Minutes for Approval at 11/11 meeting at All Saints Episcopal Church Grants/Milan:
Meeting: Northwest Deanery, Diocese of the Rio Grande
Location: All Saints Episcopal Church, Grants/Milan, New Mexico
Date: July 15, 2017
Meeting: Northwest Deanery, Diocese of the Rio Grande
Location: All Saints Episcopal Church, Grants/Milan, New Mexico
Date: July 15, 2017
- The meeting convened at 10:13 a.m. with a welcome a prayer by the Very Rev. Dean Robert Mundy.
- Roll was called and a quorum was verified.
- The agenda for the meeting was approved with the addition of the Episcopal Youth Event and St. Martin’s, and the removal of Camp Stoney.
- Diocesan Treasurer Dr. Guy Gronquist presented the proposed $1.79 million 2018 diocesan budget, which would include a ½ of 1% increase in Fair Share for all churches, with a top rate of 16%. While detailing income and expense section by section, Gronquist noted that, to put the Fair Share increase into perspective, the national Fair Share average is 22% and that at one time the DRG rate was 37%. Gronquist said the diocese would be facing two extraordinary events in 2018, the election and consecration of a new bishop and the national General Convention. He said the diocese spent about a quarter-million dollars in the search and consecration of Bishop Vono, and this time was budgeting about $75,000, with about $40,000 to $50,000 earmarked for the consecration itself. The diocese is also asking each church to donate $1,000 toward the search/consecration, which would raise another $50,000. He also said the diocese is attempted to build up to meeting the national church asking of 15%, but is far below that in this budget and is seeking a waiver in order to participate at General Convention, for which the budget includes $42,000 for deputization. Otherwise, he said, ordinary expenses have generally been “flat-lined,” or kept at 2017 levels. When asked about the budget for the Bishop’s compensation, $94,225 plus travel, vehicle and other expenses, Gronquist said the national church wants the diocese “to be competitive” with comparable dioceses. Most of the discussion centered on the financial burden a Fair Share increase of ½ of 1% would put on most churches, especially smaller parishes and missions that are struggling to make ends meet as it is. The consensus among deanery members was that the budget needs to be re-evaluated and tightened to eliminate the need for a Fair Share increase. At the end of the discussion, Gronquist had deanery members cast paper ballots indicating approval or disapproval of the proposed budget. He said once all four deaneries had the opportunity to hold a similar discussion and vote, the results would be tabulated and presented to the Bishop and Diocesan Council for review and final action, with the final budget to be presented at diocesan convention in October.
- The minutes from the April 29, 2017, meeting were approved as presented.
- Treasurer’s Report – Lois Phillips|
The treasurer reported a beginning of the year balance of $4,125.83, four diocesan distributions of $1,062,50 each received, expenditures to date of $5,080.92, and an ending balance of $3.294.91. Motion made, seconded and approved to accept the report.
- Deanery Poverty and Outreach Board representative Stephanie Padilla said there would be a mandatory POB workshop at the Bosque Center on Aug. 5. She said any church planning to submit a POB grant application must be represented at the workshop or their application will be turned down.
- Follow-up reports on the Episcopal Youth Encounter and the situation at St. Martin’s Hospitality Center were postponed until the November Deanery meeting.
- Members of St. Thomas of Canterbury reported on and demonstrated results of the paperless Music Workshop to which the Deanery donated $1,000. By all accounts the workshop was a huge success. St. Thomas also reported that the Syrian refugee family it has been supporting was able to buy a car with the $1,000 the Deanery donated to them, which allowed the father in the family to find steady employment
- In conjunction with the donation to the Syrian family, which was approved by a small margin after a contentious discussion, members of a committee appointed by Fr. Robert to look into establishing criteria for how Deanery grants should be made presented their report. Unfortunately the committee was operating under the impression the funds for the family came from POB funds, when in fact the grant was from Deanery funds. Nevertheless, Fr. Robert said the recommendations, which included establishing a Deanery discretionary fund for such grants, would be taken under advisement as applicable.
- Fr. Dan Tuton offered his long-awaited and extensive PowerPoint presentation on his trips to Ireland and Jerusalem.
- There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 3:00 p.m.
