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Provincial Council Meeting
Episcopal House in Newark
February 9 & 10, 2007
Present: Kim Byham, Rt. Rev. George Councell, Louie Crew, Rt
Rev.Michael Garrison, Peter Hausman (second day only), Laurie
Wozniak, Chuck Perfater, Dorothy-Jane Porpeglia (by phone for
second day), Michael Rehill, Petero Sabune, Debra Wagner. In addition,
several Network representatives attended, 2/9, as noted in the
ensuing report.
Absent: Martha Gardner, at Urban Caucus.
Friday, February 09, 2007
12 noon: Lunch
1:00 PM: Welcome and Remarks
Michael Rehill welcomed Mark Beckwith, the new Bishop of Newark.
Bishop Beckwith welcomed us to Episcopal House.
Chuck Perfater announced:
Dahn Gandell, a priest in the Diocese of Rochester, has agreed
to replace David Robinson who has left the province to work in
Maine. She is unable to be at this meeting because of a prior
commitment.
Susan Legnani, chair of education network, could not take off
two days in the same week.
Carter Echols has submitted a report.
Nancy Frank, our representative to ERD, is away on ERD business.
Sr. Elizabeth Mary Burke, representing the Finger Lakes Conference,
has been hit with a series of medical problems. Barbara Jenson
is here in her stead.
Don Carlson is snowbound in Syracuse.
Leslie Adams has sent Steve White, chaplain at Princeton, to
speak to ministry in higher education.
Cy and Lyn Deavours are at the Urban Caucus
Laurie Wozniak is here, and is the new editor of our newsletter.
In Prov2. She is also the current president of Episcopal Communicators.
Neva Rae Fox has left the Diocese of New York to take a new position
at the Church Center.
We introduced ourselves, including representatives of several
networks of Province 2.
• Debra Wagner is the Province 2 representative of the
Episcopal Life Board.
• Dorothy-Jane Porpeglia, is our chancellor.
• Steve White, chaplain at Princeton, on behalf Leslie Adams,
Higher Education coordinator
• Connie White, Ministry Development coordinator
• Doris Crocker, coordinator for Haiti.
• Pamela Stewart, UTO coordinator
• Louie Crew, secretary of the Council.
• Laura Wozniak, new editor of the province’s newsletter
• Michael Garrison, Bishop of Western New York.
• George Councell, Bishop of New Jersey
• Michael Rehill, our president.
• Chuck Perfater, Executive Coordinator
(Other guests/presenters are noted as they arrived during the
course of our meeting.)
Terry Parsons and Chuck Perfater are planning a stewardship conference
for Province 2 in August to train trainers for the dioceses. They
will be trained for 2 ½ days and on the following Saturday,
this group will train diocesan groups with the same materials.
Right now this plan is embryonic.
3:00: Convocation Design Team report
Petero Sabune reported on the plans for the Spring Convocation
of the Province. The title is “Living the Gospel: Greater
Mission in Province II, and Beyond”, April 19-21. You may
download the convocation brochure in PDF format at http://www.province2.org/pr2_confbrochure07.pdf.
Bonnie Anderson, President of the House of Deputies, will book-end
the conference, and hold forth in the middle as well. Bob Edgar,
Secretary of the National Council of Churches, will be the homilist
at the evensong. Time is set aside for networks to have their
own meetings on Thursday evening. The attendees will then hear
from a distinguished panel focusing on various aspects on mission.
Thereafter, each attendee will be able to attend four of eight
mission workshops, featuring a cast of all-star presenters. Subsequently,
our bishops will each present a talk about their specific mission
passion. We will then breakout into groups, to explore how you
can find and nurture your passion for ministry. The conference
will end on Friday with a U-2 Eucharist (“It’s Bono,
and music and energy”, Petero Sabune said.), followed by
hospitality and dinner,”
The fee for registration is $99 per person, payable to “Province
II” and mailed to C. H. Perfater, 8 Aquetong Lane, W. Trenton,
NJ 07628. Indicate your name, diocese, snail and email addresses,
and, if applicable, indicate that you need child care information.
