Surprise! Surprise!

I was worried about how the Reference Committee was going to be oriented and instructed. My past experience as described on the website (http://www.aiateam.org) has not left my understanding of how General Conference can be manipulated. So I made it a point to observe their session this morning.

The General Conference Secretary convened the group. He helped them elect officers and he left.

Because she was the only one on the whole committee who had been on a reference committee before, a former Judicial Council member that I know was elected to the chair.

She took charge, led the group through its tasks, and mentioned none of the potential abuses the committee could use at its discretion. The group tackled everything in as fair a way as I could have dreamed.

The Petitions Secretary then brought a bunch of requests for referrals of petitions to different committees and some requests for withdrawals.

The one that already has made news, withdrawing petitions to divest from Caterpiller, was funny in that the Reference Committee had the authority to not grant that request!

It did not, of course. It hopes that people learn that once a petition is published for General Conference, it is the property of the Conference, and therefore of the Reference Committee, with regard to actual referral of the petition for legislative action or not.

There were a few comments made in asides which indicate that the matter would have had a fiery floor fight. But those opinions were expressed after the vote to allow the petition to be withdrawn.

The committee and the Petitions Secretary seem to be doing their job in a straight-forward, fair way. I do not expect any political shenanigans. That shouldn't be a surprise given that we are a church. An old warrior like me who has seen it all sometimes does not expect that to be a factor when power is being shifted toward a smaller and smaller number of leaders.

The other surprise was definitely unexpected. I stayed on for the evening training session for parliamentarians, located in "The "Episcopal Enclave" (it is called that in a working conference document) next to the Bishops' lounge. I met a pastor from New York who was there to observe as I was, and learn a little more about parliamentary procedure. But there wasn't another soul around! The starting time came and went with no one showing up.

Finally, another pastor came along and reported she had overheard a conversation that the session had been called off. It seems that only two of the ones invited to be a part of the pool were willing and no one else was.

She thought they said something about amending the rules tomorrow night to try it again next General Conference.