21 before the start of the 81st General Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. Photo: Randall A. Gornowich

General Convention, typically held in a different host city every three years, is The Episcopal Church’s largest churchwide gathering and functions as a hub for fellowship, networking, social events and church governance. The bicameral convention serves as the church’s primary governing body, dividing its authority between the House of Deputies and House of Bishops.

Registered attendees include 167 bishops, two bishops-elect, 829 deputies and 239 alternate deputies, and total attendance in Louisville could approach 10,000, including staff, exhibitors, church-affiliated groups and other visitors.

At each meeting of General Convention, bishops and deputies adopt a budget, hold elections for seats on interim bodies and consider hundreds of resolutions on a range of topics, from new liturgies, canonical changes and governance structures to the church’s public policy stances on migration, the environment, Middle East peace and other issues. (Resolutions can be followed on the church’s Virtual Binder.)

The Kentucky International Convention Center in downtown Louisville completed a $207 million renovation and expansion in 2018, and it features a roof-top support structure that eliminates the need for beams in the center of the convention hall. Photo: David Paulsen/Episcopal News Service

Another top item on the 81st General Convention’s agenda is to elect and confirm a bishop as the 28th presiding bishop, to succeed Curry when his term ends on Oct. 31. The election will occur June 26 in a closed session of the House of Bishops in the nearby Christ Church Cathedral, and then the House of Deputies will be asked to confirm the result.

A forum with the five candidates for presiding bishop will be held at 4 p.m. Eastern June 21 and will be livestreamed on the church’s Media Hub.

Curry, who became the church’s first Black presiding bishop when he was elected in 2015, has struggled with a series of health emergencies over the past year. He said his latest medical check-up was reassuringly positive after he underwent procedures to address an irregular heartbeat, internal bleeding and a cerebral hemorrhage, or brain bleed.

“I’m here and actually feeling good,” said Curry, who turned 71 in March. He again offered thanks to Episcopalians across the church “who prayed me through some very difficult times.”

The 81st General Convention’s legislative sessions are scheduled for June 23-28. That six-day duration is longer than the pandemic shortened four-day 80th General Convention in 2022 but still shorter than previous gatherings. The convention historically has convened for at least nine legislative days, and festivities could stretch to two weeks when including pre-convention events and committee meetings.

To enable a six-day convention, committees again were expected to conduct most of their hearings and deliberations online in advance of the in-person meeting, as they did in 2022. That process has enabled greater public access to committee meetings, though it also has raised concerns about low attendance and the impact of fewer opportunities for face-to-face interaction in Louisville.

Ayala Harris also formed a special committee in 2023 to propose changes to the House of Deputies Rules of Order that would allow the house to make more effective use of its time at this in-person gathering. Those proposals, which have generated a mixed response from deputies, will be voted on by the full house when it convenes its first legislative day on June 23.

Ayala Harris said this debate over the best way to conduct church governance predates the pandemic, though the pace of change accelerated as the church adopted new technologies to adapt to COVID-19 restrictions on gathering. The 81st General Convention will build on those past discussions.

“Really it’s not about the [number of] days and it’s not about the online meetings. It’s about the core of who we are as Episcopalians and how we go about doing our governance. And that is what we’re looking at right now,” she said during the press conference. “What does it mean to have an inclusive participatory democratic governing body in the now? How can we get more people involved in our governance? How can we include people who don’t speak English? How can we include people who are differently abled?”

Bishops and deputies at this convention are expected to consider Resolution D022, which would create a task force to further study the legislative process and inform future General Convention planning. Another resolution, D048, would push back on the recent shortening of General Convention, calling for future meetings to be held over at least 10 days.

Barlowe, as executive officer, leads the General Convention Office, which is responsible for negotiating contracts for venues and accommodations at each General Convention. He also chairs the Joint Standing Committee on Planning and Arrangements, the interim body that decided that the 81st General Convention would convene for six legislative days.

“I don’t think anyone on that committee thought that this was the final word,” said Barlowe, who is scheduled to retire in August. “We thought this was the best decision for the 81st General Convention.” He acknowledged some of the resolutions encouraging more debate, and added, “I think that one of the hopes of Planning and Arrangements was that General Convention would do exactly that.”

