BTE Reports on Continuing Education Program
Diocesan Press Service. December 6, 1973 [73259]
ROCHESTER, N. Y. -- During the first year of the clergy continuing education program sponsored by the Board for Theological Education (BTE) of the Episcopal Church, 155 bishops and other clergy pursued study projects to meet their particular needs in their ministry.
Inaugurated in November, 1972, with a grant of $600,000 as "seed " money by the Episcopal Church Foundation, the program includes two funds, one for bishops, and the second for other clergy. During the first year, the BTE expended $203,678, and a total of $156,926 was contributed by individual clergy, parishes and dioceses.
Diocesan contributions to the program, totaling $63,892, ranged in amount from $45 to $12,000. Fifteen dioceses from which there were participants made no contribution. About 75 percent of the bishops and clergy engaged in the study program contributed a total of $62,215 of their own funds. The funds contributed by parishes, $30,819, does not include other expenses assumed, such as continuing salaries, pension premiums, supply clergy, and the use of the rectory by the family.
Participants pursued a wide variety of goals and purposes. Eighty-nine participants sought to improve skills, 35 engaged in study for academic enrichment, five clergy took courses for personal refreshment and growth, and 26 specified more than one purpose.
Such projects as the following were undertaken during the first year:
* The Bishop of Haiti was given a grant which enables him to leave his diocese for a few days occasionally to attend conferences and retreats.
* The Bishop of Eastern Oregon is taking flying instruction to enable him to reach the people better in his vast diocese.
* A priest in the Diocese of Quincy has been given a grant so that he can attend a university for a year to prepare himself to be the coordinator of continuing self-development for the clergy of the diocese.
* Several clergy in the Diocese of Montana have received grants to study as a group for a month in Scotland and England.
* The Archdeacon of Northern Alaska is enabled to undertake a program at the School of World Mission in Pasadena, Calif., to prepare himself to train other missionaries in Alaska.
* The chaplain to the schools of the University of Alabama's Medical Center will work with a famous London medical group for a number of months.
Forty-five of the clergy studied in theological seminaries, 26 of them in degree programs ; 36 were enrolled in colleges and universities, 21 of them in degree programs; 40 were involved in para-academic institutions with year round continuing education programs; and 34 were pursuing study projects in a variety of training programs such as hospitals and conference centers.
Applications for grants are submitted to the BTE by bishops and diocesan commissions on ministry after they have reviewed proposed projects by clergy in their jurisdictions. A grants committee of the BTE evaluates the proposals and takes final action.
In addition to the BTE national program, many parishes and dioceses have established their own programs of continuing education. A recent survey indicates that the number of dioceses including budget items for this purpose has doubled in the past two years.
The Rt. Rev. Ned Cole, Bishop of the Diocese of Central New York (Syracuse) is chairman of the BTE, and the Rev. Almus M. Thorp, Sr., is the executive director of the Board.