The proposal came from Janine Tinsley-Roe, the church’s new national staff missioner for Native American Ministries, who said Native Americans are waiting for the opportunity to lead -- if the Episcopal Church gives them that opportunity.

 “Our church has an opportunity to fulfill a long-standing promise to the First People of this country,” she said. “It is time to put forth the commitment to our native youth and to give back the hope that our elders have hung on to for the past 400 years.

“We are truly a spiritual people. You have a very solid Episcopal base, but you have never given them the tools to become fully involved in this ministry,” she told the administration and finance committee.

First, the members of that committee, then the full Executive Council responded affirmatively by approving funds that can be used until the end of 2006.

The Rev. James Lemler, director of mission, later called the council’s action one of several decisions that intertwined leadership and mission.  “It was a very mission-focused council meeting,” he said. “They had a clear eye to the future of the mission of the church.”

Canadians express gratitude

At the opening session, the general secretary of the Anglican Church of Canada thanked the Episcopal Church for a $250,000 gift made earlier this year after legal costs resulting from lawsuits from hundreds of former students in native government schools the Canadian church administered bankrupted one Canadian diocese and severely depleted the resources of several others and the national church.

Archdeacon James Boyles said the gift, amounting to $330,000 (CDN), will help the programs of 11 Canadian dioceses, which together with the national church spent more than $8.5 million on legal costs on lawsuits in a complex cost-sharing with the federal government.

Boyles said $99,000 would go to community and church groups for healing programs for indigenous people, mainly in the Canadian north. These include programs on suicide prevention, women’s recovery and family violence.

He said $88,000 will support national programs. The remainder will go to the 11 dioceses for healing and program work with aboriginal peoples that will help the health of the whole church, Boyles said.

Mission funding support

Council also approved $60,000 to start a comprehensive plan to seek new mission funding. Council member Thomas Gossen said many Episcopalians have financial abundance and have demonstrated leadership and a passion for transforming the world.

“We want to invite them into this ministry,” he said.  “The compelling reasons for moving forward at this time are that the Episcopal Church has an avid and growing sense of mission and that there is no current program for nurturing and encouraging major gifts for mission at the national church level.”

The council also approved forming a working group of council members and representatives of the Church Pension Fund to address the concern over inadequate pensions for clergy and laity who have worked overseas in U.S. jurisdictions.

Bishop Julio Cesar Holguin of the Dominican Republic said that the significantly lower pay of overseas clergy meant that they were being treated “as second-class clergy.” He said the issue involved “discrimination, racism and justice.”

Dennis Sullivan, recently appointed president of the Church Pension Group, agreed that that retirement pay is low and noted it is based on low salaries paid. He added that “it is difficult to ask a pension plan to alleviate all the problems and injustices of the past.”
“How do we go forward?” he asked.

He proposed a small working group to explore ways to alleviate financial pressures of the retirees immediately and to address the broader question of pay for the clergy. Members of council’s international concerns committee, including Holguin, will serve on the group with Sullivan.

Fund reaches record

Idaho Bishop Harry Bainbridge, chair of the board of Episcopal Relief and Development, reported that, as of Oct. 22, Episcopalians contributed more than $6 million to the fund, an increase of 76 percent over the same period in 2003.

He said the agency’s programs this year include work with the African provinces of West Africa, Sudan, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Congo, Indian Ocean, Central Africa and Southern Africa, as well as support for the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa.
In the Middle East and Asia, he said, ERD is working with the Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Philippines, and in Latin America, with El Salvador, Honduras, Brazil, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Israel-related investments

Council reviewed plans to study corporate actions involving Israel and the Palestinian Territories. They call for a year-long collaborative study of companies that contribute to the infrastructure of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and those that have connections to organizations responsible for violence against Israel.

“The question being asked is this: Is our church profiting in some way financially at the expense of suffering of the Palestinian people or innocent Israeli citizens,” explained the Rev. Canon Brian Grieves, director of peace and justice ministries. He explained that the church’s approach is engagement with companies whose actions are morally questionable.

“No action will be taken without conversation with our Jewish partners at home and abroad,” said Suffragan Bishop Catherine Roskam, chair of the international concerns committee.  Grieves said the church supported the right of Israel to exist as a state. “Our goal is not to end the state of Israel. Our goal is to create a Palestinian state.”

The year-long study, to be conducted by the committee on social responsibility in investments, will involve the Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East, the Anglican Peace and Justice Network, and ecumenical and interfaith partners involving the American Jewish community and Palestinian groups.

Budget holds good news

Treasurer Kurt Barnes told the council that, through August 2004, the Episcopal Church received signed pledges from 92 dioceses, totaling $26.3 million, and received indications of support from the remaining dioceses totaling $9 million. Barnes said the figures implied that diocesan pledges for 2004 could total $28 million -- approximately $500,000 more than the February income forecast. He added that the church was receiving funds even from the five dioceses that had indicated zero support.

“Including $85,000 of extra-budgetary expenses and the addition of $100,000 to Jubilee grants, net income is favorable relative to budget,” he concluded. The council voted not to charge church agencies housed at the Episcopal Church Center for costs related to the renovation of the New York office building.

It approved establishing a position of translation services coordinator to provide and coordinate translations of church documents and news releases from English to Spanish and other languages for publication and posting to the website.

The council also approved four funding applications from a separate trust fund, the Constable Fund to support religious education:

• A project between the Office for Ministry Development and Ministries with Young People designed to “strengthen theological education, lifelong learning and Christian formation” in the church ($224,000);
  
  
• A project between Peace and Justice Ministries and the Office of Government Relations for a study delegation to the Middle East involving church leaders and Episcopalians in Congress ($35,000);
  
  
• A project from Anglican and Global Relations to expand and diversify mission education materials and training events ($85,000); and
  
  
• A project from Episcopal Migration Ministries to produce video portraits of Episcopalians in three dioceses where encounters with refugees have transformed their lives ($57,000).