| 
Announcements
Convention
Convention addresses Bishop
Councell: http://newjersey.anglican.org/DiocesanConvention/2010/BpCouncellAddress.html
Presiding Bishop Jefferts
Schori: http://newjersey.anglican.org/DiocesanConvention/2010/PBaddress.html
Our Bishop, The Rt. Rev. George E.
Councell, opened the 226th annual Diocesan Convention
on Friday March 5 promptly at 10:00AM with a prayer
and paused to celebrate the 225th anniversary of the
Diocese of New Jersey. Despite providing guidance
for a VERY large Diocese and managing Parkinson’s
disease, Bishop Councell is an excellent Leader, Speaker
and Organizer. We are blessed by his presence.
To celebrate the 225th Anniversary
of our Diocese, eight quilts were presented to the
Cathedral by our eight Convocations, with each member
church creating one square. All complete quilts were
designed and assembled by the “Quilt Task Group”
from the Cathedral. We are members of the Monmouth
Convocation and Gretchen Batchelar graciously provided
a St. Mary’s square for our quilt. Pictures
are available via e-mail from Al Wagner and in print
for viewing from Gretchen Batchelar.
A Nominating Committee Report was
presented. Voting instructions were outlined and the
First Ballot was cast to fill open positions in the
diocese. The first ballot went very well but in a
throwback to the very old, old days, It took (2) days
and (6) ballots to fill the slate which was only completed
with a gracious candidate withdrawal.
Bishop Councell gave an excellent address in which
he cited the history of the Episcopal Church from
Europe to the present. He declared we are still a
MISSION church and that our mission is: GO OUT and
HELP! He said our Missionary is Jesus Christ and that
Jesus “Helps from the inside”. The Bishop
pointed out that we are a Diocese in decline as are
most in the United States. Our Presiding Bishop, The
Most Reverend Dr. Katherine Jefferts Schori, said
that although most of our overseas dioceses are increasing
in membership, in the US there is only growth in Navajoland,
North Dakota, Wyoming and Alabama. One of the fastest
growing is the Diocese that includes Haiti. Regarding
Membership & Finance –I quote our Bishop:
“Things are bad! We are under water!”
but the Bible says: ‘Don’t be afraid!
Our life is not about property! Life is about change!’”.
We must change our practices to survive, continue
outreach and move forward. One example is that our
companion Diocese of Central Ecuador and its Bishop,
the Rt. Rev. Luis Ruiz has formed a committee to direct
gifts offered to the most appropriate recipient, resulting
in a bigger impact. We can all learn from new thinking.
Bishop Councell’s motivating phrase for the
convention says it all. GET UP AND GET OUT OF HERE!
Presiding Bishop Schori agreed, stating that warmly
welcoming the occasional visitor to our church is
no longer enough – we must get up from our warm,
softly padded pews and go out into the world.
FINANCIAL NEW THINKING: Last fall
the Diocese went paperless so instead of receiving
Diocesan - printed Convention materials in the mail,
I had the privilege of going to their website and
printing on MY paper. Bad for me but good for you
as everything prepared prior to the convention, including
reports, proposed resolutions and budgets are available
online. Also on the website are our Bishop’s
address and the Keynote Address to the Convention
by Presiding Bishop Schori. Both addresses are well
worth the read! I was and continue to be VERY IMPRESSED
by all the convention presenters but particularly
by Bishop Schori and Bishop Councell.
You may want to go to the Diocesan website and look
at Resolution 2010-3 resolving to facilitate the formation
and support of 10 new Hispanic missions and an equal
number of non-Hispanic missions by 2019 which prompted
GREAT discussion and which was finally referred back
to committee for rewording. It is a complicated issue
involving several large Hispanic communities searching
for a stable source of financing. Please ask for print
outs if you do not have computer access.
REGARDING FINANCES: Bishop Councell
said Fair Share Giving had dropped from a high of
77% of Fair Share Asking in 2004/2005 to only 64%
in 2009. This shortfall places a serious burden on
Diocesan finances. FOR EXAMPLE: our Assistant Bishop
Romero will retire on April 1st. and we will be without
an assistant for the balance of 2010! Also, funds
for a new Assistant in this VERY large Diocese were
not budgeted for 2011. THIS IS NOT GOOD FOR OUR VERY
CAPABLE BISHOP OR THE DIOCESE OF NEW JERSEY! On Saturday
it was Moved, Seconded and passed to fund a new Assistant
Bishop position in 2011! However, it was pointed out
that the necessary money would have to be supplied
by the parishes. Bishop Councell advised that a new
formula was being considered for Fair Share Pledging
and pointed out that Resolution 2010-1 stated that
Tithing is the minimum standard of giving in the Episcopal
Church. That Resolution requested all Convention personnel
to sign a form stating that they were either tithing
or had definite plans to do so within 5 years.
THE TASK FORCE: Due to the continuing
shortfall of Diocesan Fair Share Receipts a Task Force
was created in 2009 to provide guidance for the Bishop
and the Diocese. First the Task Force answered the
perennial question: What does the Diocese do for parish
churches? The answer – What member Churches
can’t do efficiently for themselves in three
areas.
• Congregational Support including Clergy Deployment,
Insurance, Benefits and pastoral care of the Clergy.
• Outreach within the Diocese for supporting
Mission Churches and Campus Ministries, and finally
• Ministries sponsored by the National Church
and the Anglican Communion
The Diocesan Task Force on Restructure report is also
on the website. It is 19 Pages long and discusses
prioritizing activities of the Diocese from “Must
Do” to “It would be nice to do”.
It also suggested eliminating funding for selected
low priority items to insure that the “Must
Do” tasks were properly supported. It is an
informative read.
THE PRESIDING BISHOP: I had not
heard the Most Reverend Dr. Katherine Jefferts Schori
speak previously. Bishop Schori has done both Doctorate
and Post Doctorate Studies in Marine Biology and brings
science and logic to our religion as I have never
heard before. She believes strongly in the Spirit
of GOD and has an open mind to all religions, nationalities,
ages and genders. She has great Pastoral experience
and intense focus on the issues of the Episcopal Church
and our Diocese. In my opinion our Presiding Bishop
is succinct, direct and an asset to the Episcopal
Church of the United States. As a scientist - her
approach to an issue is: Show up; Pay Attention; Hypothesize:
Trust in GOD. Probably good advice for us all.
Back
|