Episcopal leaders cutting size of national convention in Baltimore in July due to COVID-19 fears

Officials of the national Episcopal Church have opted to cut the size of the general convention it will hold in Baltimore next month due to fears it could spark a COVID-19 outbreak — a decision that could cost the city millions in revenue even as it safeguards those who plan to attend.

The Most Rev. Michael Curry, the denomination’s presiding bishop, or chief pastor, and the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, president of one of its legislative branches, the House of Deputies, told the church’s nearly 1.8 million members in a joint letter that the decision to reduce the scale of the gathering was one its leadership didn’t want to make, but it’s one that is in everyone’s best interest, given current conditions.

“Like many of you, we continue to grieve our inability to gather as a whole church this summer,” they wrote in the letter late last month. “But COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the United States have continued to rise steeply. Although we regret that need to make this decision, we are confident that we have chosen the right path.”

The General Convention of the Episcopal Church, which normally takes place every three years, is the core regular gathering for leaders and members of the mainline Protestant denomination.

Hundreds of bishops, thousands of delegates, and thousands of interested visitors from across the U.S. and beyond typically attend. About a thousand vote on what public policy positions the church should adopt, on proposed revisions to liturgy and on church finances, while the whole contingent enjoys the triennial opportunity to network and engage in fellowship.

The event usually draws 5,000 to 10,000 visitors to a metropolitan area, with a different city hosting each time.

Church leaders chose Baltimore as the host site for the 2021 convention at the national gathering in Salt Lake City in 2015. Curry has said the decision would bring $23 million to $25 million in revenue to the Baltimore, a city he knows well from serving as rector of St. James Episcopal Church between 1988 and 2000.

But Curry, whose responsibilities include serving as president of the church’s House of Bishops, and Jennings, the president of the other half of its governing structure, the House of Deputies, decided in 2020 to postpone the event for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic then sweeping much of the country.

Originally set to last eight days, from July 7 to July 14, the already-delayed event will be shortened by several days — probably three or four days, a Diocese of Maryland official said.

Curry and Jennings appointed a “design group” last month to develop proposals on what changes to make in order to ensure a “shorter, smaller, safer General Convention.” That panel will make its recommendations to a churchwide planning committee Tuesday, and that group will vote on whether to approve the suggested agenda.

The Right Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton, bishop of the Maryland diocese and a member of both groups, said he can’t predict what the panels will decide — “We do know the convention is going to be shortened; it’s just a matter of the details,” he said — but a letter to church members from Curry and Jennings last month describes some of the proposals the design group has shared with the two leaders.

Those include reducing the convention to four days (July 8-11), reducing the number of delegates, visitors and media allowed to attend, eliminating exhibition-hall events and enhancing COVID-19 protocols that already called for proof of vaccination and masking.

Where the convention normally invites the church’s 109 dioceses to send eight lay and clergy members each, the letter suggests cutting that number to six, and though every living bishop is normally invited, retired or otherwise, it proposes inviting only active bishops.

Sutton acknowledged, with regret, that whatever is decided, it will mean a financial shortfall for Baltimore businesses, particularly for those that work in the hospitality industry in and around the Convention Center, where major events are expected to be held.

“It’s a big disappointment for us as a diocese, but there’s an even larger disappointment and sorrow for the workers, some of whom are not highly paid,” he said. “That’s a big sorrow for the city and for all of us.”

A spokeswoman for Visit Baltimore, the agency charged with bringing tourism and conventions to the city, said it would be unable to predict the economic impact of the size reduction until more specific information becomes available.

“Every convention group has their own unique needs, priorities and comfort levels, especially during these uncertain times,” the agency’s president and CEO, Al Hutchinson, said in a statement. “The Visit Baltimore team respects and meets the individual needs of each client as we are dedicated to creating an enjoyable destination experience that leaves them wanting to come back and visit again.”

Sutton, who has been helping spearhead the diocese’s efforts to organize the event, said he understands Curry’s and Jennings’ decision given the spike in reported coronavirus cases in April and May.

“I do understand, because we’re always trying to balance the need to stay together for an extended time with the need to be safe,” Sutton said. “The more days that hundreds of people are together, the more opportunities there will be for someone to come down with a virus.”

Some people he has talked to have complained that the reduction is too extreme, while others have said it doesn’t do enough, Sutton added.

“It’s generally the Episcopalian philosophy to seek a middle way, whether it’s spiritually, politically or socially,” he said. “The middle way is a shortened convention.”

A core activity of every convention is the consideration of resolutions. As many as 800 are submitted by Episcopalians each convention year, with topics ranging from proposed changes in liturgy to statements on public policy matters.

Most never make it out of committee or are combined or amended as the convention progresses. The House of Bishops and the House of Deputies typically end up voting on a few dozen.

Part of the design group’s charge has been to determine what issues can’t wait until the 81st convention, which is scheduled to take place in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2024.

Sutton said he hopes the agenda retains the goal of focusing on racial reconciliation, the subject of dozens of resolutions that already have been submitted and an area in which the Maryland diocese has specialized for years.

That work has seen local church leaders and members conduct exhaustive research on the diocese’s history of supporting and benefiting from slavery and other forms of racial injustice.

The diocese has set aside $1 million as a seed fund for projects that restore African American communities. It distributed $175,000 to six groups in its first round of grants last week.

“Part of the story of [our] diocese that we want to share with the whole church is the way we’ve recovered our history and not shied away from it,” Sutton said. “It’s a story of truth-telling about who we are, how we got here, about what some of the resources are that we’ve gained. We want to tell it all and be transparent.”

He’ll learn Tuesday how much of that emphasis remains in the convention agenda, he said.

“Once we have our eyes opened, we can and do the right thing. That’s what we’re looking forward to doing in the time given.”

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