Executive Council promises support, money to continuing Episcopalians
Episcopal News Service, Helena, Montana. October 23, 2008 [102308-03]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
The Episcopal Church's Executive Council October 23 renewed its ongoing support of dioceses in which the leadership has left or plans to leave the church, and pledged the church to seek reconciliation "without precondition on our part."
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori told council members that she appreciated their sense that irreconcilable differences are inconsistent with the gospel. "It is profoundly unchristian and unhopeful to say that differences can be irreconcilable," she said.
House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson echoed that sentiment during a post-meeting news conference, noting that the remaining members of the Diocese of San Joaquin "have done some very, very hard work … in reconciliation in trying to draw in people who were, shall we say, on the fence." Executive Council said October 23 that "it stands ready to help," Anderson added.
During the closing sessions of its four-day meeting in Helena, the seat of the Diocese of Montana, the council passed four resolutions that speak to various aspects of its commitment to the new leadership of the dioceses of Pittsburgh and San Joaquin, as well as to other "similarly situated dioceses."
The leadership of Pittsburgh decided earlier this month to leave the Episcopal Church, following the December 2007 lead of San Joaquin. The dioceses of Fort Worth and Quincy will consider similar action in November.
In its four resolutions the council:
- Agreed (via Resolution A&F075) to make available up to $700,000 in 2009 for clergy salaries and other expenses in San Joaquin and other similarly situated dioceses, joined the Presiding Bishop in recognizing the current members of the San Joaquin and Pittsburgh standing committees; and "commend[ed] the work of all those involved in supporting the efforts by dioceses to exercise their pastoral and fiduciary responsibilities in regard to the ownership of properties and funds."
- Recognized (via Resolution NAC039) "the extraordinary challenges" presented by the departure of the bishops and numerous clergy and laity in San Joaquin and Pittsburgh; commended Jefferts Schori, Anderson, and the staff of the Episcopal Church Center for the "pastoral care and support offered the clergy and people of those dioceses as they work to restructure their dioceses in order to continue to minister to the Episcopal Church in their areas"; supported the depositions of William Cox, John-David Schofield and Robert M. Duncan; and commended Jefferts Schori's request that Episcopalians to pray for all persons departing or remaining in those dioceses and for God to "lead us to new paths of reconciliation and common mission."
- Committed (via Resolution CIM035) to "being proactive in assisting dioceses whose leadership has chosen to leave the Episcopal Church" including asking the presiding officers appoint a strategy response team to assess needs, determine appropriate responses, report to council; and to meet with diocesan leaders and other interested persons in the Diocese of San Joaquin during the council's January 30-February 2 sessions in Stockton, California.
- Expressed (via Resolution NAC042) a desire to seek reconciliation with those who have left the Episcopal Church.
That fourth resolution speaks of the church's "heartfelt desire to seek the reconciliation we are promised in Christ our Savior, and the unity of disciples for which he prayed, through conversation with the members of the Common Cause Partnership either individually or collectively and without precondition on our part."
The Common Cause Partnership is the organization headed by deposed Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan that aims to organize an Anglican province in North America that would be recognized by at least some Anglican leaders.
Council members asked that Jefferts Schori and Anderson appoint a reconciliation task force that would seek "a person acceptable to all parties" to facilitate such conversations in consultation with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council.
The four resolutions build on the support the council expressed in a letter to the church after its February 2008 meeting in Quito, Ecuador.
The council acted October 23 on a number of other resolutions from its four standing committees: Administration and Finance (A&F), Congregations in Ministry (CIM), National Concerns (NAC) and International Concerns (INC).
Council sets consequences for paying less than full asking
Concerned about dioceses that do not pay General Convention's 21 percent assessment, the Executive Council expressed gratitude (via Resolution A&F079s) to those dioceses that meet the full asking for the Episcopal Church budget as approved by the General Convention. They also encouraged the General Convention Office to give priority to holding meetings of committees, commissions, agencies and boards (CCABs), House of Bishops, Executive Council, and other church-wide events in dioceses that meet the full asking. The council also encouraged the office "to exercise restraint" in scheduling meetings in those dioceses who choose not to participate at the full level.
The decision is based on the recommendation of an A&F subcommittee on diocesan commitments headed by council member the Rev. Gay Jennings. Thirty-nine of the Episcopal Church's 110 dioceses pay the 21 percent assessment or more, according to 2007 statistics. Seventeen pay between 15 percent and 20 percent and 41 pay less than 15 percent. Fourteen dioceses give money to the church but do not submit the needed budget documents to allow for a percentage calculation.
"We're trying to encourage accountability," Jennings told the council.
A&F chair Josephine Hicks and Jennings said that, while some dioceses do having difficulty meeting the full assessment, they found it troubling when dioceses choose not to pay the full asking even though they are capable of doing so.
Canon I.4.6 of the Episcopal Church's Constitution and Canons requires General Convention to establish the formula for diocesan assessments.