Meeting Minutes - Approved July 15, 2017, as amended
Meeting: Northwest Deanery, Diocese of the Rio Grande
Location: St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Date: April 29, 2017
Meeting: Northwest Deanery, Diocese of the Rio Grande
Location: St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Date: April 29, 2017
- The meeting convened at 10 am with a welcome from Rev. Jim Hunter of St. Mary's and a prayer by the Very Rev. Dean Robert Mundy.
- Roll was called and a quorum was verified.
- Deacon Tom Bates and Roy Benavidez made a short presentation on the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, which Roy said the national Church has designated as the vehicle for men's ministries. He said the process of creating a New Mexico assembly would take place at a meeting in Socorro on September 23, 2017. He said there are nine BStA chapters in the diocese and urged all churches to consider forming a chapter, nothing that a Brotherhood chapter can exist alongside any other men's group a Church might have. BStA also supports other ministries in the church.
- Benavides also made a short presentation about the Cursillo program to be held the last weekend of July. He encouraged everyone, especially those who've never participated in the Cursillo experience, to attend.
- The agenda for the meeting was approved as presented.
- The Minutes from the November 12, 2016 meeting were approved as presented.
- Treasurer's Report- Lois Phillips: The treasurer reported a beginning of the year balance of $4,125.83, two Diocesan distributions of $1,062.50 each received, expenditures to date of $1,180.92 and an ending balance on April 29, 2017 of $5,061.91. She also presented the year-end report for 2016, with all income and expenditures. The Deanery began the year with a balance of $5,457.20 and ended the year with $4,125.83. Motion made and seconded to accept the report. Approved unanimously.
- Susan Brockmeyer, a member of the Diocesan Bishop Search Committee, made a brief presentation about the search. They conducted a focus group in which member input was sought on six questions concerning the direction of the Diocese and the attributes we would like to see in a new Bishop. It was noted that there is a "very tight budget" of $54,000 to cover travel, walkabouts, the election convention and the Consecration. Members were told that a $1,000 donation from each of the churches would help increase the budget from "a thread to a shoestring". The questions for the town hall were: 1) Where is God calling our Diocese? 2) What works well in our Diocese? 3) What are the greatest needs/challenges in our Diocese? 4) What skills/experience should our new Bishop have? 5) What personal attributes should our new Bishop have?, and 6) What are your hopes/aspirations for our new Bishop? Each question was considered individually, and members were given the opportunity to voice their answers, which were then recorded on large tablet pages. As each question discussion ended, the pages were hung on the walls around the meeting room. After all questions were considered, members were given stickers of three different colors, with the different colors representing the member's first, second and third selection as the most important response to the question. All the pages were then collected and Brockmeyer said the answers would be tallied, then collated with the results from the other deaneries and an online survey with the same questions for other parishioners to fill out. The final results would then be released, probably via an article in Together.
- Poverty and Outreach Board applications - Stephanie Padilla: Stephanie reported that 10 of the 11 POB applications from the Northwest Deanery had been approved:
- St. Philip's, Belen - Soup Kitchen - $5,000
- St. Matthew's, Los Lunas - Wings for Life program - $1,200
- St. John's, Farmington -Ranch Program - $5,000
- Epiphany, Soccoro - Puerto Segura - $3,000
- St. Matthew's, Los Lunas - St. Vincent de Paul food bank - $1,200
- St.Philip's, Belen - Food bank - $$2,400
- St. Mary's, Albuquerque - Food bank - $$3,000
- St. Matthew's, Los Lunas- Angel Tree - $2,000
- Casa San Miguel - food pantry - $2,000
- St. Francis, Rio Rancho - Clare's Closet - $2,000
- Church reports were heard from several churches.
- St. Thomas of Canterbury - it was noted that its' annual Paperless Music Workshop was coming up June 17th and that it could use some financial support. A motion was made and seconded that the Deanery contribute $1,000 to the workshop. The motion was approved. St. Thomas also reported that it had been trying to assist a recently arrived Syrian refugee family that had fallen on seriously hard times. A motion was made and seconded to provide the family with a $1,000 grant from the Deanery. Following a discussion on the pros and cons of the Deanery making grants to individual families, a voice vote on the motion was inconclusive; a show of hands was then called for. The vote was 15 for the motion with 11 against. The motion passed.
- Following this debate, Dean Robert formed a committee to look into how to respond to such requests involving individual poor and refugee families in the Deanery. Members of the committee are Lois Phillips, John Coe and Frances Perroti.
- There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 2:35 pm.