USA > New York > Our diocese : a study of the history and work of the Church in the Diocese of Central New York > Part 10
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In 1921, the report shows that $116,671 or about $4.50 from each communicant in the diocese was received and that $53,446 was sent to the National Treasurer.
Let us now see what the Diocese did with its share.
There are a great many items but generally it may be divided as follows :
For adding to the missionary stipends and for their travel allowances $34,609
For Religious Education, Special grants at Universities, Summer Schools, and for Social Service Work 2,415
For Expenses of Administration, Executive Secretary's Office, Diocesan Council 6,460
For Church Extension, Special grants as needs arise and money is available 9.990
$53,474
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There is another account that must not be overlooked, viz .: the so-called Diocesan Expense Account. This amounts to about $9,000 a year and by Canon is assessed on the parishes and missions, failure to pay resulting in loss of membership in the Convention.
Part Salaries and Expenses of Bishops $4,800
Secretary and Treasurer, Office Expenses and Journal Publication 1,600
Convention Expenses, Mileage of Delegates 2,325
Church Pension Fund Committee 200
$ 8,925
There are several funds, administered by the Diocesan Fiscal Corporation that have accumulated in these more than fifty years of the life of the Diocese that may be interesting merely to list.
Christmas Fund-Principal, $19,587, income $1, 103,
The income of this fund is devoted to the care of aged and disabled clergy.
Episcopate Fund-Principal, $176,639, income $13,783.
The income of this fund is devoted to Salaries of Bishops (in part) taxes and pension dues, and house insurance.
Parochial Fund-69 separate funds, amounting in all to $185,268, income $9,937.
The income of these separate funds is paid to the several beneficiaries named by the Donors. They are generally small in amount and though held by a central body are devoted to parochial maintenance and improvement.
Van Wagenen Missionary Fund-Principal, $49, 147, income $2,500.
The income of this fund is devoted to the maintenance of the Chenango County missionary.
Bible and Prayer Book Society-Principal, $5,330, income $324.
The income of this fund is for the purchase and forward- ing of Bibles, Prayer Books to Mission Stations out the Diocese.
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SOME FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS
Bishop Huntington Memorial Fund-Principal, $15,300, income $516.
The income of this fund goes to the daughter of the former Bishop.
Proportionate Giving. In the Nation Wide Campaign of 1922, authorized by the Church to provide the budget for the following three year period, a plan of "Proportionate Giving " was suggested for the thoughtful consideration of every communicant. It seems to have so many reasons for general acceptance and its advantages are so apparent that its adoption has been increasingly wide spread.
Briefly the principle is that each communicant, conscious of his obligation to do his share in keeping the Church alive as a working force in the community, agrees to systematize his offerings and regularly to assign to all humanitarian and rel gious causes a certain definite pro- portion of his income.
There are of course many good church people who give to charity and to the church large sums. There are many others who, with small incomes, are confessedly and with good conscience almost niggardly in their spending except for what they consider the necessities of life. To both the appeal is made to set aside a definite percentage of their income, whether it be large or small for things other than mere existence, for what the business man would call profits, as distinguished from operation.
Mr. George Wharton Pepper in a wise and extended dis- cussion of this question suggests the following scale as being the first step towards the adoption of a systematic plan.
Annual Income
With Without Dependents Dependents
Up to $2000 .
2 1/2 % . 5%
Between $2,000 and $5,000
3
%
6 %
Between $5,000 and $10,000
4
%
8%
Between $10,000 and $25,000
5
% 10%
Between $25,000 and $50,000
7
%
12%
Above $50,000 .
IO
15%
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The percentages of this table are low compared with the tithe that has all the scriptural and historical precedence. But in this age, with the demands of society, with the ex- penses of children's education, and with the limitations of a fixed income, it may not be possible in many cases to do more than the table shows. At any rate it furnishes a starting point for equitable giving.
Mr. Pepper suggests further that the amount, whatever it is, be separated from all other funds and kept inviolate for purposes of giving. He further suggests that it be divided, half and half, between the claims of the church and the claims of those causes which, however worthy they may be, are merely humanitarian lacking the definite religious motive.
Without this principle, many appeals coming to the indi- vidual are a cause of annoyance because he is asked to give away some of his own money. With this principle, he has set aside a special fund as God's money. It is no longer his own, but he has become God's steward, with the duty of determining how much of the fund shall be devoted to various kinds of charitable endeavor. When an appeal is made to him which he knows to be for a worthy cause, it is not a question of whether or not his household expenses will be large or small that month; the only question for him is: Is there a balance in the stewardship account ? The practice is a long step towards peace of mind. Nobody who gives the plan a fair trial will ever abandon it. Let us see what the adoption of such a plan would do for this diocese.