Those who attend must make their own hotel reservations. Currently
Chuck Perfater has negotiated a rate of $109 at the Crowne Plaza
Hotel in Albany, site of the convocation. Contact the Crowne Plaza
at 518-462-6611 (see http://cpalbany.com).
The Hampton-Inn up the street is an alternative. It is at 25 Chapel
Street, Albany, NY 12210 -- (518) 432-7000. (See http://www.hamptoninn.com.)
Thursday Evensong will be at St. Peter’s Church, 107 State
Street, across from the Crowne Plaza.
HOB Highlights
The bishops of the Province gathered in Long Branch on January
8-10. Seven were present (Councell, Garrison, Love, Beckwith,
Walker, Gumbs, and Adams) and seven were absent. They spent one
whole day in conversation with Gordon Graham, a professor from
Princeton Theological Seminary, who engaged them on the topic
of Christianity in a post-modern era. The day was not just theoretical,
but also practical. (See Professor Graham’s profile at http://www.ptsem.edu/PTS_People/faculty/graham.php.)
The Presiding Bishop will attend the February primates meeting
in Tanzania. One-third of the primates are new. The Presiding
Bishop has indicated that she will listen, learn, and build relationships.
The Bishop of the Congo was recently in New York to work on building
relationships. Some relationships are growing outside the glare
of spotlights. The Presiding Bishop has strength and great confidence,
and does not expect isolation. She will review the meeting at
the HOB meeting in March.
Bishops Bruce MacPherson, Robert Duncan, and Christopher Epting
have been invited to speak at a meeting in Tanzania prior to the
primates meeting, to address questions about the actions taken
by The Episcopal Church.
Work on drafting an Anglican Covenant seems to be moving along.
The Presiding Bishop has been in touch with Dr. Katherine Grieb,
a member of the drafting team and a professor at Virginia Theological
Seminary. (See her profile at https://www.vts.edu/ftpimages/95/misc/misc_16583.pdf.)
Sue Parks in the office of the Anglican Consultative Council
is coordinator of the Lambeth Conference. She visited the Church
Center late last year and indicated then that she is proceeding
as if all active bishops will be invited to Lambeth 2008. All
those invitations will be mailed by the end of 2007.
The Episcopal Church (TEC) response to the Windsor Report is
on the agenda for the Lambeth Conference. The Presiding Bishop
expects to say that our response to the Report was reasonable
response, and she anticipates that many others will agree.
There is a new design team for the House of Bishops, not including
several of the consultants who have been integral in the past.
Executive Council Highlights (reported by Kim Byham and Petero
Sabune)
The first Executive Council meeting of the triennium, held in
November, was largely a get-to-know-you gathering, and was followed
by all of the interim bodies meeting in same location. Council
visited the adjacent headquarters of the Lutherans.
At General Convention approximately 100 resolutions were passed
by Bishops and never made it to Deputies. All resolutions that
passed one House without being considered by the other House have
been referred to one of the four Standing Committees of Executive
Council for expeditious decisions. No ‘left-over’
resolutions will be considered which require funding.
Petero Sabune is the vice-chair of the International Concerns
Committee of Executive Council, and it adopted all of the resolutions
assigned to it. Petero Sabune is also the liaison of TEC to the
Anglican Church in Canada, as was Steven Lane, his predecessor
as clerical representative to Executive Council from Province
2.
The resolutions approved by legislative committees at General
Convention but not dealt with by either House, were referred for
immediate action to the interim bodies, so that those bodies can
return them to Executive Council for action later in this triennium.
The Presiding Bishop’s chancellor David Beers left Petero
Sabune with the impression that we are not falling apart, and
he returned encouraged by the meeting.
Kim Byham and Petero Sabune noted that the Presiding Bishop was
impressive. She is focused, solid. “We are reaching a new
wave,” they said.
Executive Council will meet in Portland on March 5th.
Network Feedback
Steve White for the Higher Education Network
.
