Budget discussions

The last business on Friday was the completion of the Diocesan Council presentation, a review of the 2004 budget, and approval of the 2006 budget.

Delegates brought up a variety of issues with the Council members, such as:

Concern the Diocese and Armenians have not done enough to help the victims of the Darfur genocide in the Sudan;

Wanting the levels of clergy stipends to be more accessible to delegates;

Expressing appreciation to Sylva der Stepanian, who stepped down last year as coordinator of the Diocese's Armenian studies program after 30 years;

Urging the Council to focus more resources on adult Christian education needs. "The challenge is how can we enlarge the education of our Diocese as a whole. This is the mission of our church," the Primate concurred;

The need to focus resources and personnel on aiding mission parishes. "We are loosing Armenians in these communities, because we are not attending to their needs effectively," said Fr. Tateos Abdalian. "We need to pay more attention to these communities, otherwise we are going to lose more and more.";

And, requesting the Diocesan Council provide the delegates with future plans each Assembly so delegates can see what the goals of the budget are.

SHARING CONSERNS

Diocesan Council Chairman Haig Dadourian shared with the delegates some thoughts he had on the Armenian Church and some concerns he had for its future. After attending a conference on church governance, he said he realized how important lay leaders are to the Armenian Church.

Citing the election of the Catholicos and Primate by assemblies with lay members and the committees of laity who advise both leaders, he marveled at the lay leadership role in the Armenian Church.

"I wonder if all of us are aware of the role we play. It is a truly unique role," he said. "There is a 1,700-year-old tradition of lay participation in the church."

He called on lay leaders to be more engaged in the business of the church and expressed his concern that too many of our parishes are not communities.

"How many churches do we have in our Diocese where people come to worship as a family, not just dodge in and out quickly?," he asked. "I'm beginning to see a drift in the youth. We know they're distracted by society, and that's understandable. But we have to ask ourselves, how many people would feel deeply upset if they missed badarak this Sunday? And if we don't, why should our youth be involved?"

He urged delegates and clergy to come together in a more productive partnership.

"I call out to all of you to consider this partnership, to find yourselves working with your priests and bishops to create the partnerships that will bring us closer to the church," Dadourian said.

BUDGET

In reviewing the 2004 budget, the Diocesan Council was pleased to announce that in 2004 the Diocese ended the year with a surplus of $74,258. That is thanks mostly to a couple generous wills.

The financial shape is much better than the last two years, which saw a $93,987 deficit in 2003 and a $607,240 deficit in 2002.

The delegates then approved the 2006 budget (the Council members apologized to delegates for getting them the details of the budget late, reducing their time to review it). The 2006 budget is $4,453,380, about 5 percent higher than the actual 2004 budget.

Revenues for 2006 include slightly more income from endowments in the ACEF and from increased inflow through fund-raising efforts such as the Archbishop's Annual Appeal. The Council members noted that parish dues have not been raised since 1992 and they hoped to soon work out a plan to lower that reliance.

Posted by Jake at April 29, 2005 06:37 PM