There are 26,000 communicants, some of course, though youth, not yet having incomes of their own and some through misfortune, with incomes so small as barely able to keep soul and body together. There are others whose in- comes are relatively large, who have automobiles and who think little of the cost of trips to Florida or to Europe. If
1
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SOME FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS
we suppose the average income to be $2,000 the annual amount in the Lord's treasury would be $50, of which the church would get $25, a sum that is surprisingly close to the sums already named earlier in this chapter, viz. $20, for local church expenses and $4.50 for general missionary work and the total amount would therefor be just about what is now contributed. But suppose the average income is $4,000 then the church would be able, through its in- creased support to develop tremendously. Why should not every communicant do his share in so desirable a result by accepting the principle for himself and becoming a steward for God in a systematic fashion?
Duplex Envelopes. There are in the minds of those chiefly concerned with the finances of the Church, that is, the Vestry in the parish and the Council in the diocese, many suggestions they would like to offer to the members of the Church as tending to systematize offerings and presumably therefore to increase the amounts available for their disposal.
For example, contributions should be personal and not by families, which means that every communicant in a family has his or her own personal obligations in the mat- ter of Church support.
Even the smallest baptized child can learn that part of his Christian obligation by making his personal contribu- tion regularly. The Little Helpers are taught through their red mite-boxes this lesson and every Church School now emphasizes the subjective value of giving by setting aside certain periods of the church year for encouraging gifts for missionary work at home and abroad and for char- itable work in the parish and in the community.
Many conscientious leaders of the Church urge on young and old alike the use of printed envelopes, one for each week by which the practice of regular giving is develop- ed and the hap-hazard occasional offering of whatever may
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be convenient and not otherwise needed, at such times as the giver may happen to be in church, is condemned.
To that end, every member of the church family should be provided with envelopes and there is no parish treasurer but will be glad to open an account even with the smallest child and for any amount, no matter how small.
The educational aspect is heightened if the envelopes used are of the duplex kind, one side for parish expenses and the other to be used in carrying out the Mission of the Church. Such a state of things as just outlined does not now exist, but it is reasonable and to be hoped for and should be in time one of the results of the Nation- wide Campaign.
Another financial improvement that must accompany systematic giving is a better organization of parish expend- tures. To many, it is almost irreverent to refer to busi- ness methods in connection with any part of Church activi- ties. Yet one of the aims of the Church is to put Christ- ianity into business and it is only fair that the good things of business should be returned to the Christian Church.
The most important of these "Good Things" is the adoption of a budget or a scheme of expenses in advance, based on the expected income. To be sure, this budget is most satisfactorily made use of in a parish where envelopes are used and where the vestry or committee can confidently count on the pledges being fulfilled. Then at the beginn- ing of the year the finance committee can estimate the in- come and can plan the expenditures, to include all the work of the past year, possibly an increase in the salary of the rector, possibly further beautifying of the church, or possib- ly larger missionary offerings. But no business could suc- ceed with the methods of so many parishes and missions, with no budget and with the treasurer paying out any money on hand for whatever need seems at the time most pressing.
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SOME FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS
The Pension Fund. The most statesmanlike financial operation that this diocese is a party to is that of the Pension Fund. Inaugurated in 1917, through the heroic labors of Bishop Lawrence of Massachusetts, Chairman of the National Committee, it secured from the Church a reserve fund for accrued liabilities of about eight million dollars.
After careful computation by skilled actuarians, it was de- termined that an annual premium of seven per cent of the salary of every clergyman would suffice to allow every clergyman retiring on account of old age and the widows and children of diseased clergymen a definite amount of money, according to the scale adopted. The plan has been carried out enthusiastically by the whole church of which this diocese is a part. Thus last year the diocese on behalf of its diocesan missionaries, supported as they are in part by the missionary fund of the diocese paid for such insurance eighteen hundred dollars and the parishes about twenty thousand dollars, and it may be added, much to the credit of the diocese, every individual parish participated with its full quota.
The scale of benefits adopted is as follows :
To every clergymen at the age of sixty-eight on behalf of whom all assessments have been paid there is guaranteed a minimum annuity of $600 with a maximum of $2,000, the amount depending upon the average salary on which assess- ments have been paid. This does not apply strictly to clergymen who were in service at the time the Pension fund
began to function in 1917. This class are guaranteed at least $600 but the Accrued Liability Fund was not made large enough to take care of the class so that they might receive the maximum even if their salary averaged that amount. The fund was constructed with the idea of giving every clergymen at the age of retirement one-half pay. In order to do this exactly it would have been necessary to
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make the premium much larger so the fund was constructed on the "group insurance plan " i.e., taking off from the top salaries in order to bring the lower ones up to the minimum. The fund was first constructed with a view of taking care of those who should be ordained after 1917. These will receive the full benefits. The next problem was to take care of those ordained previously. For them the Accrued Liability Fund was devised in an amount large enough to insure to everyone of this class the minimum of $600. A few, not over a handful in this Diocese, because of the large salaries which makes their premium large, will receive a little more than the minimum.