The Episcopal Church sponsors a meeting of college chaplains
on alternate years. It met last year in St. Louis. TEC makes grants
for start-up chaplaincies. The chaplaincy at NYU (John Mertz is
the chaplain) has proved quite successful in just two years. They
now need new sources of funds. The Diocese of New York focuses
most of its support on Columbia University.
Hei-Yue Pang has been chosen as the Province 2 student representative
to the advisor group at the Church Center. She is a student at
Barnard.
There are 21 proposals at the Church Center for new grants. It
is unknown whether any are from Province 2. Our coordinators are
working to make chaplains in the province aware of these grants.
The Provincial Council partially funded at retreat for chaplains
and students at Holy Cross Monastery a couple of years ago. February
7-9, 2008 is now set for a retreat just for the chaplains of the
province, to build a stronger network, to discuss best practices,
and to educate themselves about fund-raising.
Steve White distributed a roster of chaplaincies in the province.
He asked us to encourage rectors to notify chaplains all around
the country of students who are in college. It helps chaplains
in the field to know who is in college. Many universities no long
provide information to chaplains regarding students’ religious
affiliation.
Steve White noted that in some parts of the country lay canons,
usually already on faculties, are serving as chaplains. He said
that model works well. He noted that a model that does not work
is to pay a stipend to fly in a priest to do occasional Eucharists.
That model fails because there is no on-going community to bring
people to the services.
Debra Wagner, regarding Episcopal Life.
Debra Wagner noted that Jerry Hames will retire in June. March
23rd is the target for merging Episcopal Life and the web presence.
Jerry’s successor will not be seen as just a print person.
The Methodists have a similar convergence team now, always including
video, audio, and print.
Chuck Perfater noted that Gene Willard, Executive Director of
Province 4, is now Chair, Board of Governors, Episcopal Life.
Connie White, regarding Ministry Development
On December 5th, coordinators for Ministry Development in six
out of eight dioceses in the province met with Budd Holland at
the Church Center to explore what networks can do to serve diocesan
needs. The group will now meet quarterly, with the next meeting
on February 27 at the Church Center, one in June in Bingingham,
and another as part of the Spring provincial convocation (April
19-21).
They are exploring what works. They anticipate participating
in diaconal formation as well.
Denis Brunelle, Dean of the Mercer School (Long Island) will
start off the next meeting with a presentation.
Doris Crocker, regarding Haiti.
Doris Crocker said that she has no new information to report
about Haiti and that she was present mainly to be refreshed. Doris
has been struggling to augment the PenPal list, previously requested.
One Pen Pal relationship has been established in the Diocese of
Newark.
We suggested that we might be more intentional about connecting
Haitians to other shared ministry when they come for our provincial
meetings.
Allister Rawlins regarding Companion Relationships.
Allister Rawlins, unable to attend, submitted a written report,
(attached)
Deacon Barbara Jenson regarding The Finger Lakes
Conference
The 2007 conference will be held June 24-29 at Hobart and William
Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. (See http://www.FingerLakesConference.org.
Email: susiechad1@aol.com.) The theme will be: “Doing Christianity
in the 21st Century: An Experiment of the United Church of Canada.
The keynote speaker will be Mary Joseph, spiritual leader from
Pathways Community, Toronto, Canada.
Barbara Jenson, distributed a brochure, available also at http://www.fingerlakesconference.org/Theme%20&%20General%20Lecturer%20for%202007.htm.
The Fingerlake Conference began as a Sunday School teachers conference
65 years ago and strives to engage major issues, led by people
on the cutting edge, in a comfortable setting that also allows
summer leisure.
Pamela Stewart, regarding United Thank Offering
(UTO)
Pamela Stewart reported that the UTO grants committee will meet
at Camp Beckwith in Alabama to prepare to review the grants, the
application deadline for which was January 31st. They will distribute
the grants at their April meeting. Last year $7 million was requested,
and they had only $3 million to distribute. Giving is down this
year. Several big donors in Virginia have left the Episcopal Church.
UTO offerings are mainly for community outreach, with special
interest in projects that support the Millennium Development Goals.
UTO tries to help Episcopal related groups doing outreach to community.
