What is the Consultation?
The Consultation’s roots go back to three organizations
concerned with the mission and renewal of the Church coming together to publish
a daily commentary on what was happening in the General Convention of 1967,
held in Seattle. Inspired by William Stringfellow,
the noted lay theologian, the Church Society for College Work, the Overseas
Mission Society, and the National Industrial Mission created ISSUES, and it continues today as it has
at every General Convention since 1967.
A resolution passed by that first General Convention at
which it appeared thanked ISSUES for
the important ministry it performed.
That appreciation is often echoed today.
An outgrowth of the 1967 General Convention was the General
Convention Special Program (an interim meeting of General Convention) in 1969. The
General Convention of 1967 also requested that the Special General Convention
include additional delegates to ensure that youth, women, and minority groups
be represented. Times were changing in
the Church. By the 1970 General Convention, two organizations which are
today part of the Consultation joined the original three sponsors of ISSUES: Associated Parishes [for Liturgy
and Mission] and the Union of Black Clergy and Laity [today the Union of Black
Episcopalians].
At the 1973 General Convention, there was disappointment that
the hope engendered by the Special Convention was not coming into
fruition. A group of organizations
formed Coalition E (for External). It emphasized women’s ordination as well as
several issues still of concern – the budget, the makeup of Executive Council
and broader representation throughout the Church.
Changes continued and by the 1976 Convention two of the
three original sponsors of ISSUES had
ceased to exist, but more were added, including current Consultation members,
the Episcopal Peace Fellowship and the Church and City Conference (its
successor today being the Episcopal Urban Caucus). The 1979 General Convention saw the addition
of Integrity and the Episcopal Women’s Caucus to the list of ISSUES sponsors.
Between the 1982 and 1985 General Conventions eleven
organizations came together to formalize their cooperation. It included groups which had not previously
sponsored ISSUES and was remarkable
in its inclusion of all the groups not fully represented in the hierarchy of
the Church. Among the additions was the
Episcopal Church Publishing Company, then the publisher of The Witness and now acting as a foundation.
While at the 1988 Convention, the Consultation was listed
as a sponsor of ISSUES, by the 1992
Convention, ISSUES had become a
constituent part of the Consultation, which continues to the 2018 Convention.
The Consultation and its member organizations have been in
the midst of progressive changes in the Episcopal Church: the full inclusion of
women and LGBT people in the ministry of the Church, the “new” Prayer Book,
Hymnal and subsequent liturgical modernization, putting the Church firmly on
the side of peace and opposition to needless wars, repentance and
reconciliation for the historic racism of the Church, and the same issue that
motivated our founders in 1967 - the importance to the Church of ministry with
the outcast and poor, the principal focus of the Episcopal Network for Economic
Justice. Our newest member group,
Episcopalians on Baptismal Mission, emphasizes that the laity should be more
fully integrated into the ministry and leadership of the Church.
Through the years, member organizations of the Consultation
have ceased to exist, most recently the Episcopal Women’s Caucus which ends its
significant ministry at this General Convention. Today there are nine organizations on our
masthead and we expect to work closely together in Austin to affect major
legislation, to recommend qualified candidates for office, and to keep everyone
informed about important developments at convention.
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