Curry and Ayala Harris are scheduled to deliver opening remarks before a joint session of the House of Bishops and House of Deputies at 2 p.m. Eastern June 22. It will be livestreamed on the church’s Media Hub.

Curry offered a brief preview of his remarks during the news conference, calling this “a profoundly diverse church” – not just racially and ethnically, but also based on geography, nationality, culture and politics. As he prepares to step down as presiding bishop, his message was one of hope for the church after witnessing how it responded to the pandemic with creativity and spirit.

“I saw a church emerge in the pandemic that I never thought I’d see. It emerged out of hardship, and it was not easy.” Curry said. “And that’s the church that will face the future, that’s where the spirit’s at work.”

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.

Clockwise from top left, the Very Rev. Ian Markham, dean of Virginia Theological Seminary, is joined June 8 by Deputies of Color convener Joe McDaniel and the three candidates for House of Deputies president, incumbent President Julia Ayala Harris, the Rev. Rachel Taber-Hamilton and Zena Link.

Editor’s note: This story was updated to provide a more precise description of the House of Deputies president’s compensation package, which includes additional money for benefits. 

[Episcopal News Service] The three declared candidates for House of Deputies president, in a June 8 online forum, frequently spoke of their shared desire to help navigate The Episcopal Church through a range of future challenges, though each drew contrasts in what they would emphasize in confronting those challenges.

Incumbent House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris is running for re-election against the Rev. Rachel Taber-Hamilton, the house’s vice president, and Zena Link, a former member of Executive Council. The Deputies of Color and Virginia Theological Seminary hosted the 90-minute Zoom forum, moderated by the Very Rev. Ian Markham, the seminary’s dean.

The House of Deputies presidential election is expected to take place June 25 during the 81st General Convention, which convenes June 23-28 in Louisville, Kentucky.

Video of the candidate forum is now available here for viewing on demand.

Ayala Harris, a lay leader and deputy from the Diocese of Oklahoma, touted in her opening remarks the “consistent and stable leadership that I’ve shown over these last two years” while underscoring her three ongoing priorities of improving the accessibility, inclusivity and safety in church governance.

“I would like to be able to use this next triennium to further that vision,” she said. She also noted that the church is about to elect a new presiding bishop, and as one of the church’s two presiding officers, she said she intends to work collaboratively to prepare the church for its post-pandemic future.

Taber-Hamilton, a priest in the Diocese of Olympia, Washington, said effective churchwide leadership “requires opportunities for very intentional dialogue,” and she referenced her own Indigenous heritage as a Shackan First Nation member for influencing her emphasis on a community-centric leadership model.

“I would like to be a part of creating really intentional, proactive listening sessions that really go out there and capture people’s thoughts and experience, so we can adapt to the reality,” Taber-Hamilton said.

Zena Link, a lay leader and deputy from the Diocese of Western Massachusetts and a member of the house’s Black Caucus, served with Ayala Harris from 2015-22 on Executive Council, the church’s governing body between meetings of General Convention, and since February 2023, she has regularly attended council meetings to lead workshops with its current members on dismantling racism in the church’s governance structures.

“My candidacy includes a rich history of bringing people together across differences,” Link said. “I have the experience of harvesting and nurturing wisdom, one of embodying the wisdom of the deputation and deliberately seeking to benefit from the wisdom and agency of every member of the House [of Deputies], not just a select few.”

Ayala Harris, who was elected in 2022 as the house’s first Latina president, remarked several times on what she called the “historic slate of three women of color” now seeking to lead the House of Deputies. At each General Convention, all deputies are permitted to seek election as president and vice president after clearing a background check.

Since 1964, when the House of Deputies first expanded the role of president beyond presiding at General Convention, the incumbent president has faced a contested election only once, in 2003. The incumbent that year was re-elected.

This year will mark the first time an incumbent president has sought re-election since the role became a paid position. In 2018, General Convention adopted a plan to pay the president as a contractor “for specific services rendered in order to fulfill duties required by the church’s Constitution and Canons.” The president’s base pay in 2024 is $236,756, plus reimbursement for health, retirement and other benefits. The vice president remains an unpaid position.

The Deputies of Color is an umbrella group that combines the four caucuses that are organized around the church’s Indigenous, Latino/Hispanic, Black/African descent and Asiamerica ministries. The questions it developed along with Virginia Theological Seminary for the June 8 forum ranged from the broad – how the candidates propose to work through the challenges facing The Episcopal Church – to narrower questions about the House of Deputies’ Rules of Order and how best to address conflict.

