House of Bishops spring meeting is completed

from The Lead by Peter Carey

The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church has wrapped up the spring retreat meeting at Kanuga in Hendersonville, North Carolina:

House of Bishops meeting ends with an eye toward the church in the 21st century
From Episcopal News Service (ENS) online

The Episcopal Church's House of Bishops concluded its six-day retreat meeting at the Kanuga Conference Center in Hendersonville, North Carolina, continuing the theme "selection, recruitment and formation of young leaders," preparing the church for the opportunities and challenges of the 21st century.

"We talked about recruiting, forming and educating young leaders, and that has a great deal to do with inviting members of the church and leaders to get outside church buildings and structures to meet seekers," said Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Shori during a closing news conference on March 30. "That was a significant part of our conversation."

During their March 25-30 meeting, the bishops addressed several themes, including the relationship between Christianity and Islam, how to reach young adults with the gospel, and the Anglican Covenant, a set of principles intended to bind the Anglican Communion in spite of cultural and theological differences.

. . .

Although the meeting was billed as a retreat, and members of the public and the news media were not allowed to observe the sessions, some bishops blogged and tweeted at times during the sessions.

During the news conference, Wolfe said the bishops are working on how to best use electronic media, how to be transparent, and still leave room for conversation and dialogue.

Arizona Bishop Kirk Smith used the social networking service Twitter to share live updates for much of the meeting, but ceased posting messages when issues of confidentiality were raised by some members of the house. Smith continued to blog throughout the meeting.

During the Anglican Covenant discussion on March 29, Atlanta Bishop Neil Alexander delivered a paper and raised the question about whether the proposed covenant "would substantially alter Anglican ecclesiology, specifically by inaugurating -- for the first time -- a more centralized authority than we have ever had before," retired Bishop Christopher Epting wrote on his blog.

"There is a real tension between using the technology we are all becoming used to, and the confidentiality of the house and particularly sending out electronic communication quoting specific people when, in fact, we are simply partway through a discussion and may have reached no conclusions," he wrote.

(Editor's note) Sorry to not see any YouTube videos of bishops singing, as we were privileged to see in 2009,HERE