Canon 1. THE CONVENTION
SECTION 1. Either preceding or during every annual or special meeting of the Convention of this Diocese there shall be a Celebration of the Holy Eucharist.
SECTION 2. Not later than the fifth (5) day immediately preceding the meeting of the Convention, the Ecclesiastical Authority shall furnish the Secretary of the Diocese with a complete list of the clergy 11canonically and physically resident in the Diocese, setting forth those who are entitled to membership, seats and votes in the Convention, and giving their respective cures, Parishes, Missions or places of residence.
SECTION 3.12 Not later than the sixtieth (60th) day immediately preceding the meeting of the Convention, each Ecclesiastical Parish and Mission in union with the Diocese shall furnish the Secretary of the Diocese with a certificate showing the names of its Lay Delegates and Alternates and the fact that they are persons qualified to be such Delegates and Alternates. The Secretary of the Diocese shall at once prepare a list of such Delegates and Alternates, which shall be used as the roll of the Lay Delegates.
SECTION 4. At the time appointed for the meeting of the Convention, the Convention having been called to order, the incumbent Secretary of the Diocese shall determine which clergy and lay delegates are present. If there is a quorum of each order, the Convention shall proceed to elect a Secretary of the Diocese for the ensuing Convention year, after which the chair shall declare the Convention duly organized.
SECTION 5. At each meeting of the Convention, Rules of Order and an Order of Business shall be adopted for the government of that meeting. But the Rules of Order and Order of Business adopted at the previous Annual Meeting, if no action is taken to the contrary, shall be in force for the succeeding Convention year, with such alterations or amendments as may be made thereto by the Convention.
If at any time after the organization of the Convention, the right of any member to sit in the Convention be called in question, the point shall be determined by a majority vote of the Convention, and this whether the person has been admitted already to a seat or not.
SECTION 6. The Secretary of the Diocese, the Treasurer of the Diocese, the Chancellor and the Vice-Chancellor of the Diocese, the Registrar of the Diocese, and the President of the Board of Trustees of the Diocese, (if not members of the Convention by virtue of being either a Clergyperson entitled to membership, or a Lay Delegate representing a Parish or Mission of the Diocese) shall be admitted, ex-officio, to seats in the Convention, with all privileges of membership except the right of vote.
SECTION 7. All elections shall be by written ballot; provided that, except in the case of the election of a Bishop, the necessity for written ballot may be dispensed with by unanimous vote of the Convention.
SECTION 8. The Convention shall meet annually on a date to be designated by the Bishop, and the place of such annual meeting shall be fixed by any preceding Convention. If the Convention fails to fix the place of the annual meeting to be held two years thereafter, the Ecclesiastical Authority shall do so. If by July 1 of any year the Bishop shall have failed to fix the date of the next annual meeting of the Convention, the Standing Committee shall fix a date for same.
SECTION 9. At least sixty (60) days before each annual and special meeting of the Convention, the Secretary of the Diocese shall send a notice of the time and place of such meeting to every Clergyperson canonically resident in the Diocese and, through the Wardens, to the vestrypersons and congregation of each Ecclesiastical Parish, and through the Mission Wardens, to the congregation of every organized Mission in the Diocese. If the meeting be a special meeting, the notice shall specify the business to be laid before the Convention.
The provisions of this canon shall not affect the requirements of the Constitution as to meetings at which the election of a Bishop is to be held.
SECTION 10. Wherever used herein, the word "year" refers to the period between the adjournment of the annual meetings of the Convention, rather than calendar years, unless expressly stated otherwise. Wherever a term of office is established, whether elective or appointive, the word "year" shall mean the period between the adjournment of the annual meeting of the Convention, and the adjournment of the following regular annual meeting of the Convention, unless expressly stated otherwise.