Several aspects of General Convention resemble the structure and process of our secular government, with one notable exception—the active participation of young people. Established by a 1982 resolution, the Official Youth Presence includes up to two members from each of The Episcopal Church’s nine provinces, who can attend legislative sessions and have a seat and a voice in the House of Deputies.
Sixteen-year-old Catherine Mansir of Gardiner was selected via a highly competitive, rigorous process to represent Province 1. Not only did she participate in GC81 as a member of the Official Youth Presence, but she also helped create and testified on behalf of Resolution A086 – Create a Task Force for Youth Formation and World Mission, which was passed by both houses.
“This was about youth ministries abroad for people under 18, and the resolution itself was to adopt a substitution that would give more time to carefully plan the trips and make sure it was both safe for the people involved and effective,” says Mansir, the daughter of deputy Rev. Kerry Mansir, rector of Christ Church in Gardiner. “I testified to adopt the resolution to provide more time for us to calculate the resources we need and make sure that we clearly communicate with places that we’d be traveling to, the end goal and what was going to happen.”
Like Mansir’s participation at GC81, the idea for the resolution was sparked at the Episcopal Youth Event, held at the University of Maryland in July 2023. “I attended one of the presentations about mission trips abroad, and [Director of Faith Formation] Emily Keniston asked if this was an opportunity available for people under 18 because I and some other people were interested in it,” says Mansir. “They told us no, which made me interested in helping to change that. Emily helped me to track the resolution that she helped to present in a legislative committee. So, I logged into some of the meetings on Zoom to hear about it, and the opportunity came up at convention when it was taken off the consent calendar to testify for it. I felt strongly about it, so I wanted to speak.”
Ironically, by the time the Task Force for Youth Formation and World Mission completes its work, Mansir will likely have aged out of the cohort it seeks to benefit. “I’ve always wanted to travel abroad to do something through the church, but the main goal of adopting the resolution was making sure that even if people my age or older don’t get to experience it as youth, that future generations will,” she says. “I’m not going to be able to do it as a teenager, probably because of the time that it takes to plan the trips, but if younger people get to do it, then I’m happy with that.”
Asked about her overall experience at GC81, Mansir describes it as busy and exciting. “We were always doing something; not only did we go to the legislative sessions, but we also went to different forums for the president of the House of Deputies or House of Bishops,” she says. “So, we got to hear about the election process and who was running for different positions in the church. It was fun because we were with our peers and it was a little confusing at times, because a lot of the things didn’t necessarily pertain to us, but we got to learn a lot.” And her favorite aspect of her time in Louisville? “I really enjoyed the Official Youth Presence as a whole,” says Mansir. “They were all just super-nice people from all different places. Not only in America, there was someone from Columbia, so we got to talk to people from all over the country and learn about not only their life outside of church, but how church was different for them based on where they lived and their different experiences. And we all just had a lot of fun with each other. We got along really well. It definitely made the legislative sessions easier because they were very long, but we found a way to make it very enjoyable for ourselves.”
Learn more about the General Convention Official Youth Presence here.