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DIOCESE
OF NEWARK - DIOCESAN COUNCIL
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Wednesday, September 10, 2003
St. Agnes' Episcopal Church, Little Falls
Approved Minutes of the Meeting
The next meeting will be held on
Wednesday, October 8, 2003
St. Agnes' Episcopal Church, Little Falls
Present: The Rt. Rev. John P. Croneberger; President; Mr. John Zinn, Treasurer;
Mr. Michael Francaviglia, Secretary; The Rev. Dean Weber, Chancellor.
Elected by Districts: Mr. Donald Cairns, The Rev. Kim Capwell, The Rev. Lu-Ann
Conner, Ms. Ann Hirsch, Ms. Naomi Horsky, Ms. Susan Kynor, Mr. Andrew Piccirillo,
Ms. Nancy Read, Mr. Don Roberts, The Rev. Dr. Robert A. Schiesler, The Rev. Dr.
E. Bevan Stanley, The Rev. Margaret Swetman, Mr. Larry Taber, The Rev. Paul Walker,
Ms. Pat Yankus.
Bishop's Appointments: Mr. Steven Boston, Mr. Sidney King, The Rev. Paul Williams.
Absent: The Rev. Randall Day, Mr. Daniel deRonde, The Rev. Prince Singh,The Rev.
John F. Stanton.
ECW: Mrs. Anna Byrne.
Others Present: Ms. Lyn Headley-Moore, Mr. Caspar Ewig.
Staff: Canon R. Carter Echols, The Rev. Canon Paul S. Hunt, Bishop Brome, and
Mrs. Marva Brome.
VISIONING THREADS UPDATE
- DIVERSITY
The Visioning Thread for the evening was Diversity. The
Biblical reflection was based on Acts 2:1-12 and discussed
in small table groups and reported out to the whole.
Members were asked to answer the question posed in verse
12, "What
does this mean?" and How could/should/does this shape the ministry imperative
of the diocesan leadership?
Ms. Lyn Headley-Moore, Justice Missioner, and Canon Carter Echols, Congregational
Development Officer, addressed the Council on the thread of diversity within
diocesan ministries.
Ms. Lyn Headley-Moore described the mission work of three justice
ministries within the diocese: the Bethsaida Team, the Oasis and
the Mission to Dismantle Racism. Each of the groups was a resource
for congregational development and ministry work. All are "justice focused and make a trinity of missions representing
a wide range of people." The common threads among the three ministries beyond
the umbrella of justice were described: accessibility beyond property issues;
welcome and genuine hospitality; safety from the risks of oppression and invisibility;
inclusion into the life of the congregation; and transformation for everyone.
Each ministry had a goal that all will find a church home. Diocesan Council members
could help the ministries by assisting to connect them with the districts and
the congregations to build a collaborative network of support.
Canon Carter Echols reported on a number of other efforts and work within diverse
communities. The work included: the Task Force on Hispanic Ministry chaired by
The Rev. David Wolf and Ms. Adrianna Clavijo to strengthen the Hispanic/Latino
congregations; the growth of St. Peter's Korean Church which was moving to its
own building at the former Church of the Transfiguration in North Bergen; coordination
of refugee work along with Lutheran Social Agency; development in skills for
diversity ministry through such programs as the presentations by Eric Law, congregational
development officer in the Diocese of Los Angeles, in October for laity and clergy;
a youth diversity conference planned in the upcoming weeks; and, the convention
planning committee commitment to highlight the diversity within the diocese beyond
multi-ethnicity.
AGENDA
Motion:
It was moved and seconded to adopt the agenda as prepared.
The motion was adopted.
MINUTES
Motion:
It was moved and seconded to accept the minutes for the
meeting of June 11, 2003. The motion to accept the minutes
was adopted.
EPISCOPAL COMMUNICATIONS
- THE RT. REV. JOHN P. CRONEBERGER
Welcomed Mrs. Anna Byrne, ECW representative; and, Mr. Caspar Ewig, District
3 convener.
Requested prayers for those individuals who were ill, recuperating or had died.
