The special Diocesan Convention to elect the 17th bishop diocesan of the Diocese of Massachusetts
is scheduled to take place on
Saturday, May 18, 2024, at Trinity Church (206 Clarendon Street) in Boston.
Preliminary information e-mailed to clergy, delegates and diocesan leadership on March 19 is summarized below
and is also available in the Secretary's Memo attached as a PDF document at the bottom of this page.
For more information about the nominees and the bishop search and transition process, please visit www.diomass.org/bishop-search.
Registration
Registration is now open. All attendees must pre-register.
While the electing convention is open to all in the diocesan community, priority seating will be given to voting members and those with assigned credentials. Non-voting attendees will be seated on a first-come, first-served basis and as space allows.
Check-in
All attendees must pick up credentials on Saturday, May 18 between 7:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. For security purposes, all attendees will need a badge to access the voting area. This includes diocesan staff, volunteers, vendors and visitors. Voting members will receive their floor-access name badge and corresponding ballot information. There will be no absentee ballots and no substitute or transferable ballots (other than those issued to properly certified alternate delegates).
Electronic voting
All canonically resident clergy of the diocese and lay delegates vote separately as “orders”; a majority of votes on the same ballot from both the clergy and lay orders is required for election.
Voting will be done electronically using a QR code that will be given to voting members at check-in. Those who are comfortable with the electronic voting mobile app may vote via their own device (please be sure to bring your device fully charged). Alternatively, voting stations will be set up around the floor of the nave and volunteers will be on site to assist voting members with the process.
All congregations are reminded to submit their Congregational Leadership Reports, including certification of lay delegates, to make sure that their current convention delegation is receiving convention communications.
Changes in lay delegates: Delegate changes should be reported to the Convention Office via the substitute delegate form found here. Substitute delegate forms will be accepted until Friday, May 10. After that date, please contact the registrar, Laura Simons (lsimons@diomass.org), to ensure the change is processed.
In accordance with Diocesan Canon 1, Sec. 3, all clergy desiring to vote at Diocesan Convention must be canonically resident two weeks prior to the start of the convention. Clergy in the process of becoming canonically resident should contact Laura Simons at lsimons@diomass.org to complete this process by Friday, May 3.
Meals
Buffet-style breakfast will be available in the morning until 9 a.m. There will be a one-hour break for lunch if there is no election by 12:30 p.m. Lunch will not be provided on site. Attendees are strongly encouraged to order lunch ahead of time for pick up from one of the nearby restaurants (see restaurant list in the Secretary's Memo attached below as a PDF document) or to bring their own food.
Language translation, accessibility, childcare
Any voting members who will need language translation during the convention should contact the Office of Convention by Monday, April 8 so that arrangements can be made.
Trinity Church has a wheelchair-accessible nave and bathrooms, wheelchair-accessible meeting spaces and bathrooms, and first-come, first-served assistive listening devices available.
Childcare will not be provided. Reimbursement is available to voting members who must hire childcare in order to attend and for whom that is a financial hardship.
Required testimonials
An integral part of the election is the certification process, which is a canonical requirement. Each voting member present will receive an e-mail with a link to the election certification and will need to complete it prior to leaving. While it is the expectation and hope that all voting members will remain until the final ballot, it's understood that there might be exceptional circumstances that require a voting member to leave earlier. In this case, they should not complete the electronic certification process if an election takes place on a ballot subsequent to their departure.
For more information
Questions may be e-mailed to convention@diomass.org.
For more information about the nominees and the bishop search and transition process, please visit www.diomass.org/bishop-search.