Seen and Heard:
Quotes from the 74th General Convention

“I was especially impressed with the youth presence at General Convention and with the younger women and men who were deputies – very bright, very articulate.”

“The challenge for me was to grow spiritually so that Frank Cooper could trust the church. I had this profound conversion experience through tears and prayer when I realized I’m not in control, God is. I’m going to be very gentle, prayerful and careful about my relationship to the bride of Christ, the Church, and all her members.”

“If I can shout it from the rooftops, Anglicans are obsessed with sexuality. There are many important issues in the world, issues about life and death. I sometimes feel that this is an agenda that seeks to distract us.”

“(General Convention) is like a cross between Las Vegas and ICU – you forget what day it is and what time it is and where you are and what you are doing.”

“We are here – and I thank my sister Bishop Barbara Harris for this – to let the Church say ‘Amen.’ I was worrying with her yesterday about what I might say tonight, and she said, ‘All you’ve got to do is let the Church say ‘Amen.’ ”

“This decision does not, in my view, resolve the issues about homosexuality in the life of the church. What it does do is place squarely before us the question of how a community can live in the tension of disagreement. So it is now our challenge to take up the difficult and holy work of living with a difference.”

“I return from Minneapolis with a greater appreciation for the broad diversity within our church. For me, there is great benefit in coming together as one body with the opportunity to express our different beliefs, convictions, hopes, fears and concerns. We can have unity without uniformity. More than ever, I am proud to be an Episcopalian!”

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