Regarding this year's General Convention, he shared remembrances about his first
General Convention in St. Louis in 1973 which included the discussion on women's
ordination and adopted changes to the marriage canons; the former issue received
extensive media coverage, while the latter seemed to have just simply been accepted,
but had ramifications beyond the few days of the convention. Not unlike St. Louis,
this year's General Convention had extensive media coverage on the discussion
of sexuality, while at the same time the ministry canons were discussed and eventually
adopted; unanimously by the House of Bishops and subsequently by the House of
Deputies. The ministry canons will be the focus of continuing work during the
next triennium.
Announced that The Rev. Herb Tinning had been appointed Archdeacon to work in
the formation of the permanent deacons.
DEPLOYMENT/CLERGY TRANSITIONS
The Rev. Canon Paul Hunt reported on recent clergy transitions which included:
The Rev. David Hermanson from Diocese of New Jersey to Lyndhurst; The Rev. Stuart
Smith from Diocese of Western New York to Hawthorne; The Rev. Terry Matthews
from Pennsylvania to Interim at South Orange; The Rev. Dewey Brown from East
Carolina to St. Luke's, Haworth; The Rev. David deSmith to St. David's, Kinnelon;
The Rev. Kathryn King from California to All Saints', Bergenfield; The Rev. Susan
Saucedo-Sica from Pennsylvania to St. Gregory's, Parsippany; The Rev. Cooper
Conway to St. John's, Union City; The Rev. Paul Olssen from New York to St. Paul's,
Morris Plains; The Rev. Mariano Gargiulo from Lyndhurst to St.James', Ridgefield;
The Rev. Wade Renn from Interim Ridgefield to Interim Harrington Park; The Rev.
Jill McNish from Interim Parsippany and Interim Kinnelon; The Rev. Kim Haag from
Annunciation, Oradell; The Rev. David Badgley from St. Mary's, Haledon; The Rev.
Denise Yarbrough from Towaco to Diocese of Rochester, NY; The Rev. Zachary Fleetwood
from St. Peter's, Morristown to Paris, France; The Rev. Bill Gannon from St.
Andrew's, Harrington Park to retirement; The Rev. Marshall Shelly from Grace,
Madison to New Providence; The Rev. William Rich from St. David's, Kinnelon to
Diocese of Long Island; The Rev. Bill Riker from St. Paul's, Morris Plains to
retirement; The Rev. James Jannucci from Trinity, Cliffside Park to retirement.
TREASURER'S REPORT
Mr. John Zinn reported on the known and expected financial situations of 2002,
2003 and 2004. The 2002 finances were expected to break even which meant no surplus
to carry over into budget year 2004. This meant that the 2004 budget would be
difficult without a surplus to carry over from 2002; specifically the surplus
from 2001 that was brought into 2003 totaled $125,000. The current cash flow
issues related to reimbursements from other entities. The bishop and the CFO
were meeting with district clergy during a five week period to talk about the
pledge process.
Motion:
It was moved and seconded to accept the report, subject
to audit. The motion was adopted.
LAY PENSION PLAN
Mr. John Zinn presented the following resolution to modify the current Lay Pension
Plan:
Motion:
Resolved that the following changes be made in the Lay
Pension Plan of the Diocese of Newark effective October
1, 2003:
1. Increase the minimum monthly benefit from $200 per month to $300 per month
2. Change the vesting schedule to the following graded or stepped vesting schedule:
A. 40% at the end of two years of service
B. 60% at the end of three years of service
C. 80% at the end of four years of service
D 100% at the end of five years of service
Supporting information:
The lay pension plan of the Diocese of Newark had been in existence for more
than twenty years and predates the lay pension plans currently offered by the
Church Pension Fund. All members of the lay staff of the diocese were eligible
for the plan after one year of service; employees of Episcopal Community Development
(ECD) had their own pension plan and were not part of this plan. Like the clergy
pension plan, the lay pension plan was a defined benefit plan, that is, beneficiaries
are guaranteed a certain amount of income based upon years of service and average
earnings. This is different from a defined contribution plan where beneficiaries
receive the amount contributed plus earned investment income, but are not guaranteed
any specific amount of income. The Council members were the trustees of the pension
plan. Pension payments were calculated by 2% times the five highest average compensation
years (HAC) times the number of years of service.
