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Posted Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Letter from the Diocesan Council Executive Committee
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
As members of Diocesan Council Executive Committee, we write to you at the request of the Diocesan Council to seek your assistance in addressing both the financial needs of our diocese in support of the ministries authorized by the 224th Diocesan Convention on January 6, 2007 and our present cash flow crisis.
The 2007 Program Budget adopted by Convention called for $3,454,000 in program expenditures for various ministries, including youth development, camp, aid to mission churches, congregational development, campus ministries, and support for The Episcopal Church, and the Millennium Development Goals.
A total of $ 1,250,000 in pledge income was anticipated. However, we expect to receive only 900,000 in pledge income by the close of 2007 – the lowest amount in 20 years. The shortfall results, in small measure, from vestries not pledging or reneging on their pledges to the diocese, but, in much larger measure from a long-term, broad-based, deeply rooted trend in which most parishes have reduced the portion of their income dedicated to the Program Budget adopted by Diocesan Convention (see www.diopa.org).
We want to be faithful to the ministries that Diocesan Convention pledged to support, but absent an infusion of pledge income, we will be forced to cut these ministries by more than $500,000 at a time when these ministries need our help the most.
A broad-based team has recommended cuts to various ministries. The team was convened by Peter Wilmerding, Chair of the Committee on Finance and Property, and was comprised of Rob Rogers, Diocesan CFO, and Committee members Alan Lindsay, Roberta Torian, and the Revds. Frank Allen, Glenn Matis, and James Wynn. Alan Lindsay reported the recommendations to Diocesan Council on April 26. Diocesan Council will take up the recommended cuts when it meets this coming Saturday, May 12, 2007, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, at St. Paul's, Chestnut Hill.
We pray these cuts will not be necessary. You can help us fulfill the intention of Diocesan Convention by taking the following actions:
1. Make, reinstate, or increase your 2007 pledge to the Diocese of Pennsylvania as soon as possible.
2. Submit to the Treasurer by the end of each month at least 1/12 of your 2007 diocesan pledge. It is absolutely critical that each church take this step if we are to make payroll to our mission clergy and diocesan staff twice each month.
3. It is equally critical this year that all churches pay in full their three assessments by the canonically-mandated due-date of June 1, 2007.
4. In addition, it is critical, too, that those churches able to do so pay ahead on their pledges, especially as we enter the summer months.
Longer-term, of course, all congregations of the diocese must either increase significantly their pledged support of traditional diocesan ministries or see them closed. As you prepare your 2008 budget, we ask you to consider prayerfully your commitment to the mission of our diocese, even as we seek to increase our commitment to The Episcopal Church.
We ask you to pray daily for increased stewardship by our diocese, for our diocese. The crisis in which we find ourselves is a spiritual, as well as a financial, crisis that begs the questions:
- What is God calling us to be as a diocese?
- What should be the depth of our commitment to one another?
- What is our vision for our mission and ministry?
Finally, thank you for your concern for our diocese, for the implications to its future of this present situation, and for the generosity of your care and commitment.
Faithfully in Christ,
The Rt. Rev. Charles E. Bennison, Jr., Chair, Diocesan Council Executive Committee
The Rev. Kathy Andonian, Member
R. Alan Lindsay, Member
F. Joseph Merlino, Member
George Whitfield, Vice-Chair