Clergy and lay deputies to the annual convention in the Diocese of Pennsylvania will consider competing resolutions on the fate of Camp Wapiti, a high-profile project begun during the episcopacy of Bishop Charles E. Bennison, Jr. Convention meets Nov. 8 at Philadelphia Cathedral.
In October 2004, the diocese executed a complex financial agreement that included outright purchase of part of approximately 700 acres of undeveloped land along the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. The contract included an option to purchase the remaining parcel. Soon afterward, at the direction of the bishop, the diocese began making improvements to the site with the idea of constructing a camp and conference center.
After several years of increasingly acrimonious relations, the standing committee of the diocese filed a presentment complaint against Bishop Bennison, alleging that he had not been completely forthcoming with the standing committee about expenditures, particularly with respect to the development of Camp Wapiti. The standing committee complaint, which did not include any criminal allegations against Bishop Bennison, were eventually dropped.
“The Diocese of Pennsylvania is the ninth largest of 100 Episcopal dioceses in the country. We should have a retreat center and youth camp.â€
This type of reasoning is why the dioceses of ecusa are suing for property all across the province. [i]We have to have assets to do our mission.[/i] Without any clear discussion of the alternatives, nor a clear projection of the costs.
Decades ago PA had a “Denbigh” retreat center on Upper Gulph Rd in North Radnor on an old estate. I wonder what they did with that, sell it as the property values have no skyrocketed? So is Wapiti a second center, or is it just a replacement for what they already sold off?
Camps are nice but imagine what kind of a theological perspective they might impart in the DioPa to callow youth…do those of us who are orthodox really want there to be a camp?