Dr. Sally Allen Ness, member of Bishop’s Commission on Climate Change, addresses Diocesan Council.
Local responses to the devastating Los Angeles area wildfires and to a federal crackdown on immigration were topics at the Feb. 13 regular online meeting of Diocesan Council.
Both Bishop John Harvey Taylor and Canon to the Ordinary Melissa McCarthy expressed gratitude for contributions to the diocesan One Body and One Spirit Appeal, totaling nearly a half-million dollars, on behalf of victims. McCarthy praised the support of Episcopal Relief and Development, The Episcopal Church’s disaster relief agency, and outlined continuing recovery measures, including adding an ERD-funded full-time diocesan staff position to manage both the recovery and the diocesan disaster resiliency program.
“On behalf of the whole community, my thanks to all of you who have participated in the appeal,” said Taylor, while noting that more than 200 families and individuals lost their homes in the series of blazes which erupted Jan. 7 and were finally contained Jan. 31. He renewed an ongoing request for churches to provide email addresses of members to facilitate communication.
“The last two months have shown that, in a situation of crisis and emergency for a community such as ours, being in email communication with as many of our people as possible is absolutely essential. We’re only emailing to about 11,000 of our people, and we’d really like to get that up to 25,000.”
Council re-elected Samantha Wylie as secretary for 2025; heard from representatives for the Bishop’s Commission on Creation Care and from Missy Morain, diocesan missioner for Christian formation, children and youth ministries.
Wildfire relief and recovery
Applications for emergency wildfire financial assistance for individuals and institutions are prioritized, “so funds can go out quickly,” said Taylor. He requested continuing prayers for members of St. Mark’s Church in Altadena, where the church building and most of the school were destroyed, and for St. Matthew’s Church and School in Pacific Palisades, which sustained heavy damage, including the destruction of two rectories. A sober living home located in Altadena also was destroyed.
“We’ve had some amazing gifts of grace this year,” said McCarthy, in thanking ERD for their rapid response and support, including grant money. Longer-term assistance is forthcoming, “particularly for those folks that have the least resources in the communities that burned,” she said.
The new staff position “means we’ll have someone who’s 100% dedicated to caring for the folks who’ve been so devastated by those fires,” McCarthy told council members. “The other thing that’s really exciting is, that staff person will also manage our disaster resiliency program that Lucy Jones created with a grant from SoCal Edison, called Connected Communities.”
“When ERD learned about what Dr. Jones had created, they were very excited so, great news, despite the hard stuff we’re dealing with in early 2025.”
IRIS devastated; Sacred Resistance mobilizes
Fallout from federal government actions, including a crackdown on refugees and immigration, will mean severe staff reductions at the Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Service (IRIS), the diocesan refugee resettlement agency. Additionally, dozens of newly arrived refugees have been stranded without aid for relocation and other expenses, Taylor said. IRIS, which has resettled some 15,000 refugees since 2006, has issued an emergency appeal to assist their recent refugee clients.
A slim possibility exists for retention of some funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and IRIS does receive some funds through the state of California, which can be used just for Afghani and Ukrainian refugees, he said.
Similarly, “we’re also trying to do our best to make sure that Seeds of Hope, which is substantially, if not almost completely, funded by County of Los Angeles grants, doesn’t have federal funding that comes to the county that will impact the work they do.”
Taylor invited participation in a Feb. 16 Sacred Resistance-organized sanctuary and rapid response training (see related story) at St. Paul’s Commons.
He also invited participation in the upcoming visit of Canon Iyad Qumri, known to many diocesan Holy Land pilgrims, at March 9 dinner and panel discussion of experts about Christians in Palestine, Iraq, and Syria. The event begins at 4 p.m. A $20 free-will offering is requested.
In response to a question about how to deal pastorally with those who oppose Sacred Resistance, Taylor said: “We have an obligation as followers of the Risen One to … make a place in our heart for the stranger and for the sojourner.” Noncitizens also have rights under the U.S. Constitution, he added. “The main thing that Sacred Resistance does for people is making sure they know what their rights are, and that’s an all-American thing to do.”
Churches have traditionally been places of refuge, he said, noting that The Episcopal Church has joined a multifaith “freedom lawsuit” challenging ICE, or Immigration and Customs Enforcement, actions in churches. “We’re standing up for something churches have been doing for as long as anyone can remember,” he said.
“We’re not telling anyone what to think about immigration reform,” Taylor said “It’s possible to talk simultaneously about securing the border, about protecting people from those who actually are violent criminals who might have slipped through, while insisting that we have an obligation … to recognize there are some 10 million or 11 million people among us who work for enterprises, many of them owned by Republicans, who pay their taxes and who have been invited here to work, but who are undocumented. And we can fix that.”