Link suggested that a special committee formed by Ayala Harris to consider post-pandemic changes to the Rules of Order could have been more transparent and proactive in seeking input from all deputies earlier in the process. Such potentially significant changes to the legislative process “need to be discussed in a way that we feel like there’s been opportunities for multiple people to have discussions,” Link said.

“And I’m not quite sure that that is what we’ve had,” she said. “I want things to be more open to the profound wisdom of the deputation as a whole.”

The proposed changes were intended to help streamline legislative business at General Convention while encouraging and empowering legislative committees to do most of their work online, as it was done in 2022 due to COVID-19 concerns, before recommending resolutions for consideration by the full House of Deputies at the in-person meeting in Louisville.

Ayala Harris acknowledged that this was a learning process for her as a first-term president. “I wish I had brought more voices into that special committee that I made,” she said, and, she also noted that the committee sought input online and held two listening sessions before revising the proposals based on deputies’ feedback.

“It is up to the House of Deputies if they want to support these various rules,” she said, noting the changes require a two-thirds vote. “We have a democratic process. We decide for ourselves what our rules will be. No one is imposing it on anyone.”

The Deputies of Color was among the churchwide groups that had raised concerns over the initial proposal for Rules of Order changes in August 2023, a fact that Taber-Hamilton mentioned in her response to the question.

“Going into the democratic process fully informed means we need to continue these conversations,” she said. “A task force is being requested because of people not really feeling that inclusion.” If approved, the task force proposed by General Convention’s Resolution D022 would spend the next three years conducting a broader study of the legislative process and including input from both the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops.

This was the first of a series of forums planned between now and the various elections that will be conducted at the 81st General Convention. The Rev. Michael Barlowe, General Convention’s executive officer who also serves as House of Deputies secretary, has scheduled a forum for the candidates for House of Deputies president at 2 p.m. June 21 in Louisville. A separate in-person forum for vice presidential candidates is expected but has not yet been announced.

The Deputies of Color has scheduled its own online vice presidential forum for 3 p.m. Central June 15 in collaboration with the Seminary of the Southwest. It will feature the three declared candidates for House of Deputies vice president: the Rev. Charles Graves IV of the Diocese of Texas, the Rev. Ruth Meyers of the Diocese of California and the Rev. Steve Pankey of the Diocese of Kentucky.

Taber-Hamilton, who was first elected in 2022, has said she does not intend to run for vice president if she loses the presidential race, ensuring at least one new leader will be elected in the House of Deputies.

In their June 8 forum, Ayala Harris, Taber-Hamilton and Link identified several points on which they agreed while generally refraining from criticizing each other directly – including when Markham posed a question about how each candidate handles conflict and makes room for people who disagree.

Ayala Harris spoke of her own challenges over the past two years in responding to some conflicts related to Executive Council.

“I was new in this role and things were moving quickly, and because of that, we did not always communicate in a way with Executive Council members – and when I say we, meaning the presiding bishop and I – that council members needed to hear to feel like they were empowered to make decisions,” Ayala Harris said.

She went on to say that she learned from that experience, and now she and Presiding Bishop Michael Curry are emphasizing a greater openness and transparency in planning for the recruitment of a new executive officer for General Convention after Barlowe retires later this year.

Taber-Hamilton emphasized that effective communication is central to avoiding conflict. A good leader believes in “keeping people who are invested, keeping them informed, and not seeing requests for information as personal attacks,” she said, but rather “seeing requests for information as a natural product of people who care.”

Taber-Hamilton continued by saying that avoiding conflict means “not alienating people from their opportunities to serve the church by not appointing them to legislative committees and commissions.”

Link said she was hesitant to respond directly to the topic of conflict among churchwide leaders, though she also thinks that leadership means not just talking about collaboration but following through. She credited Ayala Harris for citing an example “in which that hasn’t happened,” though Link also alluded to other past collaborative “mishaps” without elaborating.

Ayala Harris responded by again acknowledging “some of those rifts on Executive Council.” When such conflicts occurred, “I also initiated bringing in a consultant to help us with our culture, who knew us really well.”

That consultant: Zena Link.

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.