Budget priorities for the next triennium had the attention of members of the Executive Council during its meeting June 14-17 in Appleton, Wis. The planning and evaluation committee of the council dominated the sessions with reports and discussions which took all of one morning, followed by updates and presentations of the committee's ongoing work addressed during later plenary sessions.

The Hon. James E. Bradberry, of the Diocese of Southern Virginia, member of the planning and evaluation committee, told council members that setting budget priorities and revising the budget process is meant to change the ways the church does business as an institution. Council members' discussions would help, he said, to shape the programs and ministries of the church beyond General Convention 2000. Judge Bradberry urged the council to dream. Don't talk about "how to," he said, "... today, talk about what if."

The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold, Presiding Bishop, asked the council to look for strong energies for particular ministries and then to find and link passions and energies together to discern priorities.

The guidelines established for budget development in the 2000-2003 triennium continue the emphases on global mission and peace and justice. Specifically, they seek to make disciples and apostles by inviting, teaching, deploying and nurturing leaders for the future; to promote diversity by becoming "a church rich with all sorts and conditions of men and women"; and to enhance communications for the 21st century by the use of "available and developing technology to inform, educate and connect us to one another and the world."

The council's communications committee spent much of its time discussing concerns brought to it from the May meeting of the Episcopal Communicators, concerns which indicated a trend toward reducing diocesan communicators' positions from full- to part-time or contractor status. With enhancement of communications for the 21st century identified as a major priority of the Executive Council, the committee considered the challenges and responsibilities of full-time diocesan communicators that might include functions such as press officer, media and public relations contact, consultant to congregations. "This is not a time to reduce communications to a marginal role," said Ralph Spence of Montana, chair of the communications committee.

In response to concerns expressed by the program, budget and finance committee of the Episcopal Church Center in New York City, which suggested that the Episcopal Book Resource Center be closed if it cannot break even financially, the administration and finance committee of the council put forward a resolution affirming the bookstore as it functions - primarily as a hospitality and ecumenical outreach ministry. The resolution requests the management team to strengthen the bookstore's ministries.

The committee for international and national concerns submitted, among others, resolutions requesting assistance for the rehabilitation of churches and institutions, including Cuttington University College in the Diocese of Liberia, in the aftermath of the civil war.

The Rt. Rev. Russell Jacobus, Bishop of Fond du Lac, and his diocese were hosts to the council meeting. Bishop Jacobus moved the annual diocesan Eucharistic Festival from Sunday to Wednesday evening in order to accommodate the council's visit. Some 515 communicants and others attended the Eucharist, despite an afternoon of rain and earlier tornado warnings in the Fond du Lac area. Clergy, religious and laity of the diocese presented examples of the missions and ministries of this small but active diocese.

For some council members the outdoor procession, complete with canopy, and eucharistic adoration, amid traditional "smells and bells" was a new experience. Bishop Griswold quipped that he would lead conversations on the eucharistic theology of Thomas Aquinas after dinner on Thursday evening.