Report for the Province of New England
on the March 2007 meeting of the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church

By Lee Alison Crawford
            The Executive Council of the General Convention of The Episcopal Church met March 2-4, in Portland, Oregon, to adopt a budget for 2007, determine allocation of the funds dedicated for the Millennium Development Goals, consider several resolutions on which work had not been completed by the 2006 General Convention and discuss the outcome of the February meeting of the primates of the Anglican Communion in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
            Responsible for overseeing the mission and ministry of the church between meetings of the General Convention, Executive Council consists of 38 members elected from both General Convention and each of The Episcopal Church’s nine provinces plus the presiding bishop and the president of the House of Deputies. Dennis Stark from Rhode Island and the Rev. Dr. Lee Alison Crawford from Vermont were elected in April 2006 to represent Province I, Crawford for a six-year term and Stark to fill a term that expires in 2009. Another New Englander, the Rev. Dr. Ian Douglas, Angus Dun Professor of World Mission and Global Christianity at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was elected by General Convention in 2006.
            Perhaps the most eagerly awaited news was what would be Executive Council’s response to the Communiqué issued by the primates in Dar es Salaam (download pdf). Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and President of the House of Deputies Bonnie Anderson appointed eight people, representing several viewpoints and provinces of the church, to draft a letter of response to be considered in plenary on the last day of the meeting.
            Council members, as a whole, felt it most important not to pass a resolution, which they thought would box the body and church into a corner. Likewise, they believed it was important not to react precipitously but to respond thoughtfully and deliberately. The final draft (full text available here) represents concerns expressed by Council members in an open and transparent conversation. It states:
• We wish clearly to affirm that our position as a church is to welcome all persons, particularly those perceived to be the least among us. We wish to reaffirm to our lesbian and gay members that they remain a welcome and integral part of the Episcopal Church.
• Further, we offer our prayerful affirmation to all who struggle with the issues that concern us: those who are deeply concerned about the future of their Church and its place within the wider Communion, and those who are not reconciled to certain actions of General Convention. We wish to reaffirm that they too remain a welcome and integral part of the Episcopal Church.
The letter also details the next steps of Council in responding to the primates’ requests. A task force to be appointed by the president of the House of Deputies will draft a complete response to the Communiqué, which Executive Council will receive and consider at its June 2007 meeting in Parsippany, NJ. The International Concerns Committee (INC) was charged with considering how to respond to the draft Anglican Communion covenant (download pdf) presented to the primates in Dar es Salaam by a Covenant Design Group.
            The INC created a Covenant Response Facilitation Team, chaired by Rosalie Ballentine (Diocese of the Virgin Islands). It includes Lee Crawford, Ian Douglas (also an Anglican Consultative Council member), the Rev. Canon Mark Harris (Diocese of Delaware), Josephine Hicks (Diocese of North Carolina and Anglican Consultative Council member), Bishop Julio Cesar Holguín (Diocese of the Dominican Republic), along with New York Bishop Suffragan Catherine Roskam (Anglican Consultative Council member). This group has had a preliminary conference phone call and is at work on a process that will allow for input from across the church.
            While the outside world was focused on the above response, Executive Council also attended to other important matters, including approving a budget for 2007. Actual income for the previous triennium showed a modest surplus of $25,000, but income for 2007 is anticipated to be lower than originally projected due to a combination of some dioceses not being able to meet fully the 21% asking and a delay in the beginning of rent for 2 1/2 floors of office space at 815 Second Avenue, New York City, until 2008. To balance the budget for 2007, the percentage taken as income on the endowment was increased from 5 to 5 1/2%, and up to $2.4 million of reserves was appropriated. Dennis Stark serves on the Administration and Finance Committee and the Investment Committee of the Executive Council.
            Between the November 2006 and March 2007 meetings, Lee Crawford chaired a task force charged with advising Executive Council on how best to disburse the 0.7% allocated in the 2007-2009 budget toward the Millennium Development Goals. Working from a proposal submitted in the fall to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, this task force, composed of Dr. Robert Radtke, President of Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD), the Rev. Christopher Johnson, Jubilee Officer for the Diocese of Colorado, the Rev. F. Butch Gamarra of Los Angeles, Ted Yumoto of San Joaquin and Hisako Beasley of Olympia, recommended that the $924,000 line item be used to start a “Millennium Development Goals Inspiration Fund” that will support the existing ERD program, Nets for Life.
            Nets for Life is already helping communities in Africa eradicate malaria (MDG #6). Raising another $2 million for this inspiration fund will enable ERD to expand the program to Latin America, the Caribbean and, perhaps, Asia. The program will be jointly administered by ERD, Jubilee Ministries (the Cathedral Church of Saint Paul in Burlington is a Jubilee Center) and the Executive Council. Council approved the task force’s proposal in its final plenary session. Learn more here.
            Council also passed resolutions that address peace in the Middle East, asylum for persecuted gay and lesbians, eliminating the material witness provisions of the Patriot Act and closing Guantanamo Prison. The Office of Government Relations in Washington, DC, sponsor of the Episcopal Public Policy Network uses these resolutions in speaking with legislators on Capitol Hill.
            Sunday morning, Executive Council members traveled by train to worship at Saint Michael and All Angels, an Anglo-Latino congregation in the Hollywood district of Portland. From the initial welcome of elaborate gift bags filled with Oregonian chocolate and filbert nuts (an Oregon specialty), to the youth holding signs of welcome at the train stop, to a vibrant liturgy, Council members enjoyed the generous hospitality of their host diocese and congregation.
            During the announcements at the Holy Eucharist, with Bishop Jefferts Schori presiding, the senior warden of the congregation said—not only to the presiding bishop’s surprise but also to the congregation’s—that their rector’s invitation for all to become members of the ONE Episcopalian Campaign resulted in a $27,000 collection for ERD. They presented a large, symbolic check to the presiding bishop and president of ERD.
            In a touching moment, the children of the congregation gave the presiding bishop a necklace of eight glass beads to remind her of the eight MDGs and the blue waters of baptism. After presenting her with the necklace, which she wore for the rest of the liturgy over her chasuble, they blessed her, inviting the congregation also to stretch out their hands in a blessing drawn from the prayer said after baptism (BCP, 306).

            Both Province One representatives to Executive Council feel most honored to serve on the province’s behalf. Please feel free to contact them at destark@cox.net and lacinvt94@aol.com to ask questions or express concerns.

Dennis E. Stark contributed to this Report. He is a member of Diocesan Council in the Diocese of Rhode Island and treasurer at St. Martin’s, Providence. The Rev. Lee Alison Crawford is rector of St. Mary’s, Northfield, Vermont, and a member of the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Vermont.