wfn.org | [ENS] Executive Council begins three-day meeting

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

>Episcopal News Service
>January 29, 2009

>Executive Council begins three-day meeting

Budget, covenant response, conversation with Episcopalians in Diocese
of San Joaquin on agenda

>By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service -- Stockton, California] The Episcopal
Church's 2010-2012 budget and a response to the St. Andrew's Draft of
the proposed Anglican Covenant topped the agenda January 29 as the
church's Executive Council convened a three day meeting here.

The meeting is taking place in the seat of the Episcopal Diocese of
San Joaquin (http://www.diosanjoaquin.org), a move made by the council
to show its support for the diocese's efforts at reorganization
(http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_96094_ENG_HTM.htm) since the
former leadership and a majority of its members joined
(http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_92524_ENG_HTM.htm) the
Argentina-based Anglican Province of the Southern Cone
(http://www.anglicancommunion.org/tour/province.cfm?ID=S5). Council
members are scheduled to spend time on January 30 hearing about the
progress made by the diocese.

Council began its meeting January 29 with an organizational plenary
session, followed by private conversation. Council members, Episcopal
Church Center staff and visitors celebrated Eucharist at midday.
Members also devoted another hour to Council's on-going effort to
participate in the church's anti-racism training effort.

Its four standing committees (Administration & Finance (A&F),
Congregations in Ministry (CIM), National Concerns (NAC) and
International Concerns (INC)) met for four hours on the 29th and will
also meet all morning on January 30.

During the afternoon of the 30th, Council will meet in plenary session
to hear Treasurer Kurt Barnes report on the draft triennial budget.
The Council must propose a budget for the upcoming three-year period
to the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget and Finance
(http://www.episcopalchurch.org/gc/ccab/ccab_21595_313638_ENG_HTM.htm)
(PB&F) no less than four months before the next meeting of the General
Convention. PB&F can then refine that version before it proposes a
budget to Convention.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori told the council during her
opening remarks on January 29 that "there's both good news and hard
news in terms of the budget situation."

"We have budget problems but they're budget challenges related to the
performance of the endowment; they're not related to diocesan
contributions that are at least flat, if not up," she said.

The council is also scheduled to hear a report on January 30 from its
Covenant Response Group, which is charged with drafting the council's
response to the current version of the proposed Anglican Covenant
(http://www.anglicancommunion.org/commission/covenant/index.cfm),
known as the St. Andrew's Draft
(http://www.anglicancommunion.org/commission/covenant/st_andrews/draft_te xt.
cfm).
The covenant drafters have asked provinces to say if they believe in
principle that they can commit to the covenant, what provincial
process is required for that commitment and what changes to the St.
Andrew's Draft would give them the greatest chance of being able to
make the commitment.

Members of the Diocese of San Joaquin will meet with council members
in the later part of the day and evening on January 30. On the
following day, the council will conclude the meeting with an all-day
plenary session to consider resolutions presented by its four
committees and other task groups.

>Also on January 29, the council:

* heard Jefferts Schori report on her activities since the council's
last meeting in October. In her remarks she noted that President
Barack Obama's administration "is reaching out to the faith
communities for consultation. It is refreshing and exceedingly
hopeful." The Episcopal Church's Office of Government Relations
(http://www.episcopalchurch.org/eppn) has already participated in a
number of meetings on policy issues, she said, "and we only expect
that to grow."

* heard Bonnie Anderson, president of the House of Deputies and
council vice president, give an overview of the February 22-27
Conference of the Anglican Churches in the Americas in Mutual
Responsibility and Mission
(http://episcopalchurch.org/79901_97274_ENG_HTM.htm) in San Juan,
Costa Rica. The idea for the gathering grew out of a November 2006
proposal for an Anglican regional convocation of the Americas that
Anderson made (http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_79758_ENG_HTM.htm)
to the council. Resolution INC005
(http://www.episcopalchurch.org/gc/ccab/ExecutiveCouncil_2006_Nov.pdf)
from that council meeting authorized a work group, appointed by
Anderson and Jefferts Schori, to develop the idea. The resolution said
that the goal of such convocation would be "to equip better our
churches for mutuality and interdependence in God's mission." The
February meeting will allow participants to tell their colleagues
about their mission and ministry along with training opportunities and
a day spent in service with Costa Rican Anglicans. The eight provinces
that have been invited to attend are the Episcopal Anglican Church of
Brazil (http://www.anglicancommunion.org/tour/province.cfm?ID=B1), the
Anglican Church of Canada (http://www.anglican.ca), the Anglican
Church of the Central America Region
(http://www.anglicancommunion.org/tour/province.cfm?ID=C3), the
Anglican Church of Mexico
(http://www.anglicancommunion.org/tour/province.cfm?ID=M2), Church in
the Province of the West Indies
(http://www.anglicancommunion.org/tour/province.cfm?ID=W3), the
Anglican Church of the Southern Cone of the Americas
(http://www.anglicancommunion.org/tour/province.cfm?ID=S5), and the
Episcopal Church of Cuba
(http://www.anglicancommunion.org/tour/province.cfm?ID=Y2), along with
the Episcopal Church. Each province was invited to send two clergy and
four lay representatives to the gathering, along with its primate and
provincial secretary or designated representatives. Anderson told the
council the hope is that "deep engagement with each other on a
personal level" about mission and ministry will result in the
development of new networks for regional mission efforts.

* received an update from Episcopal Church Chief Operating Officer
Linda Watt on the Church Center staff reorganization. She said that
the reorganization, which began about a year ago, is "essentially
done" and that regional offices in Los Angeles, Omaha, Seattle and
Washington, D.C. are fully staffed. Now, she said, the challenge is to
think strategically about coordinating the staff's work. Watt
acknowledged that the reorganization caused "a lot of turmoil" and
efforts are being made "to integrate us into a more cohesive whole."
One attempt was three days of training and networking held in the main
office in New York City in early January, she said.

* heard a report from newly hired Office of Communication Director
Anne Rudig (http://episcopalchurch.org/79901_103821_ENG_HTM.htm) about
efforts to position and brand the Church Center's four mission centers
(http://episcopalchurch.org) (Advocacy, Evangelism and Congregational
Life, Mission Leadership and Partnerships) that resulted from the
reorganization. She previewed for the council logos for each center
that had been developed with the help of people who work in those
centers, noting that part of their efforts included considering each
center's "future desired personality." The logos will debut on the
Episcopal Church's website "very soon," she said. Rudig also told
Council that part of her job is to "lead us into the brave new world
of new media" and to help the staff "work together more
collaboratively and creatively."

The Executive Council carries out the programs and policies adopted by
the General Convention, according to Canon I.4 (1)(a)
(http://www.churchpublishing.org/general_convention/pdf_const_2006/Title_ I_O
rgAdmin.pdf).
The council is composed of 38 members, 20 of whom (four bishops, four
priests or deacons and 12 lay people) are elected by General
Convention and 18 (one clergy and one lay) by provincial synods, plus
the Presiding Bishop and the president of the House of Deputies.

-- The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is Episcopal Life Media national
correspondent.