To the Clergy and Laity of the Diocese of El Camino Real
We give thanks for Bishop Romero's presence with us throughout these past few days. The Bishop's week with us ended with a splendid reception, hosted by the people of St. Stephen's, Gilroy, with great music provided by the SPECs and absolutely outstanding food prepared by cooks from nine congregations. *
Speaking at the Friday evening reception, Bishop Romero compared the Diocese of El Camino Real to a ship anchored some distance out to sea. He agreed that this ship needs to get moving again; but told us that only when we make the necessary repairs -- and only when everyone gets on board -- will we, together with Bishop Romero, be able to present a seaworthy ship to the Third Bishop of El Camino Real.
This morning, with a new awareness of El Camino Real's problems but with great hope in his heart, Bishop Romero flew back to Belize for six more weeks. We look forward to his return on December 1.
With the calling of Bishop Romero as our Assisting Bishop, the Standing Committee believes the diocese has finally reached a place where we are ready to move forward. The “Together We Can” document, published and disseminated this past week, explains our ongoing work of repairing and strengthening the leadership of the diocese. Now we can begin to talk about the issues around updating the vision and mission for our diocese.
The Conference Planning Team, consisting of nine clergy and lay people representing every deanery in our diocese, is looking forward to the conference on November 13 entitled, “Living Into the Future: Embracing the Possibilities.” All laity and clergy in the diocese are cordially invited to this first in a series of meetings where we will be discerning a new vision and mission for our diocese. At the November conference clergy and laity will hear from the Rev. Ron Reed and Mr. Dale Simison about what “shared ministry” means and just what the roles are for the clergy, the laity and the bishop. Having come to an understanding of what shared ministry is, our diocese will then be able to conduct a series of conversations around what kinds of ministry we can do and how we might do ministry differently in the future. These conversations will definitely impact how we use our money, both at the congregational and diocesan levels.
The current leaders of this diocese, including members of the Standing Committee, Diocesan Council, Corporation and DIEM, are excited about the potential of shared ministry implementing the updated mission of our diocese. We know that it will take commitment to a lot of hard work over the next year, but we hope that by the 2006 Convention our diocese will be ready to begin the search process for our next bishop of the Diocese of El Camino Real.
While all this work is progressing, and while our vision for the future is still developing, we are aware that some members of the diocese are pressing for changes in the way diocesan ministry is funded, in order to ease the financial burden on congregations.
We acknowledge that our present system of funding needs revision. We also acknowledge that we in this diocese have much to learn about Christian stewardship. We want you to know that the mechanism for funding mission and ministry in this diocese will be thoroughly re-evaluated in 2005.
As we re-evaluate the way we fund our mission and ministry, however, we must take into consideration not only the future needs of the diocese and its congregations, but also the legal and moral commitments made by past leaders. A certain amount of patience is now required, as we honor past commitments and make new plans for the future.
We believe that the diocese should approach this task carefully and wisely, with people from across the diocese working together - lay as well as clergy, and from small congregations as well as large. Only through much study, only with careful deliberation, and only by working together will we be able to develop the best plan to support the ministries of our varied congregations and the shared ministries of the whole diocese.
When Bishop Romero returns to El Camino Real on December 1, we hope that he finds a crew that is ready to do the work necessary for getting our anchored ship ready for sailing again. Are we a committed crew? Are we working together to making the necessary repairs? Are we willing to give enough money to buy fuel and provide nourishment for everyone on board?
The Standing Committee
* Many thanks to everyone on the crew that hosted the reception for Bishop Romero: St. Stephen's, Gilroy; All Saints', Watsonville; Cristo Rey, Watsonville; Holy Child, San Jose; St. John's, Morgan Hill; St. Paul's, Salinas; St. Philip's, San Jose; St. Stephen's, San Jose; and San Pablo, Salinas.
