ANDERSON: Yes. It's been, so far, we're not quite finished yet, but a three-meeting here in the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth. A majority, or large part, not majority, but a large part of our time has been spent on learning about the diocese and experiencing the life in this diocese has been very positive in life giving ways. All of our committees have met. We have been hearing reports today from them and have passed some resolutions. In my opening remarks, I mentioned that -- I think the term I used is "it's in the water" -- there's some discussions going on around the church about structure and governance and how our structure and governance can enable our mission more effectively. And to that end our governance and administration for missions joint standing committee has come up with a very good resolution that charges the standing committee on structure to bring together a group to talk about that. That's kind of my summary.

FOX: Thank you very much. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.

JEFFERTS SCHORI: We've done a number of things focused on internal for development and a number of things focused on the larger church and God's mission. Regard to the latter, we've heard about the development effort for reconstruction in Haiti. We've also heard about the Nets for Life Inspiration Fund for Relief and Development our way of addressing Millennium Development Goals (garbled). Internally, we've done a little training on Board development about the duties of care, loyalty and obedience. We have heard a bylaw review is in process and, as Bonnie says, we're working on strategic (garbled) relative to structure. And we're moving forward in the Church. A number of resolutions have been passed, we're not quit finished with that report. We're dealing with the kinds of things the council addressed at each of its meetings. Financial issues, relationships with (garbled), how investments are decided upon and governed, a number of things related to their initial development and we are not quit finished.

FOX: Thank you very much. We're going to start our questioning now with Cherie Wetzel.

WETZEL: Ms. Wetzel asked a question concerning the Primates of the Global South and her relationship with them.

JEFFERTS SCHORI: I think it's improving, I think the relationships across the Communion are improving. The meeting of the primates in Ireland was really a remarkable experience and focusing on what we're called to be as Primates and how we're called to be in relationship with each other. Elections of the members of the Primates Standing Committee and the alternates I think was designed for the healing of relationships and to work very hard to call people back into relationships.

MARY ANN MUELLER: Madam, how much is The Episcopal Church paying in legal fees in the Diocese of Fort Worth and around the Church as you are in litigation over buildings.

JEFFERTS SCHORI: I don't have an answer to that. Some of those expenses are paid by dioceses and some are paid by the church wide budget.

JIM JONES: A question for Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori. What are your thoughts about how the reorganized Diocese of Fort Worth is fairing at this point? And in your resolutions, are you providing more financial assistance or is there anything like that that would be interesting to our Fort Worth readers? I know you have made an assessment of how we are doing here.

JEFFERTS SCHORI: I think our experience of the reality of the Diocese of Fort Worth right now is clearly still some people in significant pain and grief over the divisions, but a vast number of Episcopalians are deeply invested in caring for their neighbors in caring for the communities around them. The amount of outreach work going on is really phenomenal and we have heard over, and over, and over again about more that is the case than it was before the departures.

ANDERSON: Yes, I'd like to add that we learned this morning that the Diocese of Fort Worth has doubled the asking the General Convention budget, as you know the funding formula...

JONES: How much is that?

ANDERSON: I don't have those figures before me. But, it's definitely posted online at the finance office and you can look that up.

FOX: I'll send you that link.

ANDERSON: The Diocese of Fort Worth has doubled the asking amount, so their giving is doubled of what they've been asked to support the budget of The Episcopal Church. And someone asked: "and why did you do that?" and the answer was: "We're trying to make up for all the years that the giving to the budget of The Episcopal Church was withheld."

DAVID VIRTUE: My question is addressed to the Presiding Bishop. You were in Dublin recently, Presiding Bishop, and one-third of the bishops were not there who represent two-thirds of the Anglican Communion. The reason they were not there, they said to me, was one, because you were there and secondly, because prior resolutions passed to deal with the issues of the Anglican Communion were not addressed and therefore they felt no need to come because in the words of Archbishop Mouneer Anis the Primates meeting was "cooked and precooked". What would be your response to that?

JEFFERTS SCHORI: Those who were not present were not present because of a variety of reasons. Seven of them, I believe were kept away because of health reasons, because they were unable to obtain visas, transit visas in England to get to Ireland. One was installed as Primate of Rwanda the day before the meeting began, and he was unable to come. The Primate of Sudan was not present because he was dealing with the aftermath of the Referendum. You are correct, in saying that six of seven were absent for reasons of conscience.

The hope really is to build relationships with those who were absent for reasons of conscience. My sense is that the sense of the meeting was that we don't exist to pass resolutions and look for enforcement of resolutions. Our reason for being is for mutual prayer, and study and partnership for God's mission

MARY FRANCIS SCHJONBERG: I want to bring us back to the business of the meeting here in Fort Worth. There are two major things that Council looked at: coordination about all the conversations about change and strategic planning and, also, some [other] things dealing with employment and business practices at The Church Center. Can you talk about how each of those aim towards the mission and ministry of the church? How does Council look at those in terms of that context?

JEFFERTS SCHORI: Council's responsibility is strategic in the sense of planning for the future in a time when things are changing rapidly. And Bonnie may want to say more about that. The Church needs to adapt in the way it (garbled) God's Mission to serve the realities of the day. The issues of personnel policy are part of the regular overview of the policies of the Church Center and the way the Church does business. The staff of the Church Center are servants in working. And they need to be treated with all justice and dignity.

ANDERSON: Yes, thank you. I would echo what the Presiding Bishop has said in regards to the support of the staff and how that coordinates with the mission of the church. The staff is there, of course, to serve, and is a delivery and support system, so that all the baptized can take advantage of and can use the kind of services and support that our staff provides for us. And it is our fiduciary responsibility to make sure that all of those kinds of situation with regards to staff and HR and employment and all of that are in line so that they can do their jobs to the best of their ability.

I would also like to touch on the fact that the governance of our church, as I said in my opening remarks, there are extraordinary people around our church, in our church, who have enthusiastically embraced their baptismal promises, and they gain strength and affirmation from the General Convention, from resolutions that speak to their particular call. Then people put their words into action in very significant and selfless ways. And these people are living testimonies to the fact that the governance enables our mission as the people of God and to suggest otherwise, to present a choice, which I would perceive to be a false choice, between governance and mission, does not serve us well, and in fact some ways devalues the ministry of people who have devoted years to putting General Convention's resolutions into meaningful actions in their daily lives. The list goes on of all the ways that our governance has enabled mission.

Is it time for change? Yes. Are we in a changing society? Absolutely. If the church cannot embrace the fact that we need to change and do that with humility with respect for our forbearers who designed a system that isn't broken but needs to be adapted. We need to do that or else we need a chance of becoming irrelevant.

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