DCNY cuts staff and accumulates buildings

The bishop of CNY announced by a memo to clergy, wardens, and diocesan leaders that the DCNY is cutting three staff positions at the diocesan office. The story on this by David Virtue is below and my comments on this story are further down. Let's take another look at the Adams record.

1. Adams closed the Thornfield Conference Center and bulldozed the buildings.

2. Adams unsuccessfully sued a priest after that priest insisted that the diocese investigate sexual abuse charges by a former rector at the same parish. This cost the diocese thousands of dollars if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal expenses.

3. Adams sued St. Andrew's Church in Syracuse and settled out of court. This action also cost the diocese thousands of dollars, but on the bright side, it added three buildings to the diocesan inventory. Of course, those three buildings require regular maintenance and other financial inputs until they are sold.

4. Adams took custody of another three buildings when St. Andrew's, Vestal left the diocese. The rectory sold, but the diocese still holds the church and community center of St. Andrew's. There is a mortgage on the community center that the diocese has inherited, and these two buildings also require regular maintenance and other financial inputs until they are sold.

5. Adams is currently suing Church of the Good Shepherd, Binghamton. Unlike St. Andrew's in Syracuse or St. Andrew's in Vestal this case is likely to go to trial. The diocese has already invested thousands of dollars in this case and the total cost could run to two hundred thousand dollars or more.

So, maybe now you understand why the Diocese of Central NY has to cut three staff positions. There is no diocesan camp or conference center for youth and children's ministry, or for any other ministry that would normally be done at such a place. The bishop is cutting the youth ministry position, which is something akin to selling your seed corn. The bishop is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal expenses against churches that have left the DCNY because of his unbiblical stands.

Two questions: how is the bishop sharing the pain that he has caused the diocese? Is he taking a pay cut?

The bishop's memo can be found at VirtueOnline (see link at the end of Virtue's story).