The Square
Triennial Thoughts
Dennis Clark, PPP
NECW Parliamentarian
The year 2024 celebrates the one hundred and fifty-fourth anniversary of the National Episcopal Church Women. The society was authorized by the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in 1871. A set of bylaws was adopted that same year with the first Triennial meeting being held in New York in 1874.
The one hundred-fiftieth anniversary event is referred to as its sesquicentennial celebration. I learned the term when Texas had its celebration in 1986. 150 years earlier, Gen. Sam Houston defeated Mexican General Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto, thus birthing the Republic of Texas.
The NECW meeting in Louisville this summer will actually be a sexennial because of the cancellation of the 2021 meeting due to the COVID emergency. This will be an important meeting since members, for the first time in six years, will have an opportunity to select new officers and other members of the national board, and to help provide direction of the association for the next three years. Dioceses are encouraged to submit the names of delegates and alternates in a timely fashion. Should there be any questions about this process kindly contact your district representative or any NECW officer.
In addition to electing new officers and members of the board, delegates will be called upon to vote on changes to the bylaws and perhaps vote on resolutions which might provide direction to the national board in the coming three-year term. Perhaps more importantly, it will be a chance for attendees to meet together, worship together, and share ideas of how dioceses across the nation and beyond are fulfilling the mission of the association; which is to empower the Episcopal Church to carry on Christ’s work throughout the world.
It is anticipated then, that delegates and alternates will have studied the candidate’s positions, and the bylaws amendments to be presented. The proposed bylaws changes can be found on the NECW website. Candidates for office will also be introduced in a number of venues as well as their addresses at the meeting.
There will be a delegate/alternate briefing at the beginning of the meetings as well as a workshop on parliamentary procedure during the conference where questions can be answered and information made available as to how delegates may properly provide input and address issues to come before them, as they so choose.
As we meet together for the 150th time as a vital, driving force in the improvement of the lot of mankind, let us square our words and our actions with the call of the apostle Paul in First Corinthians 14:40, “Let all things be done decently and in order.”