A Difficult Week for the Diocese of Pennsylvania
04/25/2006

The week after Easter was a difficult one for the Diocese of Pennsylvania with staff reductions at Church House, a decision to close one of one of the oldest congregations and another call by the standing committee for the Rt. Rev. Charles E. Bennison, Jr., to retire or resign, this time in response to the revelation that a drawdown of $350,000 of unrestricted net assets took place prior to the March 25 special convention. The withdrawal was not reported to the special convention which had been called after the Nov. 5, 2005, annual diocesan convention failed to approve a budget.

“In light of your expressed commitment to ‘transparency,’ and in the absence of your proper designation of these funds and the approval of standing committee in accordance with our canons, we question why this action was not reported to the special convention,” the Standing Committee’s members wrote in an open letter released April 21. “We strongly disapprove of this drawdown. We will ask the help of the chancellor in establishing procedures to insure that drawdowns will not happen again without proper consultation.”

The committee’s letter noted that the drawdown was reported at an April 19 diocesan council meeting, and “the funds would be restored if and when money became available. the rest