“I’ve had people say: ‘what’s with the Episcopal Church? They’re open to everybody’,” she said, noting that many such group are offered only to congregation members. Trinity Church in Princeton offers a similarly unrestricted job-seekers group, she added.
Johnson also predicted that the newly “reduced profile[s]” of many of the area’s employers will mean reduced incomes for people who do keep their jobs. That reduction could mean changes in local economies, she added.
Sandra McPhee, a lawyer who belongs to St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Evanston, Illinois, and the chair of the Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parish’s endowment committee, told ENS that she expects that Episcopal parishes with endowments of all sizes are consulting their investment experts and “taking a wait-and-see attitude.” While the consortium does not give investment advice and does not track how member parishes invest, McPhee said the best investment strategy in times like this is one of prudence based on the advice of a trusted adviser.
McPhee, who is also a member of the Episcopal Church’s Executive Council, participated in the Eucharist at St. Matthew’s this past Sunday (during which her two-month-old granddaughter was baptized) and recalled that rector Jane Henderson acknowledged in her sermon that “everyone’s antsy, everyone’s nervous.”
Much of this sounds like commendable efforts to help people under stress. I hope it may become an occasion for the deepening of faith and dependence on God’s grace.
What will be interesting to see as this develops is the effect on TEC’s financial position and its lawsuit strategy. With endowment income down, and, presumably, plate and pledge down, will the current approach be sustainable?
Katherine,
Let’s hope the TEC gets the message. If the money doesn’t come in then the outgo reduces and someone is going to have to stop and think a bit. Legal proceedings can get very expensive.