Below currently are five documents related to the resignation of the UTO-Four as they have been called lately.
- A statement from the past-President of the UTO board in response to an email inquiry.
- An email from the past-President announcing her resignation to the President of the Episcopal Church Women.
- A resignation letter from the past-President of UTO read to the UTO board on September 2, 2013
- A resignation letter from the past-President/past-Province I Representative sent to her parish.
- A resignation letter from the Officer of the Communication Convener read to the board on September 2, 2013.
- A resignation letter from the Officer of the Continuation Committee.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Statement
regarding resigning as President and Province Representative of the United
Thank Offering Board
In case you are not aware, I
am letting you know that I and three other United Thank Offering Board members
resigned on Sept 2nd in protest of the DFMS treatment of the board and their
proposed documents to strip the United Thank Offering of all decision making. I
personally felt that the integrity of the thousands of women who have served
the United Thank Offering as committee members, the tens of thousands of women
who have voted on the awarding of grants and the millions of people who give
thanks on a regular basis and show that by putting coins in their blue boxes to
meet needs around the world should not have their participation cast aside. The
United Thank Offering is and should continue to be the work of the laity of the
church caring for needs wherever they may be identified. It has not and should
not become standards set by and decisions made by the senior staff at the
Church Center. The proposed documents changes the United Thank Offering from a
working board into an advisory group. If you have been following the hob/d
listserv and/or blogs you may have some sense of what is happening. If you
have questions I suggest that you check out the information on the following
blog:
125yrs.blogspot.com
I admit I had to take
the time to get past my outrage with the proposed documents and my feelings
regarding the treatment the United Thank Offering is being subjected to before
I could respond to individuals.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
September 3, 2013
The
Rev. Nancy Crawford
President
National
Board
Episcopal
Church Women
Dear
Nancy,
This
letter is to inform you that we, four members of the United Thank Offering
Board, have resigned in protest regarding the behavior of the leadership of The
Episcopal Church at the Church Center, 815 2nd Avenue, New York, New
York. These members are the President, the Secretary, the Communications Committee
Convener and the Continuing Review Committee Convener (the committee
responsible for the bylaws of the organization). Three of us have been serving
on a working group task force appointed by the Presiding Bishop to participate
in the revision of the United Thank Offering bylaws, approved by Executive
Council just two years ago.
There
are two areas of difficulty that seem insurmountable.
First,
the fact that the Church Center staff has not supported the granting process,
has not followed the policies and procedures of the Board related to the grants
program that has been the primary work of the Board for more than a hundred
years, and has not gotten grant awards to recipients in a timely fashion.
Second, the fact that the Church Center leadership is now proposing
significantly revised bylaws that will replace the historic United Thank
Offering Organization and its relationship to the Episcopal Church Women with a
new entity, no longer relating to the women of the church, but being entirely
absorbed by the Executive Council, becoming the United Thank Offering of the
Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society. Members of the United Thank
Offering Board will be elected through the Episcopal Province Synods rather
than through the Episcopal Church Women.
The
change in the status of the United Thank Offering means that it loses its
autonomous oversight of the trust funds left to its care; these funds will now
be under the exclusive oversight of DFMS with the United Thank Offering having
no input into the use of the funds given primarily to continue the missionary
work of the women of the church. Ingathering funds will now go directly to the
Executive Council and the Chief Operating Officer of DFMS for oversight for a
new granting process.
The
Episcopal Church leadership has stated they "...believe
that these revisions will work to maximum the viability of the UTO Board for
many years to come." We do not know if what they believe and have
proposed to do will accomplish their goals of growing the United Thank
Offering; we do not agree with the method or the way it has been executed, yet
we do not wish to stay in conflict with the church we love and serve, and have
therefore made the very difficult decision to resign, and each of us find other
places within the church to serve.
We do this with regret
and sadness. We will continue as faithful members of Episcopal Church Women,
will stay passionate about the United Thank Offering and will continue to serve
our church with Joy, Hope and prayers for Grace. We will continue to pray for
the leadership team at 815, and for those remaining United Thank Offering Board
members with the stamina to continue the battle.
