The Acts of Convention

House of Bishops

The House of Bishops Committee on Prayer Book, Liturgy, and Music presented its Report #17 on Resolution A130 (Developing Alternative Hymn Texts) and moved adoption with amendment.

Original Text of Resolution:

(A130)

Resolved, the House of Deputies concurring,

Resolved, That the 81st General Convention authorize the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to work during the forthcoming triennium to develop a digital collection of alternative versions of hymns that address issues of problematic wording to be made available to congregations for their use with permission from their bishop and to be published by Church Publishing Incorporated; and be it further

Resolved, That efforts begun in the last triennium to identify and create such alternative texts be expanded to include communities that do not use the English language; and be it further

Resolved, That the sum of $200,000 be appropriated for this work.

Committee Amendment:

Resolved, the House of Deputies concurring,

Resolved, That the 81st General Convention authorize the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to work during the forthcoming triennium to develop a digital collection of alternative versions of hymns that address issues of problematic wording colonialist, racist, white supremacist, imperialistic, and nationalistic language, as identified in Resolution 2022-A126; to be made available to congregations for their use with permission from their bishop and to be published by Church Publishing Incorporated; and be it further

Resolved, That for hymn texts for which the copyright is held by Church Publishing Incorporated, the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music develop a digital collection of alternative hymn texts, to be made available to congregations for their use, and to be published by Church Publishing Incorporated; and be it further

Resolved, That for hymn texts in the public domain, the 81st General Convention invite the people to submit alternative versions of hymn texts via the Submissions page on episcopalcommonprayer.org, and that such alternate hymn texts be shared via that website’s protocols, for use and evaluation; and be it further 

Resolved, That the sum of $200,000 be appropriated for this work. That the General Convention request the Executive Council Budget Committee to allocate $200,000 for this work.

Debate ensued.

Proposed Amendment:

The Rt. Rev. Daniel Richards, Upper South Carolina moved to amend the resolution (FA043) to change the allocation in the fifth Resolve clause from $200,000 to $50,000.

A vote was taken on the amendment.

Motion carried

Amendment adopted

A vote was taken on Resolution A130. Voice and visual vote were inconclusive. A digital vote was taken.

Motion carried

Resolution adopted with amendment

(Communicated to the House of Deputies in HB Message #88)