What’s Happening on Tuesday, May 1

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