The 191st Annual Convention of the Diocese of Vermont will occur in two parts, with an in-person session on Saturday, November 9, and an online business session on Thursday, November 14. The in-person session will feature a keynote address by the Rev. Canon Kelly Brown Douglas, former dean of Episcopal Divinity School and current canon theologian at Washington National Cathedral, and Visiting Professor of Theology at Harvard Divinity School. Bishop Shannon will also preach and preside at the Eucharist, where members of the diocesan household will renew their baptismal and ordination vows. She will give her annual address during the business session.
Douglas’s remarks will come just four days after the presidential election, and she will discuss the crucial role the church plays in holding the nation together. The church “has to call us back to who we were created to be as sacred creatures respecting the sacred dignity of each and every person,” she said in an interview for a story featured on the diocesan website.
Delegates will consider resolutions establishing a budget and minimum clergy compensation, as they must every year. They will consider a resolution titled “Declaring the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont to be Apartheid Free,” and urging an end to “all support to Israel’s Apartheid regime, settler colonialism, and military occupation.” Another resolution will adjust the diocesan canons on electing delegates to the Provincial Synod of the Province of New England, to bring the process in line with recent practices.
Elections will be held for a variety of offices, including the Standing Committee and the Trustees of the Diocese, and nomination deadlines have been extended to November 8 for certain bodies.
There will be a Communion Bread Bake Off at the in-person session. Organizers say all entries must be gluten free, non-crumbly, and delicious. The winning recipe will be incorporated into the Eucharist for the 2025 Annual Convention.
A pre-convention meeting will be held on Thursday, November 7, at 6 p.m. on Zoom. The in-person session on November 9 will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Cathedral of St. Paul in Burlington, and the online business session on November 14 will begin at 6 p. m. The deadlines to register to attend the convention have passed, but both sessions will be livestreamed. More information on all of this is available on the diocesan website.