The grants committee is made up of twelve people. The committee
always asks itself, “What is the least amount that we could
give that would be effective if we are unable to give all that
they have asked?”
Bob Dennis regarding the Brotherhood of St.
Andrew
The Brotherhood of St. Andrew is a men’s ministry. Bob
Dennis is the Province 2 president. The Brotherhood in Province
2 is the most organized of the 8 provinces. They have a newsletter,
bylaws, 51 chapters, just under 800 members. There are 5 chapters
in Albany, 28 in Long Island, 3 in New Jersey, 1 in Newark. The
average age of members is skewed to those above 55. The Brotherhood
is most popular in the West Indian communities, which are very
organized and committed to things Anglican. The membership is
weighted toward the older, but with recent start-ups, some of
the men are now younger.
The Brotherhood has connections with Daughters of the King (which
has close to 30,000 members), but the Brotherhood has limited
connections in several dioceses where its work might be welcome.
The Brotherhood held three men’s retreats in 2006; in 2007
there will be six retreats. Bob Dennis stressed that the Brotherhood
focuses on men’s spirituality, not on politics.
See the Brotherhood’s website at http://www.brotherhoodstandrew.org.
Laurie Wozniak regarding In Prov 2.
Laurie Wozniak shared with us her draft production of a first
issue of our newly designed newsletter, In Prov 2,
which will replace The Grapevine.
Laurie Wozniak stressed that the newsletter should be a way that
we share our stories and connect. She wants it to be more pictorial.
We will distribute it as a pdf file on the Province 2 website
http://www.province2.org/,
and we will publicize it through The Episcopal New Service.
Laurie Wozniak has established a special email address for her
work with Province 2: inprov2@episcopalwny.org. She asks that
we use that address rather than the one for her shown on the roster
we received at the meeting.
Fletcher Harper regarding environmental issues
Fletcher Harper, a priest in the Diocese of Newark, serves as
the Executive Director of Green Faith (http://
www.greenfaith.org) and is a leader in Province 2’s
response to environmental issues. He reported that over the past
six months we have seen a new emphasis environmental issues, especially
on global warming, prompted in large measure by the advance availability
of Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth, which has been
viewed by over 150 congregations in New Jersey. The DVD version
is now available in most video stores.
Many congregations begin their environmental education by doing
a parish audit of the way the parish uses the environment. The
audit identifies opportunities for conservation and for cost savings.
The Episcopal Environmental Network publishes many resources:
see http://eenonline.org. See
especially links to the Interfaith Power and Light resources in
the Diocese of New York. Solar panels have become much more widespread
in parish use.
New Jersey at the policy level has been most supportive, and
the Network expects policies to improve in surrounding states.
The Network is working hard to limit diesel emissions. Over 800
deaths in New Jersey each year are attributed to diesel fuel,
especially in low-income communities. There is a growth in awareness
regarding the justice issues of environmental concerns. Green
Faith will offer a spirituality workshop in May, focusing on how
God has spoken through and within the natural world.
The Network is in the early stages of organizing a gathering
regarding the environment for the Thursday night at the provincial
convocation in April, and will try to feed news of that to In
Prov2.
Petero Sabune regarding the death penalty
New York has brought back the death penalty; New Jersey is working
to remove it. The prison network is working on education and training.
It is encouraging people to visit prisons. Normally when the population
grows, the church uses an evangelism strategy to bring them into
ministry with us. We need to do that with prisoners.
Too many have been denied parole. Elliott Spitzer, the new governor
in New York, has committed himself to review parole policies.
In USA prisons, there is a 43% recidivism rate within first year,
a 68% recidivism rate within first three years. Prisoners are
exporting thug culture through hip-hop.
The population in prisons is invisible and thus those of us outside
are not prompted even to think about them. Province 2 needs a
prison ministry coordinator in each diocese.
A visitor’s presence itself has an enormous capacity to
prompt hope to the person in prison.
Petero Sabune commended two books to us:
1. War on the Family: Mothers in Prison and the Families They
Leave Behind by Renny Golden, NY: Routledge, 2005
2. Doing Time on the Outside by Donald Braman, Ann Arbor: University
of Michigan Press, 2004.
