TLC on the Executive Council Debate over "International Commitments"

BB NOTE: This is a fascinating article - not so much for what it says, but for what it doesn't say. This is one of those "big hints" that "times they are a-changing" in the Episcopal Church. So much for the MDGs in Africa - this is about consolidating power in a new-formed Episcopal Church Communion. TLC's Steve Waring writes (followed by BB Notes):

Executive Council Debates International Commitments
3/3/2007

TLC: The future of The Episcopal Church's international commitments are expected to occupy a significant portion of the agenda of the March 2-4 Executive Council meeting in Portland, Oregon. On Friday, a subcommittee discussed how conflicting budgetary priorities are affecting the Church's Anglican and Global Relations Office and its relationship with overseas partners.

BB NOTE: "Conflicting budgetary priorities" means that the altruistic idea of funding relief and other mission projects in Africa are over. Attention is now turning to different priorities, different partners, and a solidifying of the areas where The Episcopal Church has had power.

TLC: A General Convention resolution in 2003 called for a full-time African desk officer to be hired in the Anglican and Global Relations office. But the full-time employee that was hired resigned in 2005 and his replacement was made part-time in order that a part-time desk officer could also be hired for Asia, said Margaret Larom, director of Anglican and Global Relations, during an afternoon meeting of the International Concerns Committee.

BB NOTE: Note that the article doesn't mention who that African desk officer was or why he resigned. His name was the Rev. Canon Gordon Okunsanya and he was head of, according TEC own history of the Office of Anglican and Global Relations, "a new consultancy entitled Chaplaincy to Africa Expatriates, filled by the Rev. Canon Gordon Okunsanya, which was intended to eventually become a funded staff position; that did not come to fruition and the Africa Chaplaincy Office was disbanded at the close of 2004."

Who was/is Canon Akunsanya? You can read more about him here.

In other words, The Episcopal Church was planning on partnering with the Church of Nigeria, had hired a chaplain to go full-time to reach out to expatriate Nigerians (you can read more about that here. There is even more to this story (including how TEC has tried to spin it over the years) that will make your heart sick. Remember, Archbishop Akionla and the Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold were friends once - until it became clear what direction TEC was headed. When that became clear, the funding for the chaplaincy and outreach to Africa was redirected elsewhere. Funny when that happens.

TLC: Mrs. Larom said it was unlikely that The Rev. Emmanuel Sserwadda, interim Africa officer, would be made full-time at any time in the near future because executive council will need to trim more than $200,000 in personnel costs at the Episcopal Church Center in order to balance the 2007-2009 budget.

BB NOTE: Zowie! $200,000 over-budget for the 815 headquarters in downtown Manhattan. Well, that's not going to spent on outreach to Africa. What then are the "new" priorities?

TLC: During the 2007-2009 triennium, The Episcopal Church will spend $13.3 million in support of overseas partnerships and covenants. That amount includes, among other budget items, $6.1 million in support of 12 overseas dioceses with current or past ties to The Episcopal Church and $5.2 million in overseas covenant payments to three autonomous provinces of the Anglican Communion.

Mexico, the Philippines, Central America and Liberia used to be part of The Episcopal Church. All but Liberia are now autonomous provinces and sent primates to the recent meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. As part of the negotiations which led to their autonomy, The Episcopal Church agreed to provide annual grants over a period which varies by province of between 10 and 40 years to those churches as part of a covenant arrangement. Over the next three years, the Province of Mexico will receive $1.5 million, the Philippines will receive $466,670 and Central America will receive $2.6 million. Liberia is not an autonomous province, but will receive $645,000.

Some of these provinces have struggled as the multi-year covenant grants call for the annual grant payments to decline as the termination of the covenant agreement nears. In the case of Liberia, the payments have continued after the covenant agreement expired. The covenant agreements negotiated earliest tended to be for the shortest amount of time, prompting the Rev. Ian Douglas of Massachusetts to ask about “covenant creep.”

“If we say one thing on paper, another for the purpose of the budget, and in practice do a third thing, I'm wondering if we don't need to revisit the whole idea of covenants,” he said.

The Rev. Mark Harris of Delaware said the overseas covenant relationships should not be considered outreach, but integral to the identity of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society.

“Autonomy is not about going off and being on your own forever,” he said. “It's about having an equal claim on each other. We need to look at what happens when they reach fiscal autonomy.”

