You may recall that the Diocese of Upper South Carolina voted on their budget (or Statement of Mission as their bishop calls it) last week. I took another look and while the numbers add up they don’t make much sense. South Carolina is my home state and if it grieves me to see them make such terrible choices, I can only imagine how those who must live with this budget feel. After contacting a few friends in the Diocese, here are some comments worth noting:
The Annual Convention delegates have increased the budget (Statement of Mission or SOM) by 2.7% to $2,846,709. Congregation quotas, which make up 98.3% of the income, are projected to increase by 2.5%. These percentages would be normal inflationary amounts if these were ordinary times, but these are times of struggle in The Episcopal Church.
The membership must be wondering if the capitulation to 815 is symbolic of the choices this bishop will make as the future unfolds. Is the enormous increase in the budgeted pledge to the national church symbolic of the current relationship of the diocese/bishop to the national church/presiding bishop? Sources in the Diocese state that the bishop has made repeated appeals for this increase and convention delegates stepped right up to the plate sweeping aside the one amendment offered. Giving to TEC goes from $272,974 to $412,396—an increase of $139,422 (51%). Yes, you read it right. No typos. The next largest dollar increase was $26,121.
Giving to TEC will now amount to 14.7% of the money contributed by congregations (unless the membership have a moment or two of clarity). 2.6% of member contributions go to the national church treasury unless the member has worked out an alternative arrangement with their congregation. Yes, that was a hint.
A member of the Diocese put it this way:
One distressing thing about this is how little the bishop paid attention to the unified message from the same delegates in their regional Convocation meetings to prioritize the SOM. According the the Diocese’s own summary analysis, the delegates ranked the national church pledge pledge fifth from the bottom out of 75 specific line items. It makes the claim that we have a grass-roots process ring a bit hollow. It will be very hard to convince veteran delegates to participate in that process next year.
The second largest category dollar increase—$45,902—goes for salaries and benefits for all personnel (including the bishop). This is a 6% increase across the board.
2008 stipend and housing will now be as follows:
-Bishop $125,564
-Canon to the Ordinary $87,980
-Canon for Youth $48,649
The next highest dollar increase is a new item—The Millenium Development Goals of the United Nations for $19,927.
A large increase in the travel allowance for the Canon to the Ordinary (from $6,500 to $18,000) was not explained in Convention.
These increases in expenditures total $216,751 but the total increase of the SOM is only $75,935. How did they balance the budget you ask? Good question and the answer is pretty depressing:
The difference of $140,816 almost exactly matches the reduction in giving to mission churches ($140,000). Expect the following explanations to be given. $100,000 was realized by removing the failed All Soul’s Mission in Columbia. No new major church plant was discussed at Convention. St. Philip’s, Greenville, did not renew a request for $22,328. The remaining $17,672 was from reductions to existing mission churches—some very historic. These churches struggle from year to year and it is a shame that the guidance and message from our diocese has not helped reverse their losses. A promising new infusion of leadership and people at St. Augustine’s, Aiken, was not enough to open the way for their request for a boost in support with a near-term goal of becoming self-supporting. They were reduced $7,073—the fourth largest reduction in the SOM.
The mission pictured in the Statement of Mission is of a diocese that has become quiescent toward the direction of the national church in divisive issues, is giving full financial support to TEC, is taking pretty good financial care of its staff, is making token efforts in mission with Hispanics in our area, but is cutting off its historic missions and not pushing forward with new church-starts in a time of noteworthy population growth in several of our population centers.
Seems pretty clear who Bishop Henderson expects to make up that 2.5% increase.
It brings to mind an image from my childhood. My mother believed that Black Draught and castor oil (yes, it’s as disgusting as it sounds) cured everything. Mom would tell me there were no choices - just hold my nose and swallow. The bishop might want to consider that the times - they are a changing. People are much more vocal these days.
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All is well™.
...on leave from the Briar Patch,