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	Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota Faces Economic Crisis: Leaders Call for Drastic Restructuring By David W. Virtue Virtue Online February 19, 2009 http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=9961 The Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota faces an economic crisis. A number of their leaders are calling for a drastic restructuring of the diocese saying that diocesan structures are too expensive to maintain. Parishes have withheld their diocesan assessments with leaders arguing that the economic crisis is dramatically impacting their mission. The situation is so serious that there is talk about curtailing central office costs with only one full-time administrator and one part time bookkeeper. "We have seen this coming for a long time - congregations cannot keep up with the maintenance needs of our old buildings. We have an increasingly difficult time paying for full time seminary trained clergy. (and the seminaries can't afford to train them anymore either,) and our Diocesan structures are too expensive to maintain," wrote The Rev. LeeAnne Watkins. "Now we need to realize that we can't think in small bits anymore. That pace is too slow. We need big bites. Drastic restructuring. We need to evaluate the sustainability of each of our ministry situations. We need to radically decrease the Apportionment for the Common Good. Running the central offices just costs too much." "We need to meet our canonical requirements for the episcopate and other structures. But we must face, and quickly, that we cannot meet them in the same way we have in the past. We must move more speedily toward the vision of increased networks and a decreased Episcopal Center. "If Council doesn't move in this direction on their own, they will be pushed there anyway by congregations who have to make the difficult decision to not pay their full ACG. And as we know all too well, that only brings shame and division. We have had too much of that. Please, no more. I can't handle any more. We all need to chip in for the common good, every one of us. But it can no longer be crippling to congregational ministry. That is not a fair choice. That is a system malfunction." The Rev. Bill Bulson, rector of Holy Apostles, a parish of mostly poorer immigrants and blue collar workers, said he is experiencing the economic downturn directly and acutely. "Many people have lost their jobs, what benefits they might have had, and their homes." "Our pledged dollars are down 25%, with the same number of pledges as 2008, and no second appeal or renewed canvassing will change that. I, myself, will be reduced to 3/4 time beginning in May, and our Associate, The Rev. Letha Wilson-Barnard, supported by very generous donors throughout our diocese, has gone half-time." The rector of St. Stephen's observed other realities already at work reshaping his parish's common life. He observed that total budgeted income for 2008 was about $100,000 more than expected for 2009. "Investment income and various assumptions built into our annual budget have to be adjusted to realistic levels. The Vestry has been wrestling with this harsh forecast over the last several months. They understand that our financial situation could easily deteriorate further. They also understand that we have to make strategic decisions at every step along the way for the sake of the whole community at St. Stephen's." As a result the Vestry passed without dissent a balanced budget that included: * Maintaining an office staff of only one full-time administrative person and one part-time bookkeeper (after laying off an additional administrative person in 2008). This level of administrative and financial support is for an annual budget of more than $1.4 million for 2009." * Funding the position of a 1/3-time priest for ministry to seniors via a special grant from their endowment, not replacing a half-time priest after the springtime departure of the current incumbent, and transitioning another priest from full-time to 80%. * No raises or cost of living adjustments (COLA) for anyone on the church staff. This is a fiscal necessity in spite of the fact that the Diocese of Minnesota mandates a 2% COLA for 2009 that "shall be applied to the pay of all employees, clergy and lay, of the diocese, all congregations, and church-affiliated organizations." * Programmatic cuts in the following ministry areas: continuing education for staff, contract musicians, adult formation, youth, children, music, and new member incorporation. * Alternative funding for certain line items, including part of their costs for contract musicians and the entire program budget for youth ministry. Some of this alternative funding can be repeated in future years and some of it is only possible for 2009. * Reducing by $30,000 their 2009 Apportionment for the Common Good (ACG = contributions to the diocese), but repaying a long-time debt to the diocese in the amount of $9,571. This means they are still planning to give the diocese a total of $248,611 this year. "These decisions were difficult, necessary, and imperfect. Alternative outcomes would also have been difficult, necessary, and imperfect. I see no way around the imperfections. What I do see, however, is the fact that we're all in the same boat together at St. Stephen's and throughout the Diocese of Minnesota." The Rev. Jim Peters, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Excelsior, MN, wrote that to keep asking for a review of pledges and for special one-time contributions to fill the gap was insensitive to the times and the economic pain that so many people feel. "We need to have faith that people are doing what they can. Certainly, no family is unaware, by now, that we are in a budget deficit situation." "We really don't want to go through this budget agony every year. A good deal of energy and planning must go into discerning how we can operate as parishes and a diocese with tight or shrinking budgets the next five years." The Rev. Bill Van Oss of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Duluth wrote that the resulting "perfect storm" of chronic deficits, lower pledging, reduced income from investments and rising costs for things like health insurance and natural gas meant that, barring some drastic reductions, St. Paul's would have a $104,000 budget deficit in 2009." "Vestry made the painful but necessary decision to cut three staff positions to balance the budget. This has come as a shock to many people, and there is much sadness over these cuts." Clearly, the legacy of a spent liberalism and, a laughable "gospel" of Millennium Development Goals coupled with economic hard times is doing more than orthodox Episcopalians could have hoped or dreamed. The Presiding Bishop's $1 million MDG budget has been nixed by Executive Council, and, it would appear, the whole MDG idea has been permanently mothballed. Certainly, dioceses' like Minnesota won't be supporting it any time soon. That much is certain. In May, a black church, St. Thomas Episcopal closed its doors ending a chapter in Minneapolis church history. A second black congregation, St. Paul, will also close. A similar fate closed St. Philip's Episcopal Church in St. Paul, another one of the state's first primarily black churches, at the end of June. The two congregations, both of which date to the early 1900s, will attempt to form a new church. A small group of fellow members launched a last-ditch effort to try to save the church with some members asking why the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota singled out two minority churches to close. They never got an answer. One answer was made on the basis of demographics. The average age of its members is 72, and a lot of them are unable to attend" because they're home-bound. Bishop James Jelinek is no lover of orthodoxy. He recently voted to depose The Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan Bishop of Pittsburgh, even though these actions violated canon law. The Diocese of Minneapolis has also become a haven for Episcopal priest and sex offender, The Rev. Lynn Bauman, 64, admitted to molesting an 8-year-old boy on a camping trip in 1996. He was sentenced to 10 years' probation, according to the Texas Department of Corrections. Bauman got a green light from the bishop to lead a $310-per person retreat at St. John's Abbey in the Minnesota diocese. In a statement, the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota said that Bauman has been "a well-received lecturer at the House of Prayer for over a decade" and that Episcopal Bishop James Jelinek and St. John's Abbot John Klassen were aware of his past. Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) was outraged. "It's not the first time he's been here. We don't know who might come into contact with him while he's here." One thing the diocese is coming into contact with is emptying pews, rising costs and a slowly withering diocese.
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