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PENNSYLVANIA: Diocese in financial Free Fall
Special Convention Cuts program budget by 18%
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
1/7/2007
PHILADELPHIA, PA--The Bishop of Pennsylvania Charles E. Bennison, facing both legal and ecclesiastical charges that could result in his being fired, got more bad news on Saturday when he and the diocese learned that church coffers are short $631,000.
As a result the diocese cut 18 percent of its program budget for 2007.
A special convention was called, because the first was preoccupied with repeated calls for Bishop Bennison's resignation over financial irregularities and for covering his brother's sexual abuse of a young girl. On Saturday the diocese heard Kenneth R. Werner, chairman of the diocesan committee on finance and property tell 400 delegates at the Philadelphia Cathedral that the revenue stream is smaller than anticipated. The culprit was parish pledges. "When you don't have the money you have to cut somewhere," he said.
The convention then did the following:
* Reduced spending from $3.45 million approved last November to $2.28 million.
* By Jan. 2007 the diocese's 153 parishes had pledged just $1.2 million down from an anticipated $1.65 million, with Bennison telling the Philadelphia Inquirer that some parishes could not afford to pledge or wanted to spend their resources within the parish. Bennison acknowledged that at least five parishes were refusing to pledge as a protest against his leadership.
"My only disappointment is the fact that people are not giving to the national church, but they seem to want to keep their money home," Bennison said in an interview with the Inquirer this week.
* Reduced its contribution to the national church by cutting it $237,000 down from $560,000. (Bennison had said at the last convention that he would resign if money was cut to the Episcopal Church. He did not repeat his offer on Saturday).
* Cut $108,000 to support mission church and aided parishes, including $30,000 from the $70,000 earmarked for All Souls Church for the Deaf in Philadelphia.
* Eliminated $108,000 earmarked for a canon to the ordinary to assist Bennison in running diocesan affairs.
* Eliminate a financial audit of $20,000.
* Cut Wapiti Retreat Center by $25,000.
* Cut Consultant fees (Finance and operations) $20,000.
* Cut St. Martin's Korean Church $38,000.
* Cut St. Mary's/San Pablo $40,000.
What was significant is that the diocese passed a resolution restricting the ability of the diocesan council to modify the budget or other decisions of the diocesan convention. "Bennison cannot move outside the confines of Diocesan Convention to do unlimited spending," said a diocesan priest to VOL.
The Rev. Joseph Duffy, rector of St. George's Church in Ardmore, told the Inquirer that such restriction was necessary because the council had taken too much power to itself and was thwarting the will of the convention.
There were no calls for Bennison to resign as the Standing Committee now has charges filed against Bennison calling for his resignation with the national church. An answer from the Title IV Review Committee is expected in February.
Meanwhile Bennison is in court facing charges from Fr. David L. Moyer that he committed fraud and bad faith for "deposing" the Anglo-Catholic priest without due process.
Bennison has been vigorously criticized by priests and laity within the diocese for spending millions in diocesan endowment funds to fund development of Camp Wapiti situated in the state of Maryland. He has been roundly criticized for spending money on this Camp while more pressing needs in the diocese go unaddressed.
A number of groups in the diocese including the Standing Committee and Concerned Pennsylvania Episcopalians have called repeatedly for his resignation, and in November 2006 the Standing Committee formally petitioned Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori to remove him. An answer to those charges is expected in February.
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