A second survey would explore the feasibility of making it compulsory for church organizations to provide pension coverage for its lay employees with a single administrator.

The Very Rev. George Werner, House of Deputies president, raised what he called a "little red flag" about that issue. He said that similar work in 1991 showed that "the words compulsory and Episcopal are not compatible."

Executive Council member Diane Pollard, also a part of that 1991 work, said that the church has made progress in providing pension benefits to lay employees. She said it was now appropriate to make those benefits compulsory for employees who work 1,000 hours a year.

"It's now time to say we are going to treat people equally," she said.

The council's Task Force on Employment Policies and Practices in the Episcopal Church members estimate that there are 15,500 full-time and 19,500 part-time lay employees in congregations and dioceses, plus another 42,000 full-time lay employees in organizations affiliated with the Episcopal Church. A study of lay employees is needed, in part, the report says, because the church does not know how many lay people it employs.

General Convention 2003 called for a group to study employment policies and practices in the dioceses and parishes of the church and consider policy recommendations to the 75th General Convention that address issues of "equity and justice for church employees working in circumstances of both affluence and poverty..."

There are 20 years' worth of General Convention resolutions that deal with the issues of justice and accountability in the church workplace, but they have been "sparsely taken up by the wider church," said the Rev. Dr. Bud Holland, coordinator of the Office of Ministry Development and the convener of the task force. For instance, the task force's report notes that, despite repeated General Convention resolutions recommending universal pension coverage for lay employees, just 66 percent of parishes offer such coverage.

The task force's work so far has shown that there is a wide variety of employment practices and policies. Some dioceses have outstanding employment manuals, some have none and "some are yearning to have something better," said Holland.

The task force included representatives from the Church Pension Group, the Church Center and the Colloquium of Episcopal Professional and Vocational Associations (CEPVA). "We had the appropriate expertise in the room," said the Rev. Canon Ed Rodman, a member of the Executive Council and a professor at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The 14 members, along with two council members, brought to the table a sense of history and the ability to explain the legal issues and their implications in a way that all could understand, he said. Holland agreed that the group developed energy and synergy that helped them articulate their concerns in a way that everyone could hear.

The task force's report says that the church needs to see itself as an institution that employs thousands of people and has a "duty to treat its personnel fairly and equitably."

"We're all the beneficiaries when that happens," Holland said.

Such treatment ought to be grounded in what the report says was an as-yet-unarticulated theology of work which would create the foundation for fair employment practices. That theology should be grounded in the Baptismal Covenant, which the report says ought to be incorporated in every employment manual of the church at every level. The task force wants to look at how the church as an employer incarnates the values of the Episcopal Church, Holland said.

Holland said the group hopes that the proposed survey can discern whether people enjoy the work they do in the church, and whether their workplaces are fair and safe.

In connection with that concern, the task force developed a draft statement entitled "Workplace Values in The Episcopal Church." It says that the church's commitment to centering work in the Baptismal Covenant and promoting workplaces that offer chances for development and advancement can be summed up in the "golden rule" of Matthew 7:12a: "In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you..."

The statement lists what employees can expect from the organization and what the organization expects from employees. It also gives ways of resolving employment issues.

Holland said the task force understands that its work comes "in the context of struggling [economic] situations" for dioceses and parishes, and in very different work contexts around the church.

Another part of that context is a varying amount of knowledge about how the church as an employer must comply with employment laws of the states and municipalities, Holland said.

"Most lay employees in the church are at-will employees and in many states they have zero rights," Rodman said.

Holland said the task force isn't challenging those laws but asking "how can the Episcopal Church do more than what is required by law."

The report suggests that "'At Will' employment can be counterbalanced with grace-filled, Christ-like conduct..."

Full texts of the pertinent resolutions (CIM 041 and CIM 042) can be found online at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_68485_ENG_HTM.htm.