The plan had assets of approximately $1 million, which were invested
in the Diocesan Investment Trust. Financial and benefit issues were
reviewed with Milliman & Robertson,
Inc., an international pension and consulting firm, and Mr. Art Bledsoe, long
time volunteer advisor to the diocese of human resource issues. The financial
condition of the plan was reviewed annually while benefits were analyzed on a
periodic basis, the last benefit changes were made in 1999.
The proposed change in the minimum benefit would be the fourth such adjustment
since 1987. This change will impact a very small number of people, almost all
of whom have been retired from more than 20 years when salaries, and therefore,
pension benefits were much lower. This change had little or no impact on the
finances of the pension plan.
The second change related to the vesting schedule, in this context vesting means
the point at which a pension benefit is earned. As noted earlier employees are
not eligible for pension benefits until after the first year of employment, however
the first year does count as a year of service. Under the current plan employees
must complete five years of service to be vested, at which point they are 100%
percent vested. A more typical approach today is to have graded or stepped vesting
whereby employees are gradually vested over a five-year period. Since no pension
benefit is earned at the end of the first year, the process begins at the end
of the second year when the employee is 40% vested. This continues at a rate
of an additional 20% per year until five years when the employee will be 100%
vested. There is little or no financial impact on the plan to making this change.
The initial funding for the pension plan came from the diocesan budget. However,
for a number of reasons the plan became over funded and no contribution had been
made for close to 15 years. An analysis of the current status of the plan, based
upon the depressed stock market values at 12/31/02, suggests that while a contribution
in 2003 is not mandatory, that this should be looked at closely in 2004. As a
result this will be examined as part of the 2004 budget process, which will include
an updated asset valuation. There was also a need to prepare updated plan documents
for distribution and explanation to the diocesan staff. Once action is taken
on these proposed changes, the documents will be prepared and presented to the
Council for approval.
Not being recommended were plans to change the number of years used in the calculation
from five to three; and an integration of the plan with social security; both
of these changes would have benefitted higher salary employees.
JERSEY CITY STRATEGY FUNDS
Mr. John Zinn presented an accounting of the Jersey City Strategy funds from
the beginning of 1997 through June 30, 2003 and reviewed the sources and planning
process. The sources of these funds were the sale of the property of closed churches
in Jersey City and some endowment funds from those churches. Disbursements from
these funds fall into the following four major categories:
Strategy Planning - $13,616, funds spent primarily at the beginning of the time
frame to plan the direction of the Jersey City Strategy
St. John's Property - $187,369, the costs of maintaining the St. John's property
on Summit Avenue in Jersey City. Should this property be sold the proceeds, net
of expenses, would become part of the overall funding
Area Ministry - $162,685, funds spent for joint programs and ministries of the
three congregations in Jersey City. The bulks of these funds were spent on a
joint youth ministry initiative that was discontinued. In June of 2002 the Diocesan
Council approved $15,000 in funding for each of the three churches, $3,800 of
this figure has been disbursed to Grace Church in Van Vorst.
St. Augustine's Church - $405,598, funds spent in connection with the pre-development
work on the new church on Cator Avenue in Jersey City.
One of the decisions that came out of the planning process was that 2/3's of
the remaining funds would be dedicated toward the construction of St. Augustine's
Church and the remaining 1/3 would go to the Jersey City Area Ministry. As of
June 30, 2003 the balance of these funds was almost $2,979,000. The exact allocation
of these funds between the Area Ministry and the St. Augustine's project would
have to be adjusted for funds disbursed to date. This does not include any estimated
value for the St. John's property. In addition the full proceeds of the sale
of the Church of the Incarnation property would go into the St. Augustine's project.
COUNCIL TASK FORCE REPORTS
Task force representatives presented status reports.
Missions:
The Rev. Canon Paul Hunt reported that the committee
had met several times and expressed slight disappointment
in the low attendance by council members. The June meeting
discussed congregational viability; the August meeting
followed up to discuss financial viability for congregations.
