It’s Saturday night and the legislative committee portion of General Conference 2012 has ended. The Western jurisdiction took a major hit late this afternoon. The General Council on Finance and Administration budget presentation included a new Episcopal Fund calculation formula.<\/p>\n
The presenter was slick and well prepared. The basic premise was each jurisdiction should pay for its’ own Episcopal leaders. The illustration was the South Eastern Jurisdiction pays 1.4 million or 16% more than the cost of its’ bishops while the west pays 746,000 or 46% less than the cost of it’s bishops. It was called a subsidy and it got the attention of the delegates. Nothing could be done to stop the process.<\/p>\n
We seem to have a portion of the church that will use any measures necessary to get what they desire.<\/em><\/p>\n In 2004 is was proportionally based membership and the Western Jurisdiction lost delegates and General board seats.\u00a0 Now proportionality is bad. Membership is not relevant… Its pay for what you use.<\/p>\n No more bishops of the whole church.<\/em><\/p>\n No more pooling resources for the advancement of the church. No more connectional relationship through the Episcopal Fund. It’s everyone for themselves.\u00a0 I’m looking for a bright spot… I’m not finding any.<\/p>\n The example has an estimated additional cost to our Pacific Northwest Annual Conference of $85,000 per year starting with the 2013 budget.\u00a0 This will be a challenge for us and the another conferences in the Western Jurisdiction.\u00a0 I am working to extract some commitments from GCFA around the exact details of the implementation. There is still hope until the plenary decides.<\/p>\n Tomorrow is Sunday and it will be a good day…. No meetings.<\/p>\n Good night,<\/p>\n