Petero Sabune regarding immigrants
Petero Sabune reported that he had no good news on immigration
either.
We have been pushing for advocates and pastoral care. The President
is spending $1 billion on border control. $26 million will be
given to local law enforcement so they can become immigration
agents. The local people do not want to do this, but they need
the money. When they accept the money, they become agents of the
government.
Churches need to do pastoral care for immigrants. The new stringent
immigration laws might make churches guilty merely if they allow
immigrants just to sit at the church while waiting to be fetched
to do work. No prosecutions have been that strict in the East
yet, but some in the West have been.
One hundred seventy-nine chapters of the Ku Klux Klan have joined
to oppose immigrants. Their activity has backfired on them: they
have provoked more support for immigrants.
Contrary to popular myth, many immigrants are anxious to learn
English.
Like prisoners, immigrants are largely invisible and thus rarely
prick the consciences of those who might be their allies.
Chuck Perfater’s summary reports for various
networks not able to be present:
• Anti-Racism Work, on behalf of Lyn Headley-Deavours.
Province 2 has scheduled anti-racism training for March 2-3, at
Grace Church in Syracuse, NY 13210. See http://www.gracesyracuse.org.
Jayne Oasin, Social Justice Officer at the Episcopal Church Center,
will facilitate the training. Lyn Headley-Deavours is the contact
person for this training, 973-430-9909, lheadleydeavours@dioceseofnewark.org.
• The Congregational Development Ministry Network. We have
two networks, one downstate in New York, New Jersey, and Long
Island, and one upstate. The network downstate is active and meets
once a quarter with Charles Fulton at the Church Center. The network
upstate, led by Carol Lumbard in the Diocese of Rochester, is
not doing very much. The downstate folks will meet next on March
26th at the Church Center with Charles Fulton and will try to
include the upstate folks if they are willing to do it, possibly
by conference call.
• Christian Formation Network. The network met, February
7th. Wider participation, particularly from Upstate and offshore,
is needed. The network has petitioned Thom Chu’s office
to produce materials, and it appears that the ECCE organization
will be responsible for developing a Resource Manual. Ruth Ann
Collins, (LI) long active in within our province, has now joined
the staff at the Church Center and will be a good resource as
we try to move forward. Denis Brunelle will replace Ruth Ann as
LI representative.
• Youth Ministry. Almost all dioceses in the province have
staff members working on youth ministries, and all provincial
dioceses, and Europe have youth programs. These folks are doing
lot of work. In August 2-6, they will have a province-wide EYE
event, TRIBE, in Painted Post, NY, and they have a person from
Europe working with them. They will have scholarships for youth
in Haiti and the Virgin Islands. You may download the brochure
for the event at http://cny.anglican.org/uploads/youth%20brochure.pdf.
The national EYE will occur in San Antonio, July 8-13, 2008 at
Trinity University. Expect a web presence for it soon at http://eye2008.org/.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
8:45 am. Dorothy-Jane Porpeglia joined us via conference call.
We adopted the minutes of our October 20th meeting.
We appointed Dahn Dean Gandell in the Diocese of Rochester to
replace David Robinson, who has resigned as our clergy representative.
David Robinson has taken a call in Maine. Dahn Gandell is unable
to be with us at this meeting because of a prior commitment, as
chaplain to a scuba-diving group in Micronesia. She takes great
delight in being called a “Radical Episcopal Priest.”
Executive Council will meeting in Province 2 at Parsippany, NJ
(Diocese of Newark) on June 11-14. The host diocese usually holds
a dinner for the Council. Executive Council has cut one day from
each of its meetings in this triennium to save money, so meetings
are much tighter in their schedules than before..
Since Council tries to meet in each province during a triennium,
we want to use their meeting here to show the province in action.
Perhaps Province 2 can share some time with Executive Council
that is usually devoted to the host diocese (15 minutes for the
Council and 15 minutes for the diocese?) . We might hire someone
to do the video for us of the tribe event. We need to focus specifically
on ‘Why the province.’
