Preliminary reports and the Convention agenda suggest that politics and liturgy will have a prominent place in the debates, as they usually do—though finances may also have to be discussed. The leadership and the delegations appear to have moved further to the progressive side, so the votes will likely not be close.
One wonders, however, whether Convention delegates will give any substantial attention to the continuing decline in the number of parishes and members and in average Sunday attendance, as well as the aging of most congregations. Granted, these trends are long-standing and are present in most Christian churches, including the Roman Catholic Church and Evangelical denominations.
But surely the clergy and lay leadership of the Episcopal Church should at least try to address the numerical fall. After all, it was the Emperor Nero, a notorious enemy of the early Christians, who was accused of fiddling while Rome burned…
