Unfortunately, renegotiating contracts to shorten the convention from eight to four days cost an estimated $1.1 million. In order to further mitigate risks, masks were required along with daily viral testing, and attendance was restricted. No visitors were permitted, staff and volunteers were cut down to the bare minimum, the usual exhibit hall was canceled, diocesan deputations were only permitted to bring two alternates (one clergy and one lay), retired bishops were urged to stay home, and 815 (i.e., the Episcopal Church Center, housed at 815 Second Ave., NYC) urged organizations to cancel meetings, events, and/or dinners planned to coincide with the convention. Overall, 34 attendees were reported to have tested positive for COVID-19.
Despite contagion concerns, Bishops Unite Against Gun Violence organized a march on the first day. Hundreds of deputies and bishops took to the streets in response to the murder of 48-year-old Timothy Reynolds two blocks from the convention center the previous day. Bishop Susan Brown Snook said, “we prayed for God to end this scourge of gun violence that has taken so many lives and pledged to take action to oppose it.” Later a resolution was passed that aims to strengthen the church’s advocacy for gun safety laws at the state level.
While there is always a push to move uncontroversial legislation to the consent calendar (which comprises resolutions that are voted upon without debate, en masse), more business was so disposed of at the 80th General Convention than in living memory. This heightened the perennial possibility of controversial resolutions that warrant full deliberation being slipped in.
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