Resolution D079 from the 75th General Convention in June 2006 set the assessment at 21% of diocesan income after a $100,000 exemption from total income, based on the year two years prior to the one to which the pledge is applied. The asking has not changed from 21% since the 72nd General Convention in 1997.
In a related action, the council agreed (via Resolution AF078) that beginning in the 2010-2012 triennium each council member would develop relationships with three dioceses to maintain regular contact "with regard to our common mission," the actions of Executive Council which impact the dioceses and the response of the dioceses to the General Convention's budgetary asking.
Another related resolution called (via Resolution NAC037) for the Standing Commission on the Structure of the Church to study whether it would be appropriate to change the current configuration of dioceses because "certain dioceses are struggling to remain viable," according to the resolution's explanation. Some of that reconfiguration may begin soon because the dioceses of Eau Claire and Fond du Lac in northern Wisconsin are considering asking the General Convention for permission to merge.
Council backs mandatory lay pensions
The council members supported (via Resolution CIM034) an effort that will be presented to the 76th General Convention to amend parts of Canon 1.8 to establish a mandatory lay-employee pension system. The requirement would apply to people who are scheduled to work a minimum of 1,000 hours annually for any domestic ecclesiastical organization or body subject to the authority of the church. The system would be provided by the Church Pension Group (CPG).
The recommendation grew out of research conducted by CPG in response to 75th General Convention Resolution A125 that called for the organization to study the church's lay employees and consider whether providing lay pensions should be required by canon, and whether a pension plan should be administered by a single provider. That study showed that not all such employees are covered 17 years after General Convention passed Resolution D165a, saying church-related employers "shall provide" lay pension benefits for employees who work at least 1,000 hours.
Among the significant findings of the study are:
- Approximately 27,500 lay employees serve domestic congregations and 1,300 serve in domestic dioceses.
- Ninety-three percent of diocesan lay employees who work 20 hours or more a week and have been employed for more than one year have employer-provided pension benefits. Approximately 70 percent of similar congregational employees are covered.
- Eighty percent of the covered diocesan employees and 67 percent of the congregational employees participate in Church Pension Fund plans.
- Average compensation for male lay employees exceeds that of female employees in all jobs categories except for diocesan employees and church musicians.
- Average annual compensation for female lay employees in congregational administration is approximately $9,000 less than their counterparts in other denominations.
- Seventy-two percent of all lay employees are female, but only 68 percent of female lay employees of congregations have pension benefits while 77 percent of male lay congregational employees have pension benefits.
The study estimated the cost to provide pension benefits to those lay employees who are not covered ranges from $34 to $12 per pledging unit, depending upon the size of the congregation. The average cost would be approximately $20 per pledging unit.
While Council member Kim Byham, a member of a task force that studied the issue, suggested that the lay-pension mandate "may be the most hotly debated resolution at General Convention," he said approving the plan "[is] not going to bankrupt any parishes and it's something that cries out for justice."
In response to a question, Byham said that the task force decided not to attempt to raise the employer contribution from nine percent (for a defined-benefit plan) to match the 18 percent level required for clergy contributions at the same time it was attempting to make lay pension benefits canonically required. The Episcopal Church was the first denomination to require pension benefits for its clergy.
Covering lay employees in overseas dioceses is complicated by differing tax regulations and local laws, the study concluded. It called for more study of ways to include overseas employees. Council passed a related resolution (CIM033) to recommend that the 76th General Convention continue the work of the Task Force to Study Employment Policies and Practices for further study of those issues as well as considering how to treat independent 501(c)(3) schools and other institutions affiliated with Episcopal congregations or dioceses and to monitor with CPG implementation [the to-be proposed] canon.
The entire study results are available here.
On October 23, the council also:
- Approved the 2009 budget. Details from an October 22 budget presentation made to council are available here. The complete 90-page budget will be posted here soon.
- Set up a visioning process (via Resolution INC055) for the United Thank Offering(UTO), given that questions have arisen about the organization's legal and tax-exempt relationship with the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society. INC Chair Sandra McPhee called that relationship "fuzzy" at the moment, adding that such uncertainty "can cause unhappiness within our relationship of the [Internal Revenue Service]." She said that a "spirit of enthusiasm and support" for UTO's work has filled INC's conversations with UTO officials. Council asked the presiding officers to appoint an ad hoc committee to "undertake a serious and extensive study of the current and future" of the United Thank Offering in terms of roles, purposes, function, operational procedures and vision, and report to the 77th General Convention in 2012.
A summary of resolutions the Executive Council passed during its October 20-23 meeting in Helena is available here.
The Executive Council carries out the programs and policies adopted by the General Convention, according to Canon I.4 (1)(a) . The Council is composed of 38 members, 20 of whom (four bishops, four priests or deacons and 12 lay people) are elected by General Convention and 18 (one clergy and one lay) by provincial synods, plus the Presiding Bishop and the president of the House of Deputies.