In His Service:
Barbi Tinder,
President, Province I Representative
(signed Barbi Tinder)
Renee Haney,
Secretary, Province VII Representative
(signed
Renee Haney)
Georgie White,
Continuing Review Committee Convener, Member-At-Large Asia
(signed
Georgie White)
Robin Woods Sumners, Communications
Committee Convener, Province VI Representative
(signed Robin Woods Sumners)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2SEP13
After
months of dealing with the environment of The Episcopal Church Center over this
past year, I’ve come to the conclusion of certain realities. Each of you, with
one exception, indicated last night that these documents represent a takeover
of the United Thank Offering.
Because
of my long time commitment to the women of the church, the Episcopal Church
Women and the United Thank Offering I have tried to maintain hope that the
United Thank Offering would continue to move forward as it has since the 1880s.
Over
the last two days of repeatedly going over drafts of United Thank Offering
governing documents created by DFMS senior staff, the management style at 815
and the disrespectful treatment of the United Thank Offering and its board
members has caused me to reevaluate our situation. In re-evaluating the
assets available to the United Thank Offering outside of 815 and possible
options that could be applied to the struggle I can only come to one
conclusion. We, the board, will be prevented from succeeding in this battle. We
did not ask to be placed in this situation. We have endeavored to establish a
relationship with DFMS and executive personnel in pursuit of the mission of the
United Thank Offering. However, repeatedly Church Center staff have rejected
the effort, delayed and canceled meetings or withheld information and
materials. The latest and most grievous example is the DFMS version of the
Memorandum of Understanding and the United Thank Offering By- Laws. To that,
add the statement from the author of the document that leaves no room for
discussion, negotiation or revision. "...believe that these revisions will work to
maximum the viability of the UTO Board for many years to come." Given this environment, there is no doubt
in my mind that the documents that the United Thank Offering Board received
will be submitted to the October 2013 Executive Council meeting with the ruse
that the United Thank Offering Board is in agreement. We most definitely are
not in agreement and our voice is being silenced.
In all
good conscience, I will not allow myself, or the United Thank Offering Board,
to be victimized in such a travesty.
I hope
you understand that U.T.O. did not create this situation. Not a single one of
us is responsible for the inevitable and eventual outcome of the end of the
United Thank Offering as a daily practice of prayer and thanksgiving.
At the
end of this meeting I will be submitting my resignation as President of the
United Thank Offering Board as of 11:59 pm on September 2, 2013. This
resignation is being sent to the President of the Episcopal Church Women and
President of Province 1 Episcopal Church Women. The decision is not made
without some concerns and trepidation. However, the injustice and lack of
respect to the thousands of faithful women of the church over the last 125
years overrides any personal recrimination I may be subjected to.
I wish
to thank each of you for the opportunity to serve as your president and
especially to Sarita for her faith and belief in my capabilities. She is one of
the individuals that started me on this amazing journey of the last four years.
I thank each of you for your time and your commitment to the ministry of the United
Thank Offering. Know
that my deep belief in the strength, courage and innate wisdom of the women is
a centering force for me. I will continue to advocate for women and laity in
the life of the church, especially the United Thank Offering and the Episcopal
Church Women.
Peace
and thankfulness,
(signed Barbi Tinder)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear fellow parishioners,
A series of events led up to my decision to be
one of four United Thank Offering Board members who resigned on Sept 2nd in
protest of the DFMS treatment of the United Thank Offering
Board and their proposed documents to strip the United Thank Offering of all
decision making. I personally felt that the integrity of the thousands of
women who have served the United Thank Offering as committee members, the tens
of thousands of women who have voted on the awarding of grants and the millions
of people who give thanks on a regular basis and show that by praying and
putting coins in their blue boxes to meet needs around the world should not
have their participation cast aside. The United Thank Offering is and should
continue to be the work of the laity of the church caring for needs wherever
they may be identified. It has not and should not become standards set by and
decisions made by the senior management staff at the Church Center. The
proposed Bylaws and the Memorandum of Understanding basically changes the
United Thank Offering from a working board into an advisory group.
