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Episcopalians approve ecumenical agreement with Presbyterians, other decisions

Episcopal News Service -- The House of Deputies of The Episcopal Church on July 14 addressed issues of church property litigation, a study of church communications, an agreement with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and new propers for Lesser Feasts and Fasts.

Deputies defeated a resolution addressing the disclosure of the costs of Episcopal Church property litigation.

PC(USA)

Concerning ecumenical relations, deputies adopted, with an amendment, a resolution approving an agreement between the Episcopal Church and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) approved by the Presbyterians’ General Assembly in 2008. The resolution returns to the House of Bishops because the deputies changed the resolution to have the convention “adopt,” rather than “receive,” the agreement.

Property litigation

The House of Bishops had asked deputies to concur with their recommendation to refer the resolution to the Standing Commission on Stewardship and Development. The resolution had called for revealing the dollar amount the church spent “on litigation against dioceses, parishes, groups of churches and individuals since General Convention 2006” as well as information about where the funds came from, the money budgeted for litigation in the next triennium and “an estimate of the amount of property value retained and expected to be retained” by the church “because of pending and completed litigation as of General Convention 2009.”

         Deputies debated various options, including referring it to the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget, and Finance or substituting previous wording to direct the Presiding Bishop and Executive Council to release the litigation information.

         Thomas Fitzhugh III (Texas) said he was concerned that the resolution could put the Presiding Bishop and Executive Council “in a bad spot” because divulging information about ongoing litigation would reveal strategy to the other side. “Let’s just kill it. This is nothing but an effort by people who try to steal our property” to find out how much the church has spent. “If they didn’t try to walk off with it, we wouldn’t have this motion.”

         Deputies ultimately voted not to concur with the bishops’ recommendation, killing the legislation.

Communications

Concerning communications, deputies approved a resolution directing the Episcopal Church Department of Communications to “undertake a comprehensive survey to determine the most appropriate means of reaching Episcopalians,” with results distributed by April 1, 2010. Under the resolution, Episcopal Life’s “staffing levels, frequency of publication, printing partner structure and news format” would continue until the study was completed and the newspaper’s Board of Governors would “be informed of the survey data and consulted in finalizing the report and determining any changes to be made based on that report.”

The resolution came in response to a communications department proposal to change the Episcopal Church’s monthly newspaper to a quarterly magazine beginning in 2010, said the Rev. Peter Strimer (Olympia), Communications committee chair. “Word of this decision caused concern among many in the church, particularly the Board of Governors of Episcopal Life and the 31 print partners who publish diocesan newspapers that are mailed” with Episcopal Life, he said. The Office of Communications has “vetted” the resolution, he said, noting the study will let print partners offer input to the survey “and time to develop possible alternatives.”

         The office indicated the study could be conducted as part of work it already plans for the fall, Strimer said in reaction to a comment about the potential cost of the study.

         The resolution now moves to the House of Bishops.

 

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