Debra Wagner noted that Trinity Wall Street has a video studio
which is very helpful in preparing materials of this sort. William
Jarrett is the one who does most of Trinity’s video decisions
at the actual production level.
Kim Byham, Debra Wagner, Petero Sabune, Laurie Wozniak, and Chuck
Perfater will coordinate the province’s presentation. They
will emphasize our passion for mission. We authorized their spending
up to $1,000 on it.
Michael Rehill reported on the Provincial Leadership Conference
(PLC) which met in Weehauken and at the Church Center, December
7-8, 2006, followed by the coordinators meeting on December 8-9.
The PLC followed the meeting of the Presiding Bishop’s Council
of Advice. The major impact on our province was the allocation
of budget. We requested $22,000 and were given that. We have to
report in detail on these finances. Most used different models
of reporting, and the PLC plans standardize formats so that the
reports are more easily understood and compared.
George Councell said he became aware that we have a vital province
with a good return on TEC’s $22,000 investment. Several
years ago only Province 1 and Province 8 were thriving; they were
the only provinces with full-time coordinators. Now all provinces
have a coordinator except Province 8. Province 8 had a large turnover
in bishops, and the charismatic coordinator (Giles Asbury), who
resigned because of bad health, has not yet been replaced.
The coordinator of Province 5 died suddenly. Marion Luckey, formerly
Provincial VP, has been serving as interim and is also competing
for the job.
Winter meetings of the PLC will meet in Newark in the future,
with the next meeting scheduled for December 5-7 ending at noon,
and the coordinators meeting will follow immediately and continue
through December 8th.
The following meeting of the PLC will be at Mustang Island near
Corpus Christi at the end of May 2008.
Executive Coordinator’s Report
The most significant thing since our last meeting is the arrival
of Laurie Wozniak to edit the newsletter, and we are grateful
to have her take on this job.
We have many bishops on the move in the province. Bishop Herzog
and Bishop Bena have now retired, as has Bishop John P. Croneberger.
Bishop Michel has retired and is assisting in the Diocese of Georgia.
Bishop Shimpfky is assisting in Long Island.
Bishop McKelvey will retire in the spring of 2008, and April
19, 2008 is the date to consecrate his successor. He will be at
our convocation.
Chuck Perfater attended
• the retirement party for Bishop Rod Michel in Long Island.
• the retirement evening for Bishop Croneberger in Newark
• the consecration of Bishop Love in Albany
• the consecration of Bishop Beckwith in Newark.
• the consecration of Bishop Gumbs in the Virgin Islands
Some of our conventions meet simultaneously, so it is impossible
to attend all of them. Chuck Perfater has attended four recently:
• the convention of the Diocese of Western New York, and
made a presentation
• the convention of the Diocese of Long Island, and made
a presentation
• the convention of the Diocese of Newark
• the convention of the Diocese of New York
He also tries to attend many meetings of the networks. The networks
are vibrant, and his presence helps them understand how they fit
in.
Yamily Bass-Choate might become coordinator of the Hispanic ministry
for the province.
Chuck Perfater is preparing a tri-fold exhibit, with pictures
of all of our cathedrals and all of our bishops and have people
guess at matching. The brochure will also ask, “Which of
our dioceses does not have a cathedral?”
We are exploring ways to have a presence in the Convocation of
American Churches in Europe.
Treasurer’s Report (Peter Hausman arrived
late. He has been ill.)
See the attached report “Province II – Budget Results
for the 2004-2006 Triennium”
The treasurer added these explanations.
In the October minutes we reported that Newark’s payment
had not arrived. Actually it did arrive, but was wrongly sent
to the Diocese of New Jersey and incorrectly deposited there.
The mistakes have been corrected and the amount duly credited.
Rochester’s payment also was sent but the check never arrived.
The check was reissued.
The full support from the Church Center has also arrived.
Our expenses are ordinary. The increase is largely a result of
the meetings of the Christian Education Network and the coordinators
meeting.
We have paid for what we are doing, and we have not spent our
savings.
