Convention Report 2005
 
The Convention of the Diocese of El Camino Real was held in Seaside, Friday and Saturday, January 14th and 15th.  Your delegates were Donna Ross and Gay Blundell, clergy; Anne Hubbard, Bill Blundell, Rob Ross, and Jim Wilson, lay.  Don and Barbara Dallmann also attended with Don being granted Seat and Voice, but no vote. 

There seemed to be no Agripping@ issues to divide the house, as it were.  The Annual Budget was properly presented, referred to Friday hearings, returned on Saturday for an uncontested vote of approval.  This budget, as with the budget of St. Paul=s, is smaller than one would wish, and is also still somewhat compromised by the events surrounding the resignation of the 2nd Bishop.  There was a minor delay in the budget approval process while the position of Canon to the Ordinary, or its replacement in the Diocesan structure, was discussed.  Having no Ordinary (Bishop), it was thought by some that the position might be eliminated, at some savings, until the election of a new bishop.  When it was made clear that the work of the position was being done by volunteers, if done at all, and that the work was needed more than ever, the objections were dropped and the budget went forward.

The primary work of the Convention was to facilitate the process of Diocesan analysis in preparation for the search and election of the 3rd Bishop.  The principal instrument of this process seems to be the Conference Planning Team.  The group is charged with preparation for the conferences which invite all interested parties to meet and listen and discuss the history and the future of our diocese.  The next conference will be held at St. Paul=s in Salinas on February 26th.  

Become involved in the wider work of the Church, or at the least educate yourselves about it.  You will find that you simply widen the circle of love and support which we prize here at St. Paul's.               
                            James "Noah" Wilson