Council Votes $13 Million Budget at Annual Meeting
Diocesan Press Service. March 8, 1966 [41-1]
A 1966 budget of $13,462,404 was approved by the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church at its annual meeting Feb. 7 - 10 at Seabury House, Greenwich, Conn. Of this amount $9, 710,466 will go toward the extension of the Church's mission at home and abroad through the Council's Overseas and Home Departments.
Income for the budget comes primarily from diocesan quotas ($11,825,997); other sources being the United Thank Offering, trust funds, excess of 1965 income over expenditures and undesignated legacies.
In discussing the budget several Council members brought up the fact that some dioceses are having difficulties in meeting their financial obligations to the general church because of feeling against stands the national church has taken on social issues. The Council then voted a resolution of appreciation to those dioceses which, despite diminished income, continue to meet their obligations.
Concern for the problems of a modern society underlay much of the Council's discussions. A grant of $50, 000 was voted from a new fund for future program to be available to dioceses where there are urban areas likely to become points of crisis. This money was originally asked for as an increased objective for the 1966 Church and Race Fund, which is raised through voluntary contributions, but the necessity of having the money at hand as quickly as possible and the availability of a future program development fund led to the allotment of money from this source. The funds will be administered under the direction of the Department of Christian Social Relations.
Rural poverty and its consequences also concerned the Council. In a resolution, federal, state and local agencies were urged "to provide adequate assistance to relieve the deplorable condition of the Delta (Mississippi) poor." The resolution was the result of discussion about the breaking into and occupying of federal government property at Greenville, Miss. The Council made it clear in the resolution that it "deplores" the action, while also deploring the conditions which precipitated it. It asked that Episcopal representatives to the National Council of Churches "insist that the present study of the Delta Ministry include a thorough inquiry into every aspect of the occurrence at Greenville, including the underlying social and economic causes..." The discussion and resultant resolution were initiated by a telegram sent by Charles Crump of Memphis, Tenn., a Council member, expressing concern about the Delta Ministry's involvement in the incident and asking that the issue be brought before the Council. In presenting the issue, it was made clear that the involvement of the Delta Ministry was limited to providing a place for the Delta poor to meet and discuss their problems and to the participation of individuals.
Stewardship and the proposed Partnership Plan also received a large portion of the Council's consideration. In a resolution on the Partnership Plan, which means that each parish and mission, each diocese and missionary district should give to others at least as much as it keeps and spends on itself, Council called for the appointment of a executive officer for partnership as soon as possible, as requested by the 1964 General Convention. This officer would coordinate the work of Council members and other volunteers in explaining the implications of the plan to all dioceses. The resolution also appropriated $30, 000 to be used for the implementation of this program and for the salaries and expenses of the executive officer and his staff, to be administered at least temporarily by the Promotion Department. Because of the necessity for an underlying foundation of stewardship education, if the Partnership Plan is to be successful, the Council also called for the appointment of an ad hoc committee by Presiding Bishop Hines to present a plan for church-wide stewardship education to the June meeting of the Council.
Financial reports from several funds were presented at the meeting.
- The General Division of Women's work reported that United Thank Offering grants of some $404, 000 had been designated at its February meeting. Requests for grants from the UTO had amounted to almost $5,000,000.
- The Presiding Bishop's Fund For World Relief and Interchurch Aid had an income of $670, 861. 10 in 1965. Money from the Fund was appropriated to fellow churches of the Anglican Communion and the Wider Episcopal Fellowship, Eastern Orthodox Churches, the World Council of Churches, Church World Service and the Episcopal Church's own programs in the area of refugee relief and resettlement. Funds were also sent to dioceses in the United States and overseas which suffered from floods, hurricane, earthquakes and other natural disasters.
- The 1965 Church and Race Fund income totaled $114,006.87, including voluntary contributions, an allocation from the UTO and a balance from 1964.
- The report of funds received for the 1965 Church School Missionary Offering as of Dec. 31, 1965 showed the smallest total in recent years, $317,918.10.
- The Good Friday Offering for work in the Holy Lands amounted to $100, 366. 46 and was disbursed to the Joint Commission on Ecumenical Relations, to the Archbishop in Jerusalem, the Bishop in Iran, the Bishop in Jordan, the Diocese of the Sudan and to several ecumenical projects in the Near East.
The Overseas Department, which received a budget appropriation of $6, 123, 753 for 1966, presented a summary of the ways Episcopalians support overseas work over and above the general Department budget. Principal channels through which these funds flow are Projects for Partnership and projects circulated by the Anglican Executive Officer and certified by the Council; the "companion diocese" program; gifts to special projects or activities not part of the general inter-Anglican planning; gifts to overseas program labeled as a response to MRI but not related to any general church program; such funds as the Good Friday Offering and the Church School Missionary Offering; the UTO, Church Periodical Club and Supply work. Total support from all of these sources amounted to $2,696,403.62.
In other action, the Council:
-approved a grant of $14,000 for St. Christopher's Mission, Bluff, Utah.
-approved the establishment of a companion diocese relationship between the Dioceses of Milwaukee and Masasi (Church of the Province of East Africa) and the extension until 1967 of the companion diocese relationship between the Diocese of Michigan and the Missionary District of Alaska and the extension until 1968 of the companion diocese relationship between the Diocese of Chicago and the Diocese of Zululand and Swaziland (Church of the Province of South Africa).
-authorized the publication of Spanish language layreaders sermons,
-approved the appointment of two officers: The Rev. Stanley W. Plattenburg as administrator of field services in the Department of Christian Education and Maurice Heywood as assistant secretary, Unit of Field Studies, General Division of Research and Field Studies.
-authorized $28, 000 for the Lake Izabal Farming and Educational Project in Guatemala, Central America.
-re-elected the Rev. Canon Charles M. Guilbert as secretary of the Executive Council and Mrs. Margaret Lockwood and Mrs. Dorothy White as assistant secretaries.
The Rt. Rev. Plinio L. Simoes, Bishop of South Western Brazil and his family were guests of the Council at the meeting and he reported to the Council on the state of the Brazilian Episcopal Church since it became autonomous.