The next meeting will be held on October 30 and the agenda
will define the direction. Some of the liaison responsibilities
will be transferred from Department of Missions members
to Council members. Other items will be to determine
the definition of viability (this will be important when
decisions are recommended and finalized on classification
of status, i.e., from mission to parish or reverse);
and identifying individuals for a small group to read
monthly budget reports submitted by the missions and
monitor for trends. Tools identified for working with
the missions will be useful for the parishes, as well.
There followed a lively discussion about the useful of
viability tools.
Canon Echols announced the introduction of a multi-week
program on "Introduction
to Church Management" for five weeks to help church leadership.
DISTRICT ACTIVITIES REPORTS
District representatives reported on activities, programs and planning within
their districts.
District 1: Mr. Andrew Piccirillo reported the district was working again with
Cross Roads Outdoor Ministries to provide youth programming.
District 10: Ms. Pat Yanks reported that John Zinn spoke on stewardship at the
June meeting; a well-done evening.
District 5: The Rev. Paul Williams reported that Ms. Terry Parsons from the national
church office spoke at last night's meeting on the topic of stewardship; she
used Maslov's Hierarchy of Need meets Jesus Christ.
WARD J. HERBERT FUND BOARD
RECOMMENDATIONS
Motion:
It was moved and seconded to suspend the rules to allow
for the ratification of the Ward J. Herbert Fund Board
grant recommendations. The motion was adopted.
Motion:
It was moved by The Rev. Paul Walker and seconded that
the recommendations for the second cycle of grants recommended
by the WJH Fund board's June meeting be ratified. The
motion was adopted.
WJH-03-01 Cliffside Park, Trinity - repairs to leak damage, no funding
WJH-03-13 Belleville, Christ - emergency sewer line repair, $2,950
WJH-03-14 Lyndhurst, St. Thomas' - roof replacement - church, parish hall, no
funding
WJH-03-15 Montclair, St. Luke's - rectory roof replacement, no funding
WJH-03-16 Bayonne, Trinity - roof replacement - church & center, $2,500
WJH-03-17 Tenafly, Atonement - church auditorium & rectory roof repairs,
$2,850
WJH-03-18 Clifton, St. Peter's - heating system replacement, asbestos abatement,
sewerline replacement, $23,846
WJH-03-19 Newark, Grace - condensate return piping replacement, $12,500
WJH-03-20 Paramus, St. Matthew's - church floors, water damage, window repairs,
$8,804
Total Recommendation to Diocesan Council: $48,000
EPISCOPAL CAPITAL LOAN FUND
Mr. Larry Taber reported the Ward J. Herbert Fund Executive Committee approved
a $20,000 loan to Trinity Parish at Bergen Point, Bayonne on July 10, 2003. The
loan will fund part of roofing the church and the church's community center.
It was projected that the loan would be repaid by 2023 (20-year term). The interest
rate was 5%.
Motion:
It was moved by Mr. Larry Taber, seconded and adopted
to ratify the minutes from the Ward J. Herbert Fund Executive
Committee which approved an ECLF loan to Trinity Parish
at Bergen Point, Bayonne.
EPISCOPAL CHURCH WOMEN
Mrs. Anna Byrne reported that for the year 2003, two
grants were awarded to ministries in the Diocese of Newark: "Outreach to the Hispanic HIV/AIDS Community," sponsored
by Church of the Good Shepherd, Fort Lee, for $25,000; and the "Jubilee
Family Center, Hoboken," sponsored by All Saint's Church, Hoboken, for $10,000.
Since 1969, the diocese had been awarded 46 grants totaling $688,000.
WEB SITE
Ms. Susan Robinson announced that work had begun on the redesign of the web site.
The Voice was available on-line and will also provide a Voice in-between electronic
issue.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
General Convention report back sessions will be held on Tuesday, September 16;
4-6 p.m. and 7-9 p.m at Church of The Saviour, Denville.
Diaconal ordinations were scheduled: William Albinger, Saturday, September 13,
4 p.m., St. George's, Maplewood; David Cabush, Saturday, September 20, 10 a.m.,
St. Peter's, Morristown; Kay Locke, Saturday, November 1, Calvary, Summit.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 p.m. with prayer by Bishop Croneberger.
Respectfully submitted,
Michael Francaviglia,
Secretary
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