Bishop-elect Kristin White made her first address to the diocese, and Bishop Wayne Smith his last, at the business session of the 149th Convention on Saturday.
Delegates and clergy gathered both on Zoom and at the Vern Riffe Center for the Arts at Shawnee State University in Portsmouth to elect lay and clergy members of diocesan governance bodies, consider two resolutions and hear reports on the finances of the diocese and various diocesan ministries. Video of the entire convention will be available in the coming days.
Bishop Smith, who will finish his ministry in Southern Ohio when Bishop-elect White is ordained on February 17, received a standing ovation when he spoke during the convention’s morning session. He recalled that when he began work as bishop provisional during the pandemic, “morale was really, really low.”
More than two years later, the pandemic is over and conditions have improved, but leadership and morale remain issues for the diocese, he said. “Trust is building, and leadership is finding greater confidence these days,” but anxiety, gossip and jealousy remain issues. The bishop said he had recently described the diocese as “jittery as a bowl of Jello.”
The diocese’s abundant financial resources continue to be a source of unrest, Bishop Smith said. “With all the money that we have, it is a sign that money does not make us happy. It’s no wonder that Jesus talks about possessions and wealth and poverty and generosity more than any other thing.
“We have a lot of soul work to do in this diocese when it comes to matters of money,” he said.
This diocesan convention was the first to be held in Portsmouth, a town of 18,000 on the banks of the Ohio River in Scioto County, since the 2006 electing convention met at Shawnee State and elected Bishop Tom Breidenthal as the diocese’s ninth bishop. The hotel rooms occupied by this year’s conventiongoers had increased the expected Scioto County bed tax revenues by more than twenty-five percent for this year, said the Rev. Vicki Zust, a member of the Dispatch of Business Committee.
“It is important for us to have come to Portsmouth,” Bishop Smith said. “What a lovely place we’re in, and what a lovely town. And what a crucial outpost for mission and ministry is All Saints, Portsmouth.”
Issues of racism and the aftermath of having a leader with an addiction to alcohol also continue to be challenges for the diocese, Bishop Smith said, and will require continued attention.
“And by the grace of God, we can do it,” he said, speaking of the struggle against racism. “And we must do it, because of the vision that God is preparing for us on that last day, when together we stand as a community beyond number, gathered from every language, family, people and nation, to praise Christ the Lamb who was slain for the sake of us all and to know that we belong together in the presence of the one who has created us.”
Bishop-elect White, who will join the diocesan staff at the beginning of December, joined Bishop Smith on the dais after lunch. In a short speech, she thanked the convention for calling her as bishop. “In the weeks and months and years ahead, I look forward to getting to know you better, laypeople and clergy, from Delaware to Ironton, from Oxford to Marietta, and all points in between,” she said. “I trust that our conversations will provide the substance we need for a shared diocesan mission that clarifies who we are called to be as followers of Jesus in this time and place.”
“I look forward to being your bishop for a good long time,” she said.
Convention delegates considered two resolutions. One, which sought to prevent the diocese from including a petition process in its next bishop election, was referred to the Committee on Constitution and Canons at the request of its proposer. The other, which passed on a voice and Zoom poll vote, clarified that the Commission on Congregation Life and the bishop can use funds from the diocese’s “closed congregation fund” to support existing and new Episcopal communities. Read the resolutions.
The 150th Convention of the diocese will take place on November 22 and 23 at the Roberts Centre in Wilmington.
