Foundation Directors Vote Loans to Dioceses
Episcopal News Service. June 1, 1978 [78158]
NEW YORK, N. Y. -- At its annual meeting in May, the Board of Directors of The Episcopal Church Foundation approved eight loans totaling $129,500 for building projects in seven dioceses. The loans will help to complete the construction programs of three parishes, four missions and a school of Indian girls. They are repayable in 10 annual, equal installments, with a 4 percent interest charge on the unpaid balance.
A loan of $15,000 to the Diocese of Alabama will help St. Stephen's, Birmingham, build a new parish hall to accommodate at worship services a congregation which has grown too large for the A-frame structure used since the parish was organized five years ago. Plans call for constructing a new sanctuary when the new hall as been paid for.
St. Ambrose's Mission shares facilities with the local Lutheran church in Foster City, Calif., but, since both congregations are growing, this arrangement has become increasingly impractical. Land has been purchased, and the congregation is building a simple wood-frame building to house a full-time nursery school and serve the needs of the congregation. Twenty years ago, Foster City did not exist, but now has a population of 25,000 and is still growing. A $20,000 loan to the Diocese of California will help pay for the construction.
A second loan to the Diocese of California, for $25,000, will aid St. Stephen'sin-the-Fields in San Jose to construct a shell to house a sanctuary, parish offices and classrooms. The mission was organized four years ago as a preaching station and now holds services in the conference room of a local hospital. The area where the mission is located is experiencing a steady population growth, and its membership is expected to increase even more rapidly when it has a church of its own.
The Diocese of East Carolina has received an additional loan of $7,500 to help St. Mary's in Burgaw, N. C., build a new church. The mission is on a 60-mile circuit with four other congregations and is visited twice a month by a retired priest. Other services are conducted by the laity, who also provide active leadership for the mission's community programs.
St. Peter's in Carson City, Nev., is rebuilding its church that was destroyed by fire and is also carrying out much-needed repairs on its rectory. A loan of $10,000 to the Diocese of Nevada will help the parish to complete this urgent work.
In 1970 St. Stephen's was opened as a summer mission in North Myrtle Beach, S.C., to serve the needs of vacationers who inflate the local population of 4,000 to 100, 000 on a popular summer weekend. With the arrival of a full-time vicar, the congregation has grown steadily and is now building a larger church. The Diocese of South Carolina has received a loan of $7,000 to help finance the construction.
St. Mary's School for Indian Girls in Springfield, S. D., is the only accredited school for Indian girls in the country. Founded by an Episcopal bishop in 1873, it is now a diocesan school and enrolls students without regard to their tribe, degree of Indian blood or denomination. A $15,000 loan to the Diocese of South Dakota will help defray the costs of building a new chapel, which will also be used by the local Episcopal parish.
Since its founding in 1972, St. Andrew's Mission in Burke, Va., has held services in the houses of its members and local school buildings. The mission is located in one of the fastest growing parts of northern Virginia, and a demographic study predicts that its size will increase sevenfold in the next eight years. A loan of $30,000 to the Diocese of Virginia will help to construct a multi-purpose building to provide worship, classroom and office space.
The Revolving Loan Fund is one program of The Episcopal Church Foundation, which also makes grants and awards fellowships for doctoral study. As a national, independent organization of lay men and women, the Foundation supports projects of significance to the Church that would otherwise be left undone.