We are trekking through the General Convention with spirit and resolve despite some exhaustion at the end of the day. We here at the Episcopal Herald want to bring some encouragement for the future of the Church along with the good and holy works that will be done! Here are three resolutions on the consent calendar today to get you excited about the future of the Church:
This resolution directs the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music’s Task Force for Liturgical Translations to create adaptations and professional translations of Enriching Our Worship, Volumes 1 – 6 and The Book of Occasional Services 2018, and Lesser Feasts and Fasts into Spanish, French, and Haitian Kreyol. Importantly, they would implement the same process and criteria used for the new translation of the Book of Common Prayer into these languages. This is a step in expanding access to approved liturgies domestically and abroad and ensuring better and more accurate translations!
This resolution celebrates the efforts being done in the Episcopal Church and by our partners in the Anglican Communion to work together in offering theological education and formation in languages other than English. This is a step in breaking down barriers that excludes people within our communion from many resources of theological formation and education. The resolution urges development and access to resources for discernment and education in our major seminaries and programs dealing with formation in TEC. It also urges seminaries and other institutions of formation to collaborate with non-U.S. jurisdictions to identify theological texts most in need of translation for those formations, and to work with the Office of Communications to explore ways translations may be made!
This is a resolution proposed by the Committee on Stewardship & Socially Responsible Investing. The resolution has an explanation in detail in the Blue Book and allows a more thorough look into why it was proposed. A161 or Addressing the Burden of Medical Debt, provides remarks and suggestions of the following:
- Recognizes that medical debt is a pervasive problem in the United States and forcing those to go into debt who are in ill health is a product of a broken medical system.
- Directs Provinces, Dioceses, Congregations, and other organizations in TEC to consider purchasing debts of local communities.
- Will call on the Office of Government Relations to advocate for more reforms and humane ways to deal with debtors.
As of 2021, Americans hold a whopping $140 million dollars in medical debt from seeking help for illnesses and treatments. It is not unheard of for churches to do such a thing; in fact, it happened right in the Diocese of Texas within the last two years! In 2021, Christ Church, Cedar Park took on an ambitious goal of helping raise $10,000 to help alleviate debt with RIP Medical Debt (an organization dedicated to abolishing medical debts), and was able to help 1652 recipient families.
A161 is a step in the direction of reducing the medical debt that plagues vulnerable Americans who cannot pay off medical debts accumulated just for seeking help. Imagine: what would happen if The Episcopal Church stepped up to help their neighbors here?
The Episcopal Herald 