As a life long Episcopalian I continue to be an
active advocate for women’s ministries, lay leadership, the Episcopal Church
Women and the United Thank Offering. What I will not abide is the reducing of
the daily prayers, thanksgivings and the sharing of coins for mission to the
status of a fundraiser for a few people to determine what the grants will be and
select the recipients. I am happy to share my thoughts and what information I
am aware of with any of you that may have questions.
If you want to see the documents of concern, they
are located at:
125yrs.blogspot.com
God’s peace and in thankfulness of the
opportunity to serve,
(signed Barbi Tinder)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
September 2, 2013
The
Rev. Nancy Crawford; President, Episcopal Church Women National Board
Sandra
Squires, President, Episcopal Church Women, Province VI
Dear
Nancy and Sandra,
With
a deep sense of despair and regret I feel I must resign as the United Thank
Offering Representative from Province VI of the Episcopal Church. I will
be forever grateful for the time I have served. The work I have done will
remain with me as a gift to myself. The women on the Board, the people in
the pews, the grant applicants, the women of the church whom I have met have
enriched my life in uncountable ways.
The
United Thank Offering has been a part of my life since I was born; that is one
of the great joys this experience has been, as I have been able to give back to
an organization that gave to my Aunt the opportunity to be one of the first
women missionaries to Japan. My home has always been filled with the
things that represent her.
However,
I cannot continue to serve the United Thank Offering at the National level; I
cannot go one more day dreading the next terrible step the leadership at the
Church Center at 815 will take to destroy the United Thank Offering. I
feel that every minute I am available even to talk with or about them and their
planned actions, I am a participant in the path of destruction they have
undertaken. My experience with the leadership of our church from the top
down is that there is no intention of truth, honesty, or integrity. I
have found it shocking. My experience is that the National Church leadership thrives
on a climate of deceit, discourtesy, rudeness, paranoia, and calculated
bullying. There is little room for respect of dedicated lay people
willing to give of their treasure, time and talent. I have no energy left
for the ongoing battle; my spiritual, physical and emotional energy is
exhausted. I have nothing left to give.
I
am resigning from my position as Province VI representative effective Sept. 2,
11:59 p.m. I will take the time to be certain that all the records I need
to bring up to date and deliver to the UTO office will be completed as quickly
as possible.
I
remain a servant of the Lord and a faithful member of the Episcopal Church
Women.
In
His Service,
Robin
Woods Sumners
Province
VI Representative
United
Thank Offering
Cc:
Lelanda Lee, The Rev. John Floberg, The Rev. Robert O’Neill, Nel Benton-Hough,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
September 3, 2013
The
Rev. Nancy Crawford; President, Episcopal Church Women National
Board
Barbara
Owens, President, Episcopal Church Women, Province IV
Dear
Nancy and Barbara,
It
is with deep sorrow and regret that I must resign as the United Thank
Offering Board Member-at-Large/Asia Pacific. I
especially would like to thank the people of Province IV for giving me the
honor of representing you the past four years. Province IV is the BEST Province
in the world, with this in mind; I’d like to share this meditation with
you.
Who Can You Trust These Days?
It’s far better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust any human.
It’s far better to take refuge In the Lord than to trust any human
leader.
Psalm
118: 8: 9
Therefore,
with the Takeover that is being perpetrated by the leadership at 815 Second Avenue
has left me with a sense of betrayal, shock, and despair. I am not against
Change but when I’m asked to give feedback, ideas, and these are duly
noted and sent to the Church Center, only to be returned
with not a resemblance of what was sent, this is downright rude, abusive and
appalling. There was no room for coming to the table again.
Being told It’s Done. There is nothing more to say or do.
I have thought and prayed and know this is the only thing for me to do at this
time.
Grace
and Blessings
Georgia
White
Member
–at Large/Asia /Pacific
United Thank Offering
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