Development of the 74-75 General Church Program
Diocesan Press Service. December 8, 1971 [97-2]
GREENWICH, Conn -- The Executive Council of the Episcopal Church, meeting here December 7-9, adopted a joint report from its Development Committee and its Finance Committee regarding the development of the 1974-75 General Church Program.
Presented by William Ikard of El Paso, Tex. , a member of the Development Committee, the report asked the Executive Council "to commence now to formulate a broad outline for the 1974-75 General Church Program -- its theological rationale, its program content, and its methods of funding. "
The Executive Vice President, the Rt. Rev. Roger Blanchard, and the Vice President for Development, Oscar C. Carr, Jr., were charged with the responsibility of developing the general outline of the program, with a preliminary report to the Council in February, 1972, for action in May.
The outline to be presented in February will include plans to exchange views on the Council's proposed program with appropriate bodies throughout the Church, before presentation to the General Convention in Louisville, Ky., in the fall of 1973.
The result of this exchange of views, Mr. Ikard said, "will be a whole Church program. It won't be an Executive Council program; it won't be a General Church Program of the Program and Budget Committee. It will be the whole Church's program."
According to the canons of the Church, the Executive Council has the responsibility to " submit to the General Convention at each regular session thereof a program for the triennium, including a detailed budget of that part of the program for which it proposes to make appropriation for the ensuing year, and estimated budgets for the two succeeding years."
In the past, Mr. Ikard said, program and budget preparations have not usually begun until the spring preceding the triennial meeting of the General Convention in the fall.
Mr. Ikard emphasized that in the joint resolution from the Development and Finance Committees the Executive Council is required to take the leadership in developing the program and budget, including "alternate methods of funding."
"We, as leaders of the Church, " he said, "will propose a program that we think should be presented to the Church as the way to move the Church forward."
The Rev. Dr. John B. Coburn of New York City, chairman of the Development Committee of the Executive Council, and president of the House of Deputies of the General Convention, said:
"We are talking about how it is possible for the Executive Council as such to take real responsibility for program and budget, and not say that it is the assignment that is given to the staff because they are being paid a salary for that."
The Executive Vice President and the Vice President for Development will present their recommendations in February through a joint report of the Development and Finance Committees.