Six dioceses gather to grapple with budget, canons and celebrate mission
Episcopal News Service. November 6, 2009 [110609-05]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
As the Episcopal Church's fall diocesan convention season continues, six dioceses gathered over the Oct. 30-Nov. 1 weekend.
The Diocese of Minnesota elected the Rev. Brian Prior, rector of Church of the Resurrection in Spokane, Washington, and House of Deputies vice president, to be its next bishop and the Diocese of Northern Michigan's agreed on a process to search for a new bishop.
Both Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson were in the Diocese of South Dakota to participate in the ordination and consecration of John Tarrant as bishop coadjutor.
Following is a partial summary of diocesan actions at gatherings during the weekend.
Diocese of Hawai'i. Meeting in convention for the 41st time, the diocese reduced its annual gathering to one day, citing "the radical economic fluctuations, unstable employment conditions and uncertain recovery prospects while reducing the financial cost of conducting the business of the Episcopal Diocese of Hawai'i." The convention normally runs from Thursday evening through Saturday.
The diocese approved a proposed 2010-2012 budget that includes a one percent reduction (from 21 percent to 20) in the assessment to congregations to support the work of the diocese. The diocesan council's letter accompanying the budget noted that it "anticipates the continued decline in our local economy until 2012."
In a related move, the convention set the 2009 clergy compensation policy with no increases in compensation, after several years of significant increases, in response to the economic times, according to the Rev. Canon Liz Beasley.
Bishop Bob Fitzpatrick's convention address was shown as a prerecorded video. He chose this method to allow the address to be sent on a DVD to all of the diocese's congregations so that all members could hear his reflections on their joint ministry, Beasley said.
The convention acted on 10 resolutions ranging from ones on clergy compensation and stewardship to human sexuality and evangelism.
Delegates strongly supported resolutions that affirmed General Convention Resolution D025 which concerned the openness of the Episcopal Church's ordination process and Resolution C056 which set up a process for developing possible rites for blessing same-gender relationships. Delegates also called for same-gender couples in Hawai'i to have the same rights as heterosexual couples.
Diocese of Indianapolis. The 172nd meeting of convention featured a half-day Eucharistic liturgical and teaching experience with Bishop Cate Waynick, which sent delegates out into Indianapolis where they made candy Christmas wreaths for Ministry on the River, wrote letters to a Hoosier troop serving in Afghanistan, served lunch to homeless people, and painted a house for women who have been incarcerated and their children, among other mission activities. Delegates then reconvened to continue the Eucharist and discuss their experiences.
The convention affirmed basic healthcare as a right for all and passed a series of canonical amendments on the role of the Investment and Finance Committee in the diocese and concerning guidelines for parish improvement to real estate or equipment involving indebtedness. It also welcomed St. David's Episcopal Church in Bean Blossom, as a parish and Canterbury House/Indiana University as a campus ministry.
Waynick told the 172 convention that the diocese has "not been immune to problems; the closing of manufacturing plants has left some of our members and parishes struggling financially. Some of our endowed parishes have made the decision to reduce their staffs."
Waynick noted that most parishes have paid their diocesan assessments in a "faithful and timely" manner. The $3.85 million budget proposed to convention called for reducing the assessment in 2010 by a half-percent and keeping aid to congregations stable in 2009 and 2010, she said. The committee on compensation also recommended that clergy salaries be held flat in 2010 despite an increase in clergy's copayments for health insurance, the bishop said.
She also noted that her challenge during last year's convention for the diocese to raise $65,000 for ministries in Indianapolis' companion dioceses of Bor and Brasilia in fact raised more than $140,000.
Diocese of Minnesota. In addition to Prior's election, the convention passed a resolution about mission strategy for the coming year. The diocese will continue to work with a Mission Strategy Network that was formed this year. The goals for the 2009-2010 work of the group include "spiritual transformation and fuller participation in God’s mission, renew congregations in context, recreate the diocese as a network, and develop effective stewardship of financial resources." The 152nd meeting of the convention also established a "Green Episcopal Congregations in Minnesota" program aimed at reducing the congregations' carbon footprint.
The convention made two canonical changes. It added what it called "good governance canons" that establish three standing com¬mittees of the diocesan council (personnel, finance and audit) and outlined the responsibility of each. It also added a canon concerning the operation of total- and share-ministry teams. Thirty-eight congregations use the ministry models that formally incorporate lay and ordained people into leadership roles but the diocese's canons did not recognize and govern their existence.
Finally, convention reviewed the diocese's 2010 budget that was approved in September by its diocesan council. The $2.02 million budget is close to $424,000 less than what was budgeted for 2009. Included in the cuts is the elimination of the diocese's development budget.
Diocese of West Missouri. Bishop Barry Howe, who has announced his intention to retire in 2011, told the 120th meeting of convention that "the economic downturn that has dominated our lives has been severe."
"With perhaps but few exceptions, almost all congregations have members who have lost their jobs," he said. "And perhaps even more devastating, there are some in our congregations who have lost their homes. With these personal losses, our congregations have been affected in their stewardship results and in their economic bottom line."
Howe praised the fact that, despite the economic climate, close to 97 percent of congregations paid their full assessment to the diocese. However, he said he would appoint a committee to carry out a mandate from five years ago when most assessments were lowered.
Convention delegates acted on four resolutions. One authorized the process to search for Howe's successor while another was the first of two needed approvals to change the diocese's constitution to elected youth delegates to diocesan convention. The convention also passed a resolution urging congregations to be aware of the dangers presented by pornography and consider education programs on the ethical issues that surround pornography.
Finally, delegates asked the bishop and Standing Committee to consider asking for permission to switch the diocese's provincial membership from Province VII to Province V. Missouri is one of only two states in the entire Episcopal Church in which the dioceses located in the state are in separate provinces of the Episcopal Church.
Diocese of Western New York. The 172nd meeting of convention directed diocesan council to include at least $2,000 in the diocese's 2010 budget "to provide seed money for further mission trips and support ongoing youth mission work throughout the diocese" and to direct the Youth Commission to examine ways "to further engage in mission work at home and abroad extending opportunities to teach our young people the importance of service in God’s name."
Then, participants put their money where their mouths were, according to an account on the diocese's website. The Rev. Leon Mozeliak of Trinity Episcopal Church in Hamburg said, "If all of us just took a ten dollar bill out of our wallets right now, we could fund this." After the resolution passed, lay delegate Al Price of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Eggertsville challenged participants to do so. In the end, $2,009 was collected, and it was suggested that Diocesan Council match those funds when the 2010 budget is finalized.
Bishop Michael Garrison told the convention that some congregations in the diocese are having financial difficulties brought on in some places by what he called "an over dependence on endowments" and the region's population decline. Those difficulties have been exacerbated by the economic downturn, he said.
"We also need to ask ourselves over the next few years, if we can any longer support the number of church buildings in which our community worships," Garrison said. "This will be very difficult for, as I travel about the diocese, I know the devotion and hard work that generations of our people have invested in our churches in Western New York."
Garrison told the convention that a new Episcopal Church community called Holy Apostles has been meeting in the church that the majority of the members of St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in Tonawanda left behind when they chose to leave. "But due to our diocesan financial constraints, the support we can provide for this community is limited," Garrison said, added that he has asked the diocese's trustees to develop a plan for the use of the building.