Episcopal Press and News
Indianapolis diocese notes enthusiasm for hosting 2012 General Convention
Episcopal News Service. February 21, 2008 [022108-01]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
The opening gavel for the 77th General Convention of the Episcopal Church may be more than four years and an intervening Convention away, but the hosting diocese is excited about the prospect.
The Executive Council agreed February 14 to hold the 77th Convention, set for July 4-13, 2012, in Indianapolis, Indiana, the seat of the Diocese of Indianapolis.
Diocese of Indianapolis Canon to the Ordinary Peder Berdahl told ENS that the diocese is excited by and appreciative of the opportunity to host the triennial gathering of the governing body of the Episcopal Church. "Folks will be coming out of the woodwork" to help, he predicted.
Berdahl recalled being one of those diocesan volunteers when General Convention last met in Indianapolis August 24-September 2, 1994. The part of downtown that includes the Indiana Convention Center and the RCA Dome will look very different in the summer of 2012 than it did in 1994 and than it does now, he said.
The convention center is due for a major renovation. The nearby RCA Dome, the location of the large Sunday Eucharist during the 1994 Convention, will be torn down and replaced by a new stadium, to be known as the Lucas Oil Stadium. A new Indianapolis airport is set to open before the 2012 Convention as well.
"Indianapolis is a great town," Berdahl said, describing it as "easy to get around in" with a downtown "that's alive 24 hours a day."
The nomination of a diocese and city to host General Convention comes from the Joint Standing Committee on Planning and Arrangements (JSCPA). The work to develop a list of sites begins far in advance when the JSCPA writes to the House of Bishops asking bishops to indicate their interest in hosting General Convention three sessions hence. Thus, the bishops will be asked at their March 2008 meeting to consider hosting the 78th Convention in 2015.
From those indications of interest, Planning and Arrangements develops a list of three to five possible sites, according to the Rev. Dr. Gregory Straub, the Episcopal Church's executive officer and General Convention secretary. General Convention Manager Lori Ionnitiu prepares a report on the sites, and the committee votes to reduce the number of candidate cities to two. The executive committee of Planning and Arrangements visits the two remaining sites and recommends one to the entire committee for its approval.
The final site must be approved by a majority of the presidents and vice presidents of the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies, the presidents of the Episcopal Church's nine provinces and the members of the Executive Council.
In the lead-up to the choice of Indianapolis, the executive committee of Planning and Arrangements visited Indianapolis and Kansas City, Missouri, in the Diocese of West Missouri, January 9, 10 and 11, according to House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson, who also chairs Planning and Arrangements.
"Both sites had a lot to offer as a future site for General Convention. We were generously welcomed by each of these cities and by the diocesan leadership," Anderson told ENS.
Indianapolis is "very will equipped" to handle a gathering the size of General Convention and the convention center is "easily adaptable to our bicameral system, providing nearby space for the House of Deputies, the House of Bishops as well as the Triennial meeting of the Episcopal Church Women," Anderson said.
It is said that only the Democratic National Convention is larger that General Convention, based on the number of people attending each day multiplied by the number of convention days. It is estimated that 3,500 people attend the daily Eucharist at Convention while 8,500 people attend the Sunday Eucharist.
"Kansas City is in the process of current major redevelopment of the downtown and convention center area," Anderson said. "It is my hope that they would wish to be considered again for General Convention in 2015.
She praised the work of General Convention Manager Ionnitiu, calling her a "real pro at reviewing possible General Convention sites and negotiating good prices for us."
"We are very fortunate she is part of the General Convention team," Anderson said.
Convention is a bicameral legislature that includes the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops. During Convention, deputies (four lay and four ordained from each of the Church's 111 dioceses and convocations) and bishops consider a wide range of important matters facing the Church. Convention last met in Columbus, Ohio, in June 2006. It next convenes July 8-17, 2009 in Anaheim, California.