OREGON: Diocese forgives churches' debts

March 06, 2009 [Diocese of Oregon] The policy-making body of the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon on February 27 approved a motion to cancel some of the past due mandated share of diocesan expenses owed by some of its 75 churches. The amount, approximately $860,000, covers all Diocesan Program Assessment (DPA) debt delinquent for the years ending on or prior to December 31, 2006. Some of the outstanding debt is more than ten years old. 

"It is our judgment that this debt burden impairs the mission of the church at this time of global economic hardship," said the Rev. Shannon Leach, president of the diocesan standing committee, the ecclesiastical authority of the diocese. The standing committee asked the diocesan council, the policy-making group, to approve the measure.

"In keeping with the biblical injunction to observe an occasional jubilee year in which all debts are forgiven and people are given a clean slate on which to go forward, we are thrilled that our motion has been accepted by the diocesan council and that we can move forward into the future, concentrating on mission and ministry, and the upcoming election of our next bishop," said Leach.

The diocese, which has 19,000 members in western Oregon and was founded in 1889, has been without a diocesan bishop since March 2008 when Bishop Johncy Itty, who served from 2003-2008, resigned to return to the Diocese of Long Island. Oregon is currently in the search process for a new bishop, who will be elected November in Eugene.

The diocesan council was able to act immediately on the standing committee's request because it had already formed a task force to look at assessment issues. The work of that task force is not complete.  This specific decision covers years prior to 2007; years after that will be considered as part of the task force's work.

"Canonically, diocesan council has authority to cancel only DPA that has been delinquent for more than two years," said the Rev. Jaime Sanders, the DPA task force convener. "The task force is charged with developing a fair and consistent policy for DPA shortfalls for years after 2006. We welcome, and will be looking for ways to facilitate, conversation with all interested persons in the diocese."

Leach added that "it is the Standing Committee's hope that relieving the burden of  crushing debt, under which many of our congregations have lived for many years, will free them to use the resources at their disposal to more effectively carry out the ministries they feel called to do."

Diocesan Finance Officer Mary Miller said forgiving the DPA arrearages "won't directly impact this year's budget" because the money had not been included in those calculations. She added that because the 2009 budget was based on predications made in 2007 she sent a letter to congregations on March 6 asking for their "best guess of what their present [financial] position is."

Miller said it's already clear that "pledges aren't as high as last year" as people face economic uncertainty or the reality of being laid-off or having their incomes otherwise reduced. "We're going to have to be thinking outside the box" for both this year's budget and the 2010 version, she said.

-- Deirdre Steinberg, director of communications for the Diocese of Oregon, and the Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg, Episcopal News Service national correspondent, contributed to this story.

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