Every morning the Committee on Agenda and Calendar meets at 6:30 a.m. with the presiding bishops for the day, and the chairs of the legislative committees. Here are some notes from that meeting:
- Presiding Officers for the Day
Bishop Patrick Streiff
Bishop Minerva Carcano
Bishop Charlene Kammerer - There will be a presentation from the Board of Pensions in the morning session.
- As of this morning there are 143 calendar items that were or are eligible for consideration by the body. So far the General Conference has dealt with 11.
- As of this morning, 35 calendar items have received the required 20 signatures to be pulled from the consent/not considered calendar.
- The Committee on Calendar and Agenda is assuming that restructuring issues will likely be considered on Wednesday, which is the soonest they can be considered without a suspension of the rules.
- Issues around divestiture and the United Methodist Church’s relationship with Israel/Palestine will be presented in a single block at a time to be determined.
- The issue of the ending of guaranteed clergy appointments received enough votes in committee to be placed on a consent calendar (a group of petitions passed en masse by the conference without debate). As of this morning no one had pulled this from the consent calendar.
- Issues thatmaybe considered today include:
- Changing the name of “lay speaker” to “lay servant.
- Issues on the timing and size of the General Conference
- Issues related to ministry in the Central Conferences
- Changes to the Preamble of the Social Principles
- Changes in the qualifications for ordination related to sexual practices
- Changes to the structure of United Methodist Wome
- The addition of language that specifically identifies the pastor as the primary determiner of eligibility for church membership.
- Changes to the responsibilities of the PPRC/SPRC
