Diocesan Council meets on Sept. 12 via Zoom.
[The Episcopal News] The search for a bishop coadjutor, mentoring opportunities for newly ordained clergy, financial assistance for Camp Stevens and hiring both a youth and young adult missioner and a housing and enterprise missioner are among next year’s ambitious initiatives, Treasurer Canon Andy Tomat told Diocesan Council on Sept. 12 during a preview of the proposed 2025 diocesan budget.
Council granted temporary relief from the annual 12% assessment to a ninth congregation. It also authorized sanctions for parishes that have not complied with the assessment and have not requested waivers or responded to efforts by Bishop John Harvey Taylor, the Assessment Review Committee, or Diocesan Council to engage them.
Samantha Wylie, convention coordinator, reminded the council that the Rev. Carter Heyward will headline a celebration of the 50th anniversary of women’s ordination at the 129th annual meeting of the diocese Nov. 8 – 9. This year’s convention, themed “Inside Out Church: Episcopal Identity in Our Neighborhood,” will focus on the diocese’s work in advocacy, service and chaplaincy. Delegates to convention will be asked to renew for another three years the diocese’s longstanding companion relationship with the Diocese of Jerusalem.
Bishop John Harvey Taylor will lead a Sept. 19-22 Los Angeles delegation to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Diocese of Taiwan, with whom a companion relationship was established at the 2023 diocesan convention. The trip will begin an exchange between the two dioceses that will include an August 2025 visit from Bishop Lennon Yuan-Jung Chang to L.A.
Sanctions, ‘Requiem or Renaissance’
Taylor said he will continue to reach out pastorally to the handful of parishes that have yet to comply with the 12% assessment and have not communicated with his office, in efforts to determine a way forward for them, he said.
Sanctions approved by council could restrict the ability of lay delegates to vote at convention at the bishop’s discretion, according to Article XXI.45 and Canon 13.03 of the diocesan Constitution and Canons, Tomat said. If the sanctions are put in place, lay delegates of noncompliant parishes would be allowed seat and voice, but not voting privileges at convention. Canon law automatically allows voting privileges for canonically resident clergy, Tomat said.
Outreach to struggling parishes potentially could include participation in “Requiem or Renaissance,” a 12-month project, soon to be unveiled by Canon to the Ordinary Melissa McCarthy, to aid struggling parishes in discernment.
McCarthy said that Canon Whitney Rice of the Diocese of Missouri, who created the program, will offer training to shepherds in January 2025 as part of a pilot project. “I’m looking for people who have expertise and energy and real care and love for churches in our diocese that are struggling, but also expertise in congregational development, finances, stewardship, marketing, how to use facilities – anything related to the life of a parish or congregation,” McCarthy told council members.
Of the 11 congregations included in Missouri’s first cohort, “10 found renewed energy for their mission and ministry, and the 11th church opted for requiem. They closed their church,” McCarthy said. But instead of just walking away, she added, they seeded a new ministry, a new church plant that is going strong.
Taylor established the ARC to help congregations achieve the mandatory assessment level, as approved at the 1996 special diocesan convention and reaffirmed at the annual convention in 2011.
The MSF is the primary funding source for diocesan programs, staff, and ministries, and provides grants to 26 mission congregations. At $5.8 million, MSF represents about half the $11 million total diocesan 2024 budget, including $4.95 million from parish and mission assessments. The 2024 budget approved by diocesan convention included a mandatory assessment of 12%, with 15% encouraged, of parishes’ 2022 normal operating income as reflected in their parochial reports. All mission congregations must contribute 10% of plate and pledge income, along with 5% in additional assessments, and all have complied, according to Tomat.
Financial report, 2025 budget preview
Tomat reported that Mission Share Fund assessment payments totaled $409,000 in July in line with the monthly budget, but past-due assessments are causing year-to-date assessment income to run 4% under budget. Unpaid MSF assessments from prior years continued to decrease slightly.
Looking forward to the 2025, “this is the first transitional budget as we plan for the process of electing a bishop coadjutor,” Tomat said. “We are fortunate that acceptance of the assessment process has resulted in a stable income projection for 2025; however, many program groups, likely taking the relatively good fiscal news to heart, significantly raised their 2025 budget requests,” he said. Additionally, expenses associated with the bishop coadjutor search and election process (including a possible extended convention) are estimated at about $300,000, along with proposed program initiatives in 2025, resulting in a $1.5 million budget gap that the Joint Budget Committee has been discerning a way to manage.
Missy Morain
In addition to the youth and young adult missioner position that already has been filled by Missy Morain (see related story here), Taylor envisions such initiatives as funding two-year curacies or mentoring periods for newly ordained clergy at select parishes; financial support for Camp Stevens; and hiring a housing and mission enterprise officer.
The latter role would augment that of the Rev. Michael S. Bell, director of housing and business development for Episcopal Communities and Services, Taylor said. Bell shepherds churches through affordable housing projects.
“There is also a possibility of another kind of housing, like a Habitat for Humanity project, one not involving the ECS model,” Taylor said. “We don’t have anyone dedicated to helping those churches.” Churches could work with the diocese and Bell to engage such projects. The diocesan real estate task force and Finance Department also are seeking other avenues of funding, Taylor said, for a church-by-church review of the diocesan real estate portfolio.
