Church Finds Associate with Help of Computer
Diocesan Press Service. November 8, 1972 [72189]
TOLEDO, Ohio (DPS) -- When St. Michael's-in-the-Hills Episcopal Church here needed an associate rector, it turned to the Clergy Deployment Office's (CDO) computerized data system to find the right man -- and found him.
The new associate rector is the Rev. David A. Stoddart, III, former rector of St. Barnabas' Episcopal Church, Berlin, N. H..
This use of the CDO's computer is the first instance when personnel profile information has been used exclusively to fill a position. More than two-thirds of the 8,500 active clergy of the Episcopal Church are now registered in the manpower system.
According to the Rev. Raymond T. Ferris, rector of St. Michael's, two searches were made through the CDO's data system. The first search attempted to locate an associate from the midwest area, but without success. Mr. Stoddart was found when the search included the personnel profiles for the entire Episcopal Church.
" In reading the profiles which were forwarded to me through the Bishop's office, " Mr. Ferris said, "I spotted quickly the qualifications we were looking for."
Mr. Stoddart said, " When I received a telephone call from Mr. Ferris, stating that my name had been matched with St. Michael's, needless to say, I was surprised!"
He recalled how he had spent hours during the summer of 1970 filling out the required questionnaire, "muttering under my breath angry words about becoming a punch-hole card on another system."
But, he said, he sent in the data "because I believed in the conviction of the CDO that a better system had to be found for the movement of clergy than the haphazard 'who you know' method."
" I thank the Clergy Deployment Office," he continued, "for the match that has led to a new and exciting ministry, and I hope that other parishes and missions will avail themselves of the opportunities of a better system of the deployment of clergy. "