Finances: 2024 results, assessments; new parochial reports due March 1
Mission Share Fund assessment payments were only 3% below budget in 2024, treasurer Andy Tomat reported in his review of the diocese’s 2024 financial results.
“This was a superb outcome considering this was the first year we’ve had mandatory assessments, which we know were a major challenge for many, and our diocesan budget was significantly increased over the prior year,” Tomat said.
After expenses, the diocese ended the year with a $220,000 deficit due to IRIS reimbursement payments being delayed till February, Tomat said. Excluding IRIS and other grant funded ministries, the diocesan operations ran on a break-even basis for the year 2024.
Tomat also reviewed a new report showing congregations that are behind in their MSF assessment payments, which as treasurer he is obliged to report to Council.
Assessment invoices for 2025 with a cover letter explaining how they were calculated based on 2023 parochial reports will be mailed to congregations within the next 10 days, Tomat said, noting that preparation of the letters fell behind due to firestorm response.
There was discussion about revised parochial reports, which have created some concern that assessments, based on net operating income from two years prior, will increase, but that is not the intent, Taylor said.
Tomat clarified that last year’s churchwide General Convention adopted a new parochial report format that eliminated the calculation of total normal operating income (NOI) on which many dioceses, including Los Angeles, base assessments of parishes. The information in the 2024 parochial reports will be used to calculate 2026 assessments, Tomat said.
“Our diocesan assessments policy was established by a special convention in 1996 and reaffirmed at the 2011 convention,” Tomat told The News. “Parish MSF assessments are based on a minimum of 12% of NOI from two years prior and mission congregations’ MSF assessments are based on 10% of pledge and plate, plus 5% for other assessments. Its enforcement was made mandatory in 2024, following several years of discussion.”
He added that Canon 45 gives Diocesan Convention the power to set assessment policy, which can only be updated by a new resolution. Therefore, a group of concerned delegates is meeting to draft such a resolution to bring to Convention’s next meeting in Riverside, the Rev. Rachel Nyback, who chairs the diocesan assessment review committee, told Council.
“It’s absolutely vital to us that parishes do not think we’re using this ambiguity as a way to increase the assessment,” Bishop Taylor said. “The goal is for us to come up with a number to be used that will enable us to capture what we would have if the parochial report hadn’t been changed,” he added, reiterating that the 2025 invoices will be sent promptly. “We’ll get the work done.”
Bishop’s Commission on Climate Change, Sally Allen Ness reporting
Sally Allen Ness, who co-chairs a Bishop’s Commission on Climate Change (BCCC) subcommittee on resolution writing, reported that the commission hopes to increase its current liaisons in 40 congregations to at least 100 by Easter, and to communicate regularly with Diocesan Council.
The group is considering resolutions to be presented to the Nov. 8-9, 2025, diocesan convention in Riverside, conforming practices to previous plans for creating a carbon neutral diocese and a climate finance program. Additionally, the group is planning an educational program in April featuring Colby May, who has developed low-cost green teams in churches and other dioceses.
Reports of mission
The Rev. Rachel Nyback reported the Corporation of the Diocese on Jan. 21: authorized sale of a 72-acre parcel of land in the Antelope Valley, and approved leases for St. Timothy’s, Apple Valley, and St. George’s, Laguna Hills. “We also discussed emergency grants for the fire and a way that we could approve those quickly,” she said.
Canon Janet Wylie reported the Standing Committee elected the Rev. Kate Cress president and also approved the leases for St. Timothy’s, Apple Valley, St. George’s, Laguna Hills and St. Peter’s, San Pedro. The committee meets again Feb. 26.
The Program Group on Mission Congregations will meet in March to begin organizing grantmaking, according to the Very Rev. Gary Hall. He asked for each of the ten diocesan deaneries to appoint representatives to the PGMC.
Convention Secretary Samantha Wylie reported the website has been updated with the new form for lay delegate registration and for submitting resolutions and proposed amendments. The portal for filing parochial reports closes March 1.
Missy Morain, diocesan missioner for Christian formation, children and youth, who successfully applied for a $1.2 million Lilly Endowment grant to the diocese for a welcoming children into intergenerational worship, announced efforts to create a database of congregations engaged in ministry with children and youth.
Canon for Common Life Bob Williams called attention to recent Episcopal News reporting on the work of the Bishop Search Committee and its work to identify coadjutor candidates for election in November to succeed Bishop Taylor on his announced retirement in 2026.
Diocesan Council meets next at 4 p.m., Thursday, March 13 via Zoom.