Diocesan Council, at its May 8 regular online meeting, received strong positive financial news, along with updates regarding Bloy House programs and the Bishop’s Search Committee. The meeting was chaired by Canon to the Ordinary Melissa McCarthy, in the absence of Bishop John Harvey Taylor, who was recovering from a cold.
Strong financial picture: $500,000 surplus despite much local and national turmoil
Diocesan Treasurer Canon Andy Tomat reported a budget surplus of more than $500,000 year-to-date, largely because of timely Mission Share Fund assessment payments and such grant-funded ministries as the Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Service, IRIS, the diocese’s refugee resettlement agency, and Seeds of Hope, the diocesan food justice ministry.
Despite the drastic reduction in refugee resettlements, IRIS is running a year-to-date surplus of over $360,000 through March enabled by delayed 2024 government reimbursements received in 2025 and an emergency appeal that raised $159,489 to date. This surplus will go into their reserve account to cover some of the eliminated US government funding. They are also expecting newly added California state funding in the months ahead.
Seeds of Hope continued a strong performance, with about a $25,000 surplus, he said, adding: “Overall, the diocese is running about $130,000 above budget.”
2025 MSF assessment payment receipts are running ahead of plan. Additionally, “People have been catching up on their past due payments from 2025 and prior years” Tomat said, with past-due 2024 and prior year MSF assessments decreasing by $69,000 from the previous month and, in 2025 delinquent amounts dropped by $85,000, for an overall reduction in past due payments of $144,000, he said.
In response to a question by the Very Rev. Christopher Montella, rector of St. Stephen’s, Santa Clarita about why the diocese had halted its monthly deduction from his congregation’s account, beginning in January 2025. Tomat (with the assistance of Martha Macias, Diocesan Controller) reminded congregational leaders to make sure their automated assessment deductions are working as expected. To avoid unexpected, automated withdrawals, the Diocese sends out new automatic payments authorization forms for paying MSF assessments at the start of the year,
“Every year, we send out new forms for you to fill out, because the MSF amount changes, so we need to confirm that we’re withdrawing the correct amount,” according to diocesan controller Martha Macias. “Unlike your cell bill, we don’t just auto withdraw forever from your account. We wait for your consent.”
Bloy House: Sacred Leadership Licensing, summer session begins May 26
The Very Rev. Paul Daniels, Bloy House dean, encouraged all members of the diocesan community to consider taking advantage of the “Sacred Leadership Licensing” program, which begins a six-week summer session May 26 – July 6.
Sessions offered include Episcopal identity, introduction to the Bible, anti-racism, preaching, storytelling and, a new addition—church governance, especially important for vestries and bishop’s committees. “Each course will be offered one day a week for an hour for six weeks.”
Daniels reported that the diocesan institution, also known as the Episcopal Theological School at Los Angeles, is undergoing an internal and external broad transition. Accounting systems are now handled through the diocesan Finance Department. The school is also transitioning its branding, identity and offerings “while still maintaining some of the essential work it’s been doing over the last few years.”
Licensing packages include training for: Eucharistic ministers and visitors; catechists; preachers; parish chaplain; evangelist; worship leader; pastoral leader and governance, and “are the heartbeat of Bloy House at the moment,” said Daniels.
The offerings continue “in the tradition of theological education, but focus on our people in a robust way, and answer the need for assistance in many of our parishes that are either without clergy, or where clergy are stretched thin,” he said.
“My life as a priest, as a rector, is impossible without my parishioners, and what we do at Bloy house is to reinforce the Body of Christ in a robust and beautiful and smart way,” added Daniels, who is also rector of St. Mary in Palms, Los Angeles. “Please think about how Bloy House might be of assistance to your parishioners and to your parish with the licenses that we are offering.”
Acknowledging that Bloy House is facing “a tough time, in many ways,” he added, “with a little bit of time and hard work and imagination” that could change as the school seeks grants and other funding opportunities.
The school is particularly focused on content, he added. “We live in a world where content is king, and so many of our brother and sister, sibling denominations, the Roman Catholics, the evangelicals, are churning out content at a very high level, whether it be daily content or resources that people can use through digital libraries. Bloy House has the capacity, to stand in the breach for The Episcopal Church … to be a different voice in that marketplace of ideas and content, but some of that is going to require the generosity of our donors again.”
