News Briefs

Episcopal News Service. January 9, 2002 [2002-005-1]

Bishops in Church of England reveal their finances

(ENI) For the first time in history, the Church of England has publicly revealed the financial costs of maintaining its episcopate.

In the face of criticism that the bishops were living in relative grandeur, church authorities have pointed out that only a quarter of the 44 diocesan bishops lives in anything resembling a palace--and the actual living quarters are more likely than not to be an apartment in the larger complex. The palaces usually include diocesan offices, rooms that are rented for conferences and even wedding receptions.

"We would call this sensible, maximal use of space," said Stephen Conway of Durham, whose bishop lives in Auckland Castle, one of the grandest residences in the church. "It's a privilege to be in such surroundings but living at the castle as a temporary tenant doesn't identify the bishop with a particular socio-economic group."

Church figures show that, in 2000, the diocesan bishops together with 70 suffragan and assistant bishops cost the church a total of 12.8 million pounds, about $18.6 million. Of that amount, about 3.5 million covered employment costs, an average of $44,500 per bishop. The rest of the costs are related to working expenses in maintaining an office.

"Bishops are very hardworking, perhaps excessively so," said Prof. Anthony Mellows who released the figures. "The pressures on them are increasing. They do not have lavish lifestyles."

As spiritual head of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion, as well as diocesan bishop of Canterbury, George Carey heads the list with total costs of $1.4 million.

Divinity school may have to return funds donated for chapel

(ENS) In the wake of a controversy over the handling of funds at Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, and the resignation of Dean William Franklin, donors who have pledged $3 million for a new chapel will be asked if they want their donations returned.

President Richard Levin of Yale University had sought Franklin's resignation for what university auditors said was "a nearly complete lack of internal controls" at Berkeley but the seminary's board rebuffed the request and defended Franklin. Levin subsequently blocked Berkeley's move to the reconstructed Yale Divinity School, preventing Berkeley from developing plans to occupy two of the eight historic houses in the YDS quadrangle. One of the houses was meant to serve as a chapel and the other has offices for Berkeley.

"The board was highly annoyed at Levin's unilateral action," said the Rev. Rowan Greer, a retired professor from YDS. "There is a great deal of suspicion and distrust," he told the New Haven Register. He said that there had been "no misappropriation of funds. It was a sloppy system."

One of 11 Episcopal seminaries, Berkeley has been affiliated with Yale Divinity School since 1971. Its students makeup about a third of the YDS student body. A university task force will study the future of the affiliation. Greer said that a Berkeley committee will try to work out new financial procedures with Yale.

Archbishop Peers says Canada forcing religion out of public life

(Ottawa Citizen) Archbishop Michael Peers of the Anglican Church of Canada says that the nation is moving dangerously close to eliminating all mention of religion in public life.

In a New Year's Day sermon in Ottawa's Christ Church Cathedral, Peers said that Canada prides itself on its multiculturalism yet is moving to eliminate references to the faiths that underpin that culture. "Imagine telling Sikhs and Muslims that their culture is respected in this country but the society has no place for their faith. Faith and culture are intimately connected," he said.

In the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, prominent Canadians have suggested that what defines the country is "secularism, pluralism and democracy," he charged. That creates "a powerful and potentially very serious conflict" because secularism is increasingly being defined as elimination of all religious references in public life, out of fear that religion will cause division, he said.

That would lead to what he called "not only a suppression of our pluralist reality, but also folly of the worst sort for our society."

Peers said that without some understanding of faith, Canadians would never be able to understand the current conflicts between India and Pakistan or between Israel and the Palestinians.

Suppression of religion does not work, he said, and "eventually that kind of suppression implodes on itself because it is a broad denial of things that run far, far deeper than material life."

Peers concluded that "a truth suppressed always takes its revenge," predicting that, just as many Christian denominations moved beyond their disputes and began working together, so the world's major faiths will also enter into deeper relations during this century.

Good Friday offering destined for Jerusalem and the Middle East

(ENS) In his annual Epiphany letter to all congregations, Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold has asked that Episcopalians continue to "pray for their sisters and brothers in the Holy Land" and to support the Episcopal Church's Good Friday Offering as "an opportunity to demonstrate solidarity with Anglicans and all Christians in that troubled region of the world." For the past 80 years the Episcopal Church has taken up a Good Friday Offering to be sent to the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East.

The Province of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East covers the entire southern Mediterranean coast from Gibraltar to Lebanon and Syria, and down to the Persian Gulf and the Horn of Africa. Yet it is one of the smaller Provinces of the Anglican Communion in membership. Outside of Jerusalem, the countryside is overwhelmingly Islamic and Jewish, and even in Jerusalem the dominant Christian traditions are Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Armenian Apostolic.

Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal maintains a visible Anglican presence in the Diocese of Jerusalem, which includes Israel, the Palestine National Authority, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, and the sister dioceses of Egypt and North Africa, Cyprus and the Gulf, and Iran are equally involved with numerous ministries throughout the region. Support received through the Good Friday Offering translates into operating hospitals, schools, orphanages and many other programs, accomplished for the benefit of all people in the province, Christian, Jewish and Muslim alike.

A form to order the 2002 offering materials, which include a poster, a bulletin shell, and offering envelopes, accompanied the Epiphany letter. The bulletin shell and the poster are also available online at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/agr/friday.html. Good Friday Offering materials are also available through Episcopal Parish Services in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, by calling toll-free 800-903-5544.