2018 Convention Booklet

REPORT OF THE CONSTITUTION AND CANONS COMMITTEE

Overview The Constitution and Canons Committee was asked to address the following issues relating to the Canons: 1. To amend and restate to the Canons in their entirety. 2. To amend the Canons to reflect current practice with respect to the agenda at the Spring Convocation meetings. 3. To consider whether to amend the Canons to adopt a new Canon to address exceptional cases involving a distressed parish. 4. To consider whether to amend the Canons to increase the size of the Disciplinary Board. * * * 2018-C.1 AMENDMENT AND RESTATEMENT OF THE CANONS. Much of the text of the current Canons dates back to the creation of this Diocese in 1919. Since that time the Canons have been amended multiple times. However, much of the language in the current Canons is archaic and has other shortcomings with regard to, among other things, consistency and organization. To address these shortcomings, in 2016, the Committee was tasked with “modernizing” the Canons. The draft of proposed updated Canons draws heavily on the Canons of the Diocese of Virginia (which amended and restated its Canons a number of years ago). Attached to this Report as Exhibit A are the “Revised Canons of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia” (Version 2.2) with a draft date of December 10, 2018 (the “Proposed Canons”). The Committee has previously published two drafts of the amended and restated Canons on the Diocesan website. The first draft (Version 2.0) was dated August/September 2017. This draft was extensively annotated with notes and comments that, among other things, contained cross references to the existing Canons and referenced sources for revised language. This draft was discussed at the Fall Convocation Meetings. On or about January 10, 2018, the Committee posted a revised draft (Version 2.2) which deletes the comments and includes grammatical and Discussion and Recommendations

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