In response to a question, Daniels acknowledged that local training of Eucharistic ministers and visitors is still acceptable. Daniels said a retreat is planned for later in the year, once both summer and fall sessions have concluded, “to welcome everyone in the diocese who has applied and fulfilled the requirements for the ministry licenses to come to the cathedral one Saturday morning, to hear a brilliant lecture given on the Eucharist, on Eucharistic ministry, to share a lunch together and to have their licenses conferred.” Diocesan anti-racism and safe church training requirements remain mandatory, he said.
Bishop Search updates – survey results webinar available in June
Bishop Search Committee Co-chair Thomas Diaz reported that diocesan-wide listening sessions and surveys have concluded. The “Holy Cow” consulting group will offer an opportunity for all in the diocese to join a webinar to hear survey results, most likely in early June, he said.
In response to questions, he confirmed the new bishop will be consecrated July 11, 2026. Bishop Diocesan John Harvey Taylor will remain in a consulting role, as needed.
Other reports:
- Standing Committee. President Kate Cress reported that at its April 30 meeting, the committee approved Payton Hoegh for ordination to the transitional diaconate, and postponed consenting to the recent election of the Rev. Angel Roberto Rivera Rodriguez, as Bishop of Cuba, until its May meeting.The committee also approved new rooftop and easement agreements for both St. Andrew’s, Irvine and the Church of the Epiphany, Oak Park; a cell tower at St. Andrew’s, Irvine, and a third amendment to a ground lease option between St. Ambrose Church in Claremont and the National Community Renaissance of California, a senior housing project.
- Episcopal Church Women. Diocesan ECW President Christine Budzowski highlighted a Province VIII Daughters of the King May 9-11 weekend retreat to be held at ECCO, the Episcopal Camp and Conference Center in Oakhurst, in the Diocese of San Joaquin. Plans are also well underway for a Sept. 26-28, 2025, Province VIII ECW retreat, “Honoring the Sacred Ones”, at Fort Hall, Idaho. “We’ll be staying on the reservation. Attendance is open to any Episcopal Church woman and, if anyone is serious about attending, there’s information on the provincial ECW website,” she said.
- Bishop’s Commission on Climate Change. Diocesan Council Secretary Samantha Wylie reported that the commission held a very successful April 29 Climate Kitchen, a webinar where information about climate change could be exchanged. “It was a warm space for us to discuss what’s going on locally … and becoming more eco-conscious,” she said. “We’ll have more educational offerings coming up,” she said. The event was reported by The Living Church, she said.
- Diocesan Convention. Secretary of Convention Canon Steve Nishibayashi urged participation in elections for General Convention deputies and diocesan offices at the Nov. 7-8 diocesan convention in Riverside. Although the national portal for online filing of parochial reports has closed, Wylie is able to still file late reports for congregations.
- Clergy Conference. Canon to the Ordinary Melissa McCarthy offered a preview of the May 12-14 annual clergy conference, noting the year “has been a bit stressful for many of our clergy, between fires and some tricky stuff going on in our country, and a bishop’s election. I’ve noticed the stress on my colleague’s faces.” The Rev. Canon Whitney Rice of the Diocese of Missouri will lead the conference, “Questions of Jesus”. She is the creator of Requiem or Renaissance, a program designed to help congregations discern their future, either through a transition (Requiem) or a revitalization (Renaissance). It is being adapted for use in the Los Angeles diocese.
- LGBTQ+ & Sacred Resistance celebration at the Bishop’s Residence. Thomas Diaz, chair of the diocesan LGBTQ+ program group, invited the diocesan community to a joint celebration of LGBTQ+ ministry and Sacred Resistance from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 17. “We’re calling on both our LGBTQ ministries and Sacred Resistance to come together in this particular time as a country and as a human family, as we are up against continued marginalization based on identity and life. This will also be a time to give thanks to our current diocesan bishop for his witness and ministry of inclusion in the church.”
- Unveiling of the bishop’s official portrait: Canon for Common Life Bob Williams invited the community to attend a Friday, May 30 unveiling of Taylor’s official portrait at St. Paul’s Commons, lunch and art show, echoing the theme of Taylor’s episcopacy, “Feeding Hungry Hearts”. The portrait is a gift by Geoff Rusack, son of the fourth Los Angeles bishop, the Rt. Rev. Robert C. Rusack, and Alison Wrigley Rusack.
Reservations for the 11 a.m. luncheon program may be placed here.
Diocesan Council will meet next online, at 4 p.m., Thursday, June 12.