Tomat emphasized the preliminary nature of the proposed budget. “Our goal is to come back to you next month with a balanced budget that will lead us towards the eighth episcopate of the Diocese of Los Angeles,” he said.
Other reports
The Corporation of the Diocese
The Rev. Rachel Nyback reported that the Corporation “reviewed, refined and recommended” six loan repayment agreements for churches and approved several other initiatives: a St. Alban’s, Westwood, license agreement to rent church space to a school and an affordable housing project memorandum of understanding at St. George’s, Riverside. It also held an online meeting to approve a license agreement to rent space to a school for St. Michael and All Angels, Corona del Mar.
Standing Committee
At its Aug. 29th meeting, the Standing Committee approved the six loan repayments previously mentioned; and approved an application for St. Andrew’s Church in Irvine to achieve parish status, according to the Rev. Lester Mackenzie. Delegates to the Nov. 8 – 9 annual diocesan convention will be asked to affirm the status change.
Bishop Coadjutor Search Committee
The Standing Committee is seeking 15 to 18 people to serve as members of the committee to oversee election of a bishop coadjutor in November 2025. On August 13 Taylor announced via a letter to the diocese that he will reach mandatory retirement age in 2026, and called for an election to elect his successor in November 2025.
“We want diversity [on the committee], not just the kind you slap on a brochure, but real geographic, cultural – the whole diocesan diversity,” said Mackenzie, adding that the Standing Committee will seek assistance from deanery deans and presidents to find suitable committee members. The search committee will develop a diocesan profile to be communicated throughout Episcopal and Anglican church communities. Key dates regarding the search are available on the diocesan website. The consecration is scheduled for Saturday, July 11, 2026, at a place to be determined.
Program Group on Mission Congregations
The Very Rev. Gary Hall reported that 23 of the 38 diocesan mission congregations requested mission development grants for 2025, totaling about $862,000, about $5,000 less than the previous year. “We’ve also set aside an additional $100,000 for the bishop to use at his discretion when, as they always do, unforeseen circumstances arise in mission congregations,” Hall said. Diocesan Council will approve grant total as part of the regular budget process.
Hall added: “We’re beginning to see some missions that plan not to have full- or even part-time salaried clergy, but plan to use a combination of lay leadership and supply clergy – and so far, we’re dealing with those on a case-by-case basis. We did make grants to those places this year, but we haven’t changed our priority. The first call on our funds is for mission vicar salaries and compensation packages.”
Convention office
Samantha Wiley, council’s secretary and convention coordinator, reported on behalf of Secretary of Convention Steve Nishibayashi, who was away, that 56 days remained until the 129th annual diocesan convention. The Nov. 8 – 9 gathering will be in-person at the Riverside Convention Center and will differ slightly from previous years, she said.
Convention business will begin Saturday morning, following a Friday night celebration of the 50th anniversary of women’s ordination, including guest speaker the Rev. Carter Heyward, one of the Philadelphia 11, the first women ordained to the priesthood in The Episcopal Church. Tickets are available to the entire diocesan community for screening of the documentary film by Margo Guernsey and Nikki Bramley via the convention website.
Nominations are open for elective office and congregations are asked to update their lay delegate forms. A resolution to renew the three-year companion relationship with the Diocese of Jerusalem has been offered so far, she said.
Canon to the Ordinary
McCarthy welcomed Missy Morain, who began serving officially as the new diocesan youth and young adult missioner on Sept.16.
Bishop’s report
In addition to his upcoming trip to Taiwan, Taylor said he will travel to Jerusalem January 2 – 9, 2025 in support of its diocese, with which the L.A. diocese enjoys a longtime companion relationship. The bishop’s pilgrimage will celebrate Orthodox Christmas on Jan. 5 at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Taylor said.
“Since the tragic events of October 7, as well as the tragic violence in Gaza that has followed it, almost no one is visiting Israel and Palestine as a pilgrim. I have accepted Archbishop Hosam Naoum’s invitation to visit,” Taylor said. “Don’t worry about safety,” he added. “All our events will be in and around Jerusalem. We won’t be going to the West Bank, except for the trip to Bethlehem, and if conditions are such that it’s not safe to go, our hosts will not let us come.”
Mostyn Trudinger-Smith
Canon for Common Life Bob Williams welcomed Mostyn Trudinger-Smith to the diocesan communications office. Trudinger-Smith will be responsible for the diocesan website and social media sites, and also take on many duties currently filled by Canon Janet Kawamoto, editor of The Episcopal News. Beginning in late November Kawamoto will take vacation and sabbatical time before retiring at the end of March 2025.
Williams encouraged participation in the Sept. 15 and 22 “Losing Truth” online forum facilitated by Dot Leach, chair of the diocesan ecumenical and interfaith group, a St. John’s, Rancho Santa Margarita parishioner and former broadcast journalist. The program features a panel of journalists and other experts addressing the societal impact of disinformation. Register on the diocesan website at: www.diocesela.org
Williams invited participation in the Oct. 20 Evensong at 5 p.m. which will commemorate the 30th anniversary of ministry at St. Paul’s Commons in Echo Park, and in the Oct. 14 Shepherd’s Cup Golf Tournament and fundraising event at the Industry Hills Golf Club and Pacific Palms Resort in the City of Industry.
Diocesan council meets next at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 17.