Diocesan Council Report February 18, 2017
By Maurice L. Harris
What is evangelism? What are our Local Mission priorities? How can we dismantle racism? Tough questions. That was the theme of the February 17 Diocesan Council Meeting. There were, in fact, many tough question to address, as councilmembers reported on their progress toward the 2017 Diocesan Priorities.
The Treasurer’s Report gave some sense of parishes’ success with the new formula that helps determine how much to contribute to the diocese. “Gerry [Davis] reported that revenues are less than was budgeted …and many parishes have not yet paid, but he noted a lag time was expected; expenses are on target, but there is a current deficit of $47,000 for month of Jan.” Council is hopeful that parishes will make up the shortfall in the coming months.
Another highlight was Local Mission Approach and the funds that are available to assist parishes through the discernment process. Senior wardens and rectors can expect to hear from their Mission District representatives soon with details of how parishes can take advantage of these resources!
In the diocese’s effort to nurture ecumenical and interreligious relations, the Rev. Dr. Fred Moser has been elected head of the Vermont Ecumenical Council, which is “moving to a networking model rather than denominational, hierarchical model.”
Council showed its support for the diocese’s Dismantling Racism efforts by approving a small allocation from the Alleluia Fund to offset room and board expenses for the upcoming Dismantling Racism Retreat to be held at Mission Farm on March 24-25.
Finally, councilmembers discussed how they might improve their communications in their respective Mission Districts and foster inter-parish networking.
Diocesan Council is the legislative arm between conventions. Meetings are open to all people of the diocese. For meeting minutes and registration information, visit http://diovermont.org/governance.php and scroll down to Diocesan Council.