Diocesan Convention

Diocesan Convention is the legislative body of 300 which includes bishops, clergy, and elected lay delegates from each of our churches, who assemble annually for the purpose of attending to the business of the Episcopal Church in Rhode Island.

The 2018 Diocesan Convention will be November 2 and 3, 2018 at St. Luke’s Church in East Greenwich.

Convention begins on Friday, November 2, with the Convention Eucharist at 7:00 p.m. followed by a dessert reception. Convention’s business session will begin at 9 am on Saturday. Doors will open Saturday at 7:30 a.m. for a continental breakfast provided by the Rhode Island Episcopal Church Women.

Theme: Creation Care

The Presiding Bishop has emphasized that Creation Care is one of the three ways we engage in our ministry of Reconciliation. Care and justice for all creation is a core value of the Episcopal Church. Visit the Episcopal Creation Care website for resources you can use with your congregation.

Caring for Creation by using less paper at Convention

We want to do our part in the Diocese of Rhode Island by designing convention a bit differently than in the past.

There will be no folders with papers for you at registration.
There will be no paper service booklets at Friday evening’s Eucharist.
Reusable water bottles rather than single use plastic ones will be distributed.
Lunch will contain a minimum of paper waste and a maximum of locally sourced and produced food.

Accessing documents at our paperless Convention:

If you want to refer to paper copies of diocesan materials during convention, we ask that you print out your own copies in advance. There will not be any copies available at the convention.
If you plan to access documents via your mobile device, please download them and save them to your device before arriving at convention. Cellular coverage is very limited in this area of East Greenwich and St. Luke’s wifi network is reserved for the convention technology team. Links to all relevant documents are posted at the bottom of this page.

Our Convention preacher: Curt Spalding

As part of our focus on Creation Care, the preacher for our Convention Eucharist will be Episcopalian Curt Spalding, Professor of the Practice of Environment and Society at the Institute for Environment and Society at Brown University,

Curt Spalding joined the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society in December, 2017. At Brown he helps students find engaged scholarship opportunities outside of Brown and is actively developing projects that inform how communities can become more resilient in response to climate change. Most recently with the Coastal Resource Center at URI, he is developing the Providence Resilience Partnership project.

Curt has over forty years of leadership experience in environmental protection and management as an advocate, policy analyst and administrator. In all aspects of Save The Bay’s and EPA Region 1 New England’s work, he emphasized whole system thinking and resilience. Accomplishments include development of the Save The Bay Center in Providence RI, and ecosystem plans to restore and protect New England’s iconic waters, including Lake Champlain, Cape Cod, Lake Champlain, Southern New England Coast, Long Island Sound and Great Bay. With leadership Brownfield and Superfund initiatives, along with helping communities gain the capability and capacity to be more climate change resilient, Curt has consistently worked to see New England cities are revitalized and made healthy and prosperous places to live for every resident.

Curt is an avid sailor, enjoys golf some days, and is a member of Trinity Church in Pawtuxet Village in Cranston.. His wife, Dr. Patrice Milos, is the CEO of Medley Genomics. His daughter Hannah is waiting to hear from medical schools and his son Henry is a second year law student at Boston College.

Registering for Convention:

Please coordinate your registration with your church leadership to avoid duplicate registrations.
Pay careful attention to which ticket type you select when registering.
The ticket price will rise by $5 the week before convention, so register early!

All are welcome to attend; only canonically-resident clergy and elected and certified parish delegates have vote.