Most of you are aware of the conflict
between the leadership of The Episcopal Church (the Domestic and Foreign
Missionary Society—DFMS) and the United Thank Offering
Board. Four key UTO board members including the president/grants convener, the secretary, the
communications convener and a respected long-time member of the Board have
resigned from the board as a protest, citing irreconcilable differences with
those of the senior leadership of DFMS.
Background:
·
2007 The
Presiding Bishop called for a study to learn about Committees, Commissions,
Agencies, and Boards (CCABs) and their relationship to the institutional
church.
·
2008 The
United Thank Offering Committee sought approval from the Executive Council to
incorporate as a 501(c)(3) status. Executive Council felt this would undercut
the church’s connection to UTO so they called for “a serious and extensive
study….” INC-055 resulted.
·
2011 The
Executive Council, meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, in October received the
report of INC-055 Ad Hoc Task force and in their minutes stated, “Resolved, That the Executive Council
receives and approves the newly developed Bylaws for the United Thank Offering
Board….” The minutes also stated, “Canon Harris reported that DFMS’ counsel
had reviewed the proposed Bylaws and approved them.” The Very Rev. Stacy Sauls
was present at that meeting.
·
2013 Work that had begun on Memorandum of
Understanding came to a halt with the death of Sarita Redd, UTO president in
January.
·
July 2013 The UTO board drafted a Memorandum of Understanding
between the UTO board and DFMS. The board was invited to New York by the
Presiding Bishop to discuss “issues of governance and oversight.” And to create
jointly new documents to define the
relationship between DFMS and UTO. (specifically revision of the Bylaws)
·
August 2013 Paul Nix (legal council for DFMS) sent Robin Sumners
(communication convener and UTO member who was supposed to work with Paul Nix
on the Bylaws revision) a revision of the Bylaws created solely by DFMS.
·
September 2013 Four UTO board members resigned in protest because
they felt the trust that they had put in DFMS had been betrayed and that the
Bylaws under which UTO had been operating (AD Hoc INC-055) had been
eviscerated.
Important Changes Under the Proposed
Bylaws by DFMS
·
The proposed Bylaws will sever the
relationship between UTO and Episcopal Church Women (ECW). The
provinces, not the provincial ECWs, will elect UTO provincial representatives.
There will be no presence of UTO at the Triennial, except by a member of the
DFMS staff.
·
The
board will no longer be autonomous.
·
Granting
will be done by DFMS, not the UTO board.
·
No UTO Executive Committee This committee sets program and policy.
It had been working on revisioning and revamping the committee structure in UTO
to be more effective.
·
No Communication Committee This committee was responsible for
revising and instituting a new electronic granting process that was faster and
more equitable, for assisting board members to become more computer literate
and electronically engaged, having UTO go paperless by 2014, posting the Face
to Face training program on YOU
tube, to name a few of its accomplishments. The committee was responsible
for providing education on the UTO network, planning communication strategy and
providing tools and materials. (This will now be under DFMS)
·
No finance Committee This
committee has not been able to operate effectively because it has not received
a financial report from DFMS for 18 months.
·
Most
importantly, the core value of UTO is no longer in the proposed Bylaws. Gone is
the statement, “UTO as a daily ministry
of prayer and gratitude for blessings received for tangible support for the
work of the church throughout the world.”
It has been replaced with, “raising
money to support mission.”
The
remaining members of the UTO board hold fast to the INC-055 Ad Hoc Study Report
that recommended that the UTO "should
continue to be an autonomous and interdependent Board under the Executive Council". We
feel that we have adhered to all documents of the Episcopal Church and the
Constitution and Canons of TEC and the Policies and Procedures of the DFMS. We
feel that understanding our finances; taking responsibility for the offerings
given by our thankful people; the decision making of granting these funds; and
being able to communicate and tell our story are vital to the continuance and
well being of The United Thank Offering.
We
are continuing to operate under the Bylaws established by the INC-055 Ad Hoc
Study Report and will continue to do so until we are able to compromise on the
proposed Bylaws.
If
the proposed Bylaws are passed, it will bring a close to a very important
“grass-roots” ministry involved in mission.” That would be a great loss and
very sad!
If
you do not want this to happen, here are some suggestions:
1. Contact
your Bishop and tell him/her what is happening. Explain that under the proposed Bylaws:
a. The autonomy of the UTO board as
outlined in Ad Hoc committee report INC-055 is in
jeopardy.
b. The historical relationship between
the ECW and UTO is dissolved.
DO IT THIS WEEK.
(Bishops meet in
Nashville beginning September 19, 2013. There needs to be a conversation
there.)
2. PRAY and PRAY some more that this
difficulty can be resolved for the best for the United Thank
Offering
and the mission of the church.
Each Elected Province Representative signed this
statement: the continuing board members offered to send this statement to Provinces
I, IV and VII, and have done so.
Province II: Lois
Johnson-Rodney
-- Finance Officer (Resigned as Finance Officer, but has remained Province Rep)
-- Finance Officer (Resigned as Finance Officer, but has remained Province Rep)
Province III: Dena
Lee
Province IV: Marcie
Cherau
Province V: Peg
Cooper
Province
VIII: Barbara Schafer, Vice President, now President
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