To widows is paid one-half of the amount due on behalf of the clergymen at the time of hisdecease with a minimum of $300. To this was added for 1922 and for every year thereafter as the actuarial surplus warrants, an outright gift in addition of $1,000 and to those already receiving the $300 an additional grant of $50 annually as long as the surplus is in condition to allow it. It is interesting to note in this con- nection that the actual surplus at the end of 1921 almost equalled the amount that it was estimated in 1917 would be on hand at this period.
Orphans. Two classes. Children of those ordained after 1917. From one to seven; $100; from seven to fourteen; $200; from fourteen to twenty-one, $300. Children of those ordained previously to 1917 receive one-half of the above grant.
Permanent Disability. To a clergyman "permanently disabled", that it, precluded by nature of the disease or by accident from the apparent ability to continue his work, a grant of one-half of the amount due at the time of disability with a minium of $600. This does not preclude the possi- bility of recovery and return to work, as for instance in the case of tuberculosis a man frequently is temporarily unable to continue his work but later recovers.
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SOME FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS
By this capital fund, which now (1922) amounts to nearly fifteen million dollars, the pathetic spectacle of a man of God grown old in faithful service, ending his days in priva- tion and dire want is no longer visible. The shame to the Church of the many such cases in the past must always exist. But the continuance of it is at an end and while the pension fund is limited and the pensions granted extremely meager, they serve to remove that dread of the future that so oppressed the clergy of a generation ago, filling them with worry for the well-being of their families, and distracting their minds inevitably from the consideration of Heavenly things. Our Church may well be proud of the organization and operation of its Pension Fund.
CHAPTER XIV
CONCLUSION
TN the preceding pages has been painted a picture, imper- fect and incomplete though it be, of the work of the Church in the Diocese of Central New York. Some of it has been depicted in considerable detail, with hair-like strokes. Some of it has been brushed in with a heavy hand. Some of it is only suggestive. But it shows the history of the Church, its foundations and early beginnings, its struggles and triumphs, and it records the heroic labors of some of the pioneers. It also presents the present organization and its methods of carrying on the work so well begun a century ago.
What should be the effect on those who read? That will depend on their sense of continued obligation. Not all who look at a picture really see the artist's dream. So not every one who reads the foregoing pages will catch the vision of the possibilities that are so gloriously open to the church at this present day. It is a strange expression of the Bible that characterizes certain persons as "hard- hearted." Physiologically, it is unnatural. But to harden one's heart must be the same thing as to shut one's eyes to a picture lest its influence stir up sympathy, rouse from apathy, enlist cooperation, and make partisans. Doubtless there are some who will here read of the needs of the for- eign-born, for example, and harden their hearts lest they be moved to take some part in the work of making them a part of the Kingdom of God. Others will read and thereby be moved to do their share in the task of the Church.
For the task is before us all. The Kingdom of God is here on earth and those of the Kingdom are responsible for its extension. Those who have enlisted for the task and are slothful in spirit are not worthy to be called the Sons of
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CONCLUSION
God. They are slackers. The work is to be done and the laborers are few. The fields are white unto the harvest and there are few to gather it. Pray ye therefore that He will send laborers into the harvest.
That the task may be accomplished the Church has to bring together the necessary conditions for success in this the mission of the Church. First, all members must realize the essential unity of the Church, that each member is necessary to complete success and that, if any member is not found faithful, just in so far the plans of the Head must fail. Second, the responsibility of the Church is for the whole Church, everywhere. A successful parish is not one that has the finest choir or the largest number of clubs and societies but it is rather one that includes the largest number of members alive to their individual responsibility in promoting the growth of God's Kingdom on earth.
The foundation of such interest must be information and education. Thousands of years ago, Isaiah wrote : "Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider " as a charge against a seemingly faithless congregation, and knowledge and interest are equally important today. If only every baptized person would avail himself of the chances to learn, chances that are so freely offered by the Church, and would find out what splendid work men and women are doing in all lands in the name of the Church, for the poor, the ignorant, the sick and the needy, his pride would be aroused, his allegiance strengthened, and his interest stirred.
Third, all that we have and are is but a gift, a trust, for which we must give an account. Surely it was with a purpose that the parable of the ten talents was made a part of the New Testament teaching. To those of us who have been content to leave the task of being co-laborers with God, of acting as His agents, in the extension of His King- dom, to others, that ringing condemnation of him who kept
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his talent wrapped up in a napkin must come with fearful force. For we are all stewards, entrusted with time, with certain abilities and with incomes of certain amounts, not for our own gratification but for God's purposes, and if we are not faithful stewards how shall we dare to face our Lord when the day of reckoning comes ?
Shall not everyone who reads this book and learns what the Church in this Diocese has to do and what the machinery is for doing it, offer himself as a worker, if only in an ob- scure corner ? Shall not everyone contribute reasonably from his income, using his trust in a way of which he shall not be ashamed ? And shall he not pray daily for the ex- tension of the Kingdom, that his interest may not flag, and that he may be instant in study, and, learning of the activities and successes reached by the Soldiers of the Cross follow on where they have led the way !
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