We have accumulated funds for the Youth Network -- $2,500 from
the Church Center, and dioceses have committed to pay $2,000.
Pending Funding Requests:
Neva Rae Fox asked for $2,500 to fund a meeting of diocesan communicators,
but we took no action on the request at this time. Neva Rae has
now left for a new job. Newark and Central New York do not currently
have a coordinator. Rochester divides the job between Carol Lumbard
and a copy editor. Long Island has only a part-time coordinator.
Thus, while it might be good to have a meeting of diocesan communicators
at some time down the line, but it is not a prudent thing to do
at this time with so many coordinators in flux.
Perhaps the province can fund a lunch or dinner and perhaps a
second night in the hotel after the next national communicators
meeting to enable our provincial communicators to meet as a group.
Our process is to budget amounts and reimburse expenses after
documentation has been filed for the expenses. In some cases we
pay the expenses directly. Only in rare and special circumstances
do we pay amounts in advance of the expense.
We accepted the Treasurer’s Report.
Several administrative concerns:
We approved allowing checks to be written up to $500 with just
the treasurer’s signature. In the past we have required
two signatures on all checks, but since we do not live in the
same areas, at best we have about a 2-week delay between the time
the person files for reimbursement receives them and the time
the signatures can be obtained. The new policy will expedite payments.
We approved payment of Executive Coordinator’s salary electronically.
We approved acquiring a corporate card for the Executive Coordinator
to pay expenses as coordinator. In that way the Province will
also realize savings. Such cards are required to avoid taxes when
accompanied with documentation of our tax-exempt status.
The credit card statement will come to the Executive Coordinator
each month so that he can account for each expenditure.
The Executive Coordinator and the Treasurer will arrange for
an audit now that we have completed the triennium.
Laurie Wozniak reported as our new editor of the newsletter In
Prov2
Laurie Wozniak proposed doing two issues at $2,000 each. We anticipate
doing the issue quarterly. It will be primarily an electronic
publication.
We authorized spending up to $5,000 on the first two issues.
Chuck Perfater noted that the $2,000 is for an issue unless the
editor has to get very involved in gathering all the email addresses
for distribution. If she has to gather the addresses, then the
cost is $2,200. An 8-page newsletter would cost $295 for 500 copies,
$214 for 100 copies, excluding postage costs. We authorized the
$2,500 per issue to anticipate the printing costs.
Laurie drafted a mission statement for In Prov2:
“The mission of InProv2 is to
build stronger connections and deeper relationships throughout
the Province by telling the stories and showcasing the ministries
of its dioceses, churches and people.”
Peter Hausman said that he is less interested in talking about
global issues in the church. He would prefer that the newsletter
focus on the work in our own province. We need to convince people
that the province is a valuable organization. We need to spend
the major attention on the networks and the council.
Debra Wagner said that we need to anticipate redesigning our
web work. John Rollins has graciously agreed to continue providing
this service.
The 2008 convocation of Province 2
‘Education’ will be the focus of our 2008 convocation.
We will emphasize not only campus work, but also life-long Christian
formation.
We authorized Chuck Perfater to appoint a design team. We anticipate
that the design team will come from existing networks. Most on
the team will be directly involved in education and/or Christian
formation. They need to start on the 2008 convocation on the day
that the 2007 convocation ends.
A Conference of Bishops and Chancellors
Michael Rehill suggested that we might sponsor a conference of
bishops and chancellors, especially in regard to Title IV. Bishop
Councell said the fall of this year would be the earliest fit.
It might well be scheduled as a pre-meeting for one of the House
of Bishops meetings.
Bishop Councell will try to schedule it on October 13th. John
Goldsack, Dorothy-Jane Porpeglia,, and Michael Rehill will coordinate
the planning.
Our next meeting: October 12th, 2007, all day. The Provincial
Council will meet in the morning, and the networks will report
in the afternoon.
-
Episcopal Dioceses of Albany, Central
New York, Haiti, Long
Island, Newark,
New Jersey, New
York,
Rochester, Virgin Islands, Western
New York, and the Convocation
of American Churches in Europe
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