April 2019 From the Treasurer

April 2019 From the Treasurer

Bob Mathews

Each year, a portion (10%) each Episcopal Church’s revenues are paid to the Dio­cese to provide for their expenses over the course of the year. Of that amount, a fraction (15%} of the apportionment is paid, by the Diocese, to Episcopal Church USA, commonly referred to as ECUSA.
Through the years, a number of parishioners have designated, by a note on their contribution checks, that no portion of their gift should be included in the funds that are paid by the Diocese to ECUSA. Our Church and a few others in the Dio­cese of Southwest Florida have asked for and received a waiver, which provided that gifts designated as “Non-ECUSA,” and included in the apportionment to the Diocese, would not be subject to further distributions to ECUSA. In February, our Diocese was advised by ECUSA that the canons of the Church had been changed, and a waiver provided to the Diocese in the past would no longer be honored by ECUSA. Any Diocese that does not comply with this new provision “will not be eligible for grants, scholarships, loans, and other awards” provided by ECUSA.
We realize that the matter of the “Non-ECUSA” designation of the gifts of some of our parishioners is a personal matter and a matter of principal, which the Diocese has honored in the past. Understandably though, the Diocese does not want to risk the loss of benefits for non-compliance with the ECUSA canons.
To provide perspective, the portion of St. John’s apportionment to the Diocese that would be paid to ECUSA last year would have been less than $2,000. We pray that the change in canons by ECUSA will not influence or change the generosity of all of our St John’s members and families in funding our needs during the course of the year.