Report from GC79, Day 5

The Official Youth Presence onstage at #GC79

The Rev. Jean McGraw, a clergy deputy from our diocese, is our Deputy of the Day for July 9, and files this report.

Greetings from Austin. This morning at our legislative session we were blessed to hear from one of our youth delegates, Maria Gonzalez. She is from Pennsylvania, and spoke to us in both Spanish and English. She talked eloquently about the issues facing young people today and how TEC can support them and work to make changes to ensure their safety.

Deputy Jean McGraw

To begin our afternoon session, the Chaplain of the House of Deputies , the Rev. Lester Mackenzie, took us out of our Anglican comfort zone as he invited all of us to come to the front of the hall to pray with “Anglican sensitivity and African spontaneity”, and to actually touch each others' shoulders as we sang the words of St. Julian of Norwich, “all will be well.”

The House of Deputies passed, with amendment, in both the clergy and lay orders, Resolution B012, on Marriage Rites for the Whole Church.

All in all, a loooong but productive day!

The Rev. Jean McGraw