More Draconian Cuts At ECUSA

from Stand Firm by Jackie

Oh my. There is so very much to read in this latest article by our beloved Curmudgeon. One should think of it as a smorgasboard rather than a single meal.

Either way, the Church is faced with maintaining its full litigation budget of $3 million while slashing other items by $2.1 million:

The proposed budget calls for ceasing publication of the Episcopal News Monthly and Quarterly publications; closing the Episcopal Books and Resources retail bookstore at the Church Center in New York City and its online store; and ceasing the resource-shipping operation that serves EBAR as well as Episcopal Church Foundation, Episcopal Relief & Development and United Thank Offering. Those agencies have been offered alternatives for fulfilling their orders.

The proposed elimination of EBAR and the two publications means a loss of revenue, but also reductions in Office of Communications expenses. Proposed expense cuts in the Office of Communication total $812,332.

Episcopal News Service's online operation will continue and is due to be expanded in terms of multimedia. Its stories are available free to other church publications. The "Episcopal Church Welcomes You" signs, currently unique to EBAR, would be available for sale from the Christian Alliance for Media (an Atlanta-based organization that began in 1945 as Episcopal TV and Radio Foundation).

Another $790,000 would be cut from 2011 Mission Program operations under the proposal . . .

So how do you respond to a need to cut expenses? Do you settle any lawsuits? No, you simply close down some revenue-producing operations, which have, of course, expenses associated with the revenues they bring in.

This excerpt is only an appetizer. Hie thee hence.