Diocesan gatherings consider finances, ministry challenges
Episcopal News Service. February 11, 2010 [021110-01]
Mary Frances Schjonberg, Jacqui Belcher and Scott Lenoir, Diocesan Communicators
The Episcopal Church's Epiphanytide season of diocesan conventions and councils continued Feb. 5-7 with gatherings in the dioceses of East Carolina, Georgia and Mississippi.
While snow and ice storms affected diocesan gatherings the previous weekend, the Super Bowl figured into the plans of at least one diocese. Mississippi Bishop Duncan Gray III announced prior to the start of that diocese's gathering that the closing Eucharist on Feb. 7 would begin at 9 a.m. so participants would have time to drive home before the 6:25 p.m. EST kickoff.
Following is a partial summary of actions taken in diocesan conventions:
Diocese of East Carolina
During the diocese's 127th gathering in New Bern, participants viewed both "Voices of Witness: Africa," a film that features gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in Africa, and "Traces of the Trade," in which Katrina Browne chronicles her family's uncovering of its role in the sale trade.
The screenings were part of the convention's effort to consider Anglican social justice through the medium of film. Convention participants also held a service of repentance for slavery and racism in the region and nation.
"We are gathered today to express our profound and genuine regret that the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of East Carolina, formed in 1883 by General Convention, supported de-jure and de-facto desegregation and discrimination after slavery was formerly abolished in 1865," Bishop Clifton Daniel said at the start of the service. "We gather to repent, to apologize for our complicity in the injury done by the institution of slavery in its racist and economic aftermath."
During the convention's opening Eucharist, Daniel called for the diocese "to punch holes in the darkness of the world and in accord with our baptismal vows, to forego punching holes in our neighbor."
Collections from the service went to food banks in eastern North Carolina and to Haiti.
Daniel's convention address touched on a variety of subjects including companion relationship talks with the Diocese of the Dominican Republic the introduction of new assisting bishop Santosh Marray and the need for a pastoral response to gay and lesbian church members.
Daniel also said that "the flood of Hispanics into our region is the greatest evangelistic challenge we will face in our generation, and they are already part of us!"
A resolution called for study of the Anglican Covenant so that participants in the next convention will be "prepared to discuss and act on the Anglican Communion Covenant."
Other approved resolutions are here. Complete coverage of the convention, including video clips, is available here.
Diocese of Georgia
Bishop Scott A. Benhase, ordained and consecrated on Jan. 23, led the diocese's 189th annual gathering Feb. 4-6.
He urged the diocese to set for itself three goals: to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, to serve "the lost and the left out" and to be good stewards of the church's resources.
"For too long in the Episcopal Church we have behaved like we … could march into town, open our church doors, and people would come right in by the hundreds, but only if they truly deserved to be Episcopalians," Benhase said. "Well, I'm not sure those good old days ever existed, but if they did, they are no longer with us. God has placed us in this new day with new challenges and opportunities. And we have some hard gospel work to do."
He also touched on the high cost of educating clergy and said that, while he was not suggesting that standards be lowered, "we have to change some of our expectations and find new, creative ways of training and sustaining our clergy for parish leadership." He called for the creation of a school for pastoral ministry to mirror the diocese's existing Deacon School for Ministry.
The convention welcomed two mission congregations into self-supporting parish status: King of Peace, Kingsland, and St. Luke's, Hawkinsville.
During the closing Eucharist four people were ordained to the transitional diaconate: William Dolen (St. Paul's, Augusta), Lynn Prather (Good Shepherd, Augusta), Iane Sastre (King of Peace, Kingsland), Justin Yawn (Christ Church, Frederica, St. Simons Island).
The convention approved a $1.475 million budget, which is about $63,000 less than the 2009 actual budget and about $237,000 less than was budgeted for 2009.
There were no resolutions.
More convention information, including Benhase's address, is here.
Diocese of Mississippi
In his opening address to the 183rd Annual Council in Tupelo, Bishop Duncan Gray III noted that despite financial obstacles and internal disagreements, 22 churches in the diocese have launched, completed or seriously considered capital campaigns.
"Such progress at the local level is surely one sign of the vitality of the church in this diocese," said Gray.
In the last 18 months, Gray said, he had blessed three new churches and two expanded ones.
"In the next few months, I will be dedicating new facilities at Trinity Church, Pass Christian; Christ Church, Bay St. Louis; and at Nativity, Greenwood," he said.
Due to the severity of financial burdens in the last two years, Gray said, the diocese has been forced to ask itself what is essential and foundational in its ministries, and has engaged a consultant to help in a diocesan-wide conversation about its priorities.
Gray also decried what he called a "flabby theology of stewardship that is, in part, responsible for our current challenges" and noted that despite cuts, the 2010 budget invests $20,000 for a new planned giving initiative.
Gray addressed concerns he said he knows exist within the diocese regarding his episcopacy and said that he has disappointed all in the diocese in some ways.
"Because of my refusal to be bound to any particular group, I have been called wishy-washy, a chameleon, even sometimes to my face. I prefer to call it: being a bishop," he told the gathering.
The council adopted a nearly $2.3 million budget that contained several cuts and eliminated some programs. The budget may have to be cut by an additional $35,000 due to declines in pledging.
More information about the council is to be posted here.