Diocesan convention rejected a resolution Oct. 20 that would allow congregations to redirect apportionment payments from the Episcopal Church for reasons of conscience.

The diocese has had that option in place since 2003, when the election of the Rev. Gene Robinson, a gay priest in an open, committed relationship, as bishop of New Hampshire, sent shockwaves through the Anglican Communion. Parishioners upset with Robinson’s election, as well as those unhappy with a perceived drift of the church away from biblical tradition, were threatening to withhold their pledges to their congregations altogether.

A plan was devised at a special diocesan convention in the fall of 2003 to allow churches and individuals to designate that the small portion of their pledge that would be passed on by the diocese to the national church instead be sent to help our companion diocese in the Dominican Republic.

Churches give 10 percent of their budgets to the diocese. The Episcopal Church, in turn, asks for roughly 18 percent of each diocese’s budget to fund the presiding bishop’s office and national ministry programs.

Similar resolutions had been passed at the 2003-2005 conventions. In 2006, a procedural error kept the resolution from being considered but Diocesan Council approved a mechanism to implement the procedure anyway.

At this year’s convention, the Rev. Fred Robinson, rector of Church of the Redeemer in Sarasota, said his parish is still struggling with the church’s decisions. “I believe that the pastoral realities that made this necessary for the last three years are still present,” he said.

“If anything, we are even in more in need of something like this for people who in good conscience cannot give anything to the national church, for them to continue to be participants in the diocese and in their parishes.”

But opponants of the resolution said last year proved a convention resolution was not necessaty. “Let the good intentions which I believe lie behind this proposed resolution instead be carried out with common sense and compassion according to our canons,” said the Rev. Ted Copland, rector of St. Boniface in Sarasota.

When a voice vote on the resolution was inconclusive, a head count was taken where the resolution failed by a 146 to 121 vote.

Warden measure defeated
Convention also rejected a resolution that would allow rectors and vestries to appoint senior and junior wardens rather than elect them if they would so choose.

Supporters of the resolution said it would simply gives congregations more flexibility in choosing their leadership. Opponents said it could allow a person to serve indefinitely and the issue needs more study. The resolution failed on a head count of 155 to 105.

Scholarship fund deferred
Voting clergy and delegates deferred a vote on a proposal to create a college scholarship fund for children of clergy in the diocese.

roponents said the measure would offset costs for priests, who are traditionally underpaid. Objections to the resolution revolved around the fact that children of deacons were excluded from applying for scholarships.

The resolution was referred to Diocesan Council.

Culmer task force OKd
Convention approved by voice vote a resolution to form a task force to begin the process for the Episcopal Church to include the Rev. John Edwin Culmer in the calendar of Lesser Feasts and Fasts on the date of June 19.

Culmer was an African American priest who championed social justice reform in South Florida in the 1920s to 1940s and helped establish several churches in Florida, including St. James (St. James House of Prayer) in Tampa; St. Augustine’s in St. Petersburg; Church of the Transfiguration in Opa Locka and St. Cyprian’s in Homestead.

He led St. Agnes Episcopal Church in Miami for 34 years, the third-largest black church in the nation at the time and the largest congregation in the South. Culmer served as a deputy to General Convention in 1943, 1946, 1955 and 1958.

Culmer was the first African American to receive an honorary degree from Virginia Theological Seminary, in 1960 and was honored by bishops, governors and presidents.

The task force will begin work on an application that must be submitted to the Standing Liturgical Commission of the General Convention of The Episcopal Church at least eighteen (18) months before the next meeting of the General Convention in 2009.

—Jim DeLa