Resolution EC 005

Resolved, that the Executive Council, meeting in San Francisco, February 9-12, 2023 gives thanks to Almighty God for the life, ministry, and service of the Very Reverend Dr. George Werner, who entered into eternal life on February 6, and who served this Church faithfully and with distinction as the 31^st President of the House of Deputies for two triennia, from 2000 to 2006, having previously served as Vice President of the House from 1994 to 2000 under the presidency of the late Dr. Pamela Chinnis;

and further celebrates the experience, thoughtfulness, clarity, grace, wisdom, kindness, and sense of humor which he brought to the leadership and oversight of the House of Deputies, born of six terms as a Deputy and embodying thereby the best traditions of the House, especially during a complicated and often fractious period of our history, and by which he contributed considerably to the appropriate ongoing governance and well-being of our Church;

and further recalls his Christ-like acceptance, though it was a cause of some personal pain and disappointment, when he was not returned for a ninth term as a Deputy in 2006, for reasons purely of ecclesiastical politics in his diocese, and so was denied the possibility of a third term as President of the House of Deputies;

and further values his generous support of his three successors in office, Dr. Bonnie Anderson, the Reverend Dr. Gay Clark Jennings, and Ms. Julia Ayala Harris, who benefitted from his reliable and amiable counsel;

and further remembers with gratitude his ministry as the Dean of Trinity Cathedral, Pittsburgh, from 1979 to 2000, his work in the wider community of Pittsburgh, especially in urban mission, and his selfless labors on behalf of the unity and welfare of his diocese and the Church;

and further recognizes his two terms as a trustee of the Church Pension Fund, from 1976 to 1988 and again from 2006 to 2015, during which service he was among the principal architects and advocates of the Denominational Health Plan that has benefitted countless clergy and lay employees of our Church;

and further acknowledges his advocacy and promotion of younger leaders in our Church, many of whom owed their first chance of wider Church ministry to his support;

and further extends to his wife, Audrey, and to their family the assurance of our condolences and our prayers.