On Wednesday, July 29, the Executive Committee of the Diocesan Council met to discuss this year’s 131^st Annual Convention of The Diocese of West Missouri. At the meeting, it was agreed to call a short Special Convention of the Diocese on Saturday, October 3, at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, Kansas City. The Special Convention will pave the way for an online Annual Convention on Saturday, November 7.

…around 50 people will be needed to successfully hold the Special Convention.

Detailed preparations for holding an online convention began July 6 with a special meeting of the Diocesan Council. That meeting approved changes to the diocese’s corporate status needed to hold a virtual convention. Having agreed to change the diocese’s corporate status, there remained a requirement to pass changes to the convention’s Rules of Order.

Following the July 29 discussions by the Executive Committee of the Diocesan Council, Bishop Marty wrote to the diocesan clergy informing them of the meeting’s conclusions. The letter stated,

The Special Convention will be a face-to-face meeting (using proper PPE and physical distancing) to pass certain changes to the convention’s Rules of Order that will allow us to conduct the Annual Convention as a virtual or online convention. For the Special Convention, we will need only to gather the necessary quorum to conduct the limited business before the meeting. Therefore, we hope that the quorum will be established by attendees (lay and clergy) from the KC Metro area. It is hoped that by doing so, those farther from KC might be relieved of the drive to KC for what is anticipated to be a brief meeting. The Special Convention will have no other business before it than the changes to the Rules of Order and other housekeeping matters that will facilitate a canonically correct Annual Convention.

It is estimated that around 50 people will be needed to successfully hold the Special Convention. The nave of Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral is large enough to hold this number and meet local requirements for physical distancing.

The Bishop’s Staff will now commence preparing in earnest for the two conventions. The convention website and further details will be available soon.

Gary Allman was the Communications Director with The Diocese of West Missouri from March 2014 through June 2023.