BB NOTE: This is fascinating stuff. So the original support for Mexico, Central America, the Philippines, and Liberia (which receives payments in excess of the Philippines) was to help them be independent, but now the "ties that bind" need to be strengthened and so the idea of cutting off the money seems to be dimming if TEC wants to keep these relationships in the fold. Mark's comment is quite revealing - forget the covenants, this is the seedlings for the Episcopal Communion. No wonder progressives are so obsessed about "following the money" - it's their method of controlling weaker provinces to stay in the fold. That is how TEC does it and assumes that this is the case for everyone else - but that kind of dependency can turn on you, especially if you are running $200,000 over budget for the cool digs in Manhattan.

Ian is also floating the same thing - forget the covenants - no need for these churches to be independent if they need to be part of a new Episcopal Communion, or at least one that challenges the Anglican Communion into compliance. Comprende?

TEC: Further discussion of funding for the Anglican and Global Relations office was postponed until later during the meeting when the committee went into a two-hour private session to discuss the recent draft Anglican Covenant released during the primates’ meeting.

BB NOTE: Now this interesting as well. First they need to hear what happened at the primates meeting and the covenant (which is hard to imagine TEC signing). Perhaps they will need to draft their own competing covenant instead and sign up all these provinces in the Americas and other parts of the world (Europe, Liberia) to sign that one instead? It does cause one to wonder.

TEC: During a morning plenary session, Fr. Douglas was elected by council as one of three Episcopal Church representatives to the Anglican Consultative Council. Josephine Hicks of North Carolina and the Rt. Rev. Catherine Roskam, Suffragan Bishop of New York, are the other two representatives.

BB NOTE: We remember Ian Douglas and Josephine Hicks at General Convention in Columbus. Ian was on the Special Committee (a progressive theologian) and Josephine Hicks has been one of TEC's ACC members until TEC's membership was suspended. We remember Ms. Hicks as well since she had designated herself a special chair just behind the Special Committee's panel during the hearings. The rest of us (except Matt Kennedy, who sat on the floor blogging at 100 miles an hour) sat in the public chairs, but Ms. Hicks had her special chair in close proximity - always within ear shot, it was interesting. Yes, we remember Ms. Hicks. Bishop Roskam was part of the contingent that went to the last ACC meeting in Nottingham (asked not to come, she came anyway) and tried to explain things to the ACC, but it didn't go over very well, as we recall. Hope springs eternal - the withdrawal still continues for TEC and the ACC (in principle - since the ACC receives funding from TEC, don't forget!). Do they really think they will go back? If they don't, what will happen to the ACC funding? How do you discipline your funding source anyway?

TEC: After opening presentations in the morning, council went into private session to hear a briefing on the primates’ meeting from Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and to discuss the response requested by the primates from the House of Bishops by Sept. 30.

BB NOTE: Excellent reporting from Steve Waring, as usual. He's dropping all kinds of hints - that the "priorities" are changing for TEC, that outreach doesn't mean outreach and covenants don't mean covenants anymore. It's time to shore up allies and get ready for something new, something different. Perhaps we will see why these flags were hanging in the House of Deputies at General Convention in Columbus, something in five General Conventions I had never seen before.

Tip of the TinFoil Hat to Sarah at SF.

LATER: Looks like the "Episcopal Communion" has a name (which we first heard about last November at the Executive Council meeting then: Convocation on the Anglican Churches in the Amercas." The task force was charged with exploring this option (that is, making it happen) and was chaired by the now unanimously elected Ian Douglas who reports that The Episcopal Church has identified the leadership for this "convocation" (intriguing name isn't it, this rather intentional attempt at a smackdown on CANA?) and is now formalizing the partnerships, which obviously includes Our Friends in the North (Mike, call your office). Can we also imagine who the other members will be?

Here's the update from ENS:

Douglas, of the Diocese of Massachusetts, reported on the work of the four-member Convocation on the Anglican Mission of the Americas Task Force. The task force was formed at the last Executive Council meeting in Chicago in November after House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson reported a conversation about such a regional conversation that took place during her 2006 visit with the Council of the Anglican Church of Canada's General Synod.

Douglas said the task force's initial goal would be seen if there was interest in having a regional conversation about how the Anglican provinces and extra-provincial Anglican churches in the Americas can be "agents of God's mission in the wider world." The task force has identified the leaders who should be approached to inquire about their interests in having such a conversation, Douglas said, and a letter of invitation is being drafted.