FLORIDA: Bishop urges diocese to regroup, rebuild, find new leadership
Episcopal News Service. February 5, 2007 [020507-03]
Virginia Barrett Barker, Editor of The Diocesan, the newspaper of the Episcopal Diocese of Florida.
The 164th Annual Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Florida, meeting Saturday, January 27 at its now permanent home at Camp Weed and the Cerveny Conference Center in Live Oak, heard Bishop S. Johnson Howard outline expanding ministries with youth, college chaplaincies, renewed congregations, new church plantings, and new parochial and inner city schools.
Setting the tone of "joy and celebration," Howard's address to Convention focused on an outlook of "regrouping, rebuilding, finding new leadership, and preparation for the future ... Already we see sown within the moment in which we are living, the seeds of our future together," he said.
Developing an image taken from Colossians 2 of the church as "an organic, growing reality - like a tree," Howard recounted recent images of a church "as it ought to be ... truly rooted in faith ... built up in love ... and abounding in thanksgiving, constantly giving." He described the "spirit of celebration ... in our parishes and among our clergy and among all of our people ... a spirit of celebration and of joy."
Encouraging all to "act on our greatest hopes now," Howard was interrupted several times by applause as he outlined expanding ministries and encouraged .7 percent giving to the Millennium Development Goals, and underscored the work of FreshMinistries now around the world "without parallel in the church."
Delegates applauded the announcement of February 23 as the opening date at St. Andrew's, Interlachen, for the first of the diocesan experimental rural health clinics, in partnership with FreshMinistries and the Jessie Ball duPont Fund. Applause also greeted the Bishop's vision for housing at the Camp and Conference Center, enabling study and education about conservation of the gifts of nature, spiritual refreshment and spiritual direction. The full text of Bishop Howard's address is available here.
Assisting Bishop Charles L. Keyser was Convention chaplain and gave the homily in the Mandi's Chapel service, which included the United Thank Offering Ingathering. Keyser, retired Bishop of the Armed Forces, reflected in his sermon on personal experiences of conflict in the church and on the battlefield that challenged the fulfillment of the biblical admonition "that we all be one."
"I would submit," he said, "that we are really one when we gather at the altar to receive the body and blood of Christ ... 'For the remembrance of me' is to remind us to come back together at the altar. When we do that we become a pastoral body of Christ. And when we are at our best, we are a pastoral church ... that counts people in rather than kicking people out, blesses rather than condemns ... All [are] welcome at the Holy Communion ... This is the Diocese of Florida that I pray for, which at its best becomes a colony of Heaven."
With no resolutions proposed, the only votes taken by the nearly 400 clergy and lay delegates were two ballots to elect new members to the Standing Committee and Diocesan Council.
Presentations included reports on year-by-year response to each of the Millennium Development Goals; the nearly completed matching funds drive ($500,000) to help rebuild Katrina-blitzed St. Patrick's in Mississippi; the steady stream of mission trips by the Mississippi Katrina Task Force; FreshMinistries' expansion into national and international partnerships to combat HIV/AIDS and malaria; vital prison ministries encompassing Death Row visits, worship within the walls, and newly established Camp St. Elizabeth summer session for children of prisoners; two full-time college chaplaincies; 15 flourishing parochial schools and one high school; a fully redesigned diocesan website; and a solid Ministry on Aging.
Annual reports from ministries and congregations brought encouraging news and plans for growth.
Jack Hardman, chair of the Finance Committee, assured convention that "the financial condition of our diocese is sound." Payment of pledges to the Camp and Conference Center $5 million Campaign is "very much on target," Hardman said. "Keep it coming." All construction funded by the successful campaign has been completed and is in use.
"I have good news to give you today," said Dick Wilkerson, continuing the committee report. "Investments did well last year ... Keep the pledges coming in, and we'll retire those debts in five years as we planned." The year 2006 was closing out with a budget deficit of less than $10,000 to be covered by diocesan resources.
Delegates endorsed, without debate, the $1,867,457 budget for 2007 as approved by Diocesan Council and presented by Program, Budget and Audit Committee chair, the Rev. Tony Ferguson.
Lay leaders and clergy of the "church of tomorrow" were represented and participating in the church of today during the 2007 Convention.
Though their Youth Pavilion's basketball goals had been hoisted out of sight while the building morphed into a Convention hall largely filled with adults, the young people of the diocese remained in evidence with six youth delegates, holding full "seat, voice and vote" privileges, participating, and several seminarians registering for Convention.
Dedication of the Saffran and Young Conference Rooms drew many participants on the evening of January 26 for the service of celebration, reception, and dinner honoring the Rev. Walter Saffran and the Rev. George Young, Jr.