The 213th Annual Council - Diocese of Virginia

Proceedings
she rolled the odometer on her car nearly to 200,000 miles in traveling this Diocese
and consulting with churches and vestries and stewardship committees on the annual
canvass and capital campaigns. In just the first two months of this year she will have
visited 30 churches in service to this Diocese. She is but one member of this staff and
her work is emblematic of what this staff seeks to do in ministering to this Diocese.
And it costs money: salaries have to get paid, gas has to go in the car and the car needs
insurance and, occasionally, new tires.
Another unfortunate but necessary result of the low level of giving to what we do
together is that some of the camps at Shrine Mont this summer will have their tuition
increased by as much as 9 percent. The diocesan budget, funded by the voluntary giving
of the churches of this Diocese, annually underwrites much of the cost of our camps in an
effort to keep them as affordable as possible. We cannot afford to increase that allocation
this year, and continue to support all the other work we are called on to do. That said,
the cost of our summer camp programs remains a high-value investment in the spiritual
well-being of our young people.
I have received several letters from wardens notifying me that their parish pledge would
be reduced for 2008 but that I should not take it as a sign of any unhappiness with what
we are doing as a diocese. None of those letters suggested areas of diocesan mission
and ministry that could be cut or services to their parishes that could be eliminated. I
ask each of you at this Council to speak to your vestries and implore them to raise the
percentage of your parish’s pledge to what we do together. This remains a continuing
issue in Virginia. The diocesan Council has repeatedly affirmed the Virginia Plan for
Proportionate Giving but people go home from Council and we do not see in many
parishes any sign of a significant proportion close to the suggested guidelines.
As a diocese, Virginia has long been thankful for the shared gifts that are signs of
God’s abundant love, but our failure to follow our own Council-recommended plan for
proportionate giving puts us at the very bottom of the 105 American dioceses when it
comes to what percentage of parochial income is shared at the diocesan level. This is not
the legacy I would choose for my episcopate.
As a nation, we are hearing talk of a possible recession, and we know that some of
our neighbors have trouble with their mortgages and living expenses. Thankfully, the
evidence is that Virginia’s economy is strong. Economists tell us a key to economic health
is consumer confidence. The Church is in the business of confidence and hope, and a time
of uncertainty is a time of special opportunity for people who are confident in their hope.
Through the dedication of our staff and the hundreds of volunteers serving on
committees and commissions, the mission of our Diocese continues to go forward in
that confidence and hope. For several years, under the direction of the Commission
on Ministry, we have been studying the implementation of the vocational diaconate in
Virginia. I am happy to say that we expect applicants for postulancy for the vocational
diaconate this year, and when we have at least six postulants we will begin their training
program for them.
You will receive at this Council a report from what is called the R-5 Commission, which
was created at the request of the 212 th Annual Council last year, to explore “what may be
an emerging consensus regarding the place of gay and lesbian people in our common
life,” taking into account the concerns of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Members
of that group have listened carefully, and are open for all voices to be heard. Building
The Diocese of Virginia t Journal of the the 213 th Annual Council 73