The mission of the College for Bishops is to provide opportunities for education and formation that will strengthen bishops in their personal lives, as diocesan leaders in God's mission and in their vocation in service to the Episcopal Church.

The College for Bishops was created in 1993 in response to a specific need to strengthen the Episcopal Church's bishops. The College for Bishops received non-profit status in 2010.

The College for Bishops provides the only formal resource to engage and guide bishops in the Episcopal Church and some parts of the Anglican Communion in the formation of their episcopal ministry. It can take a minimum of three years for a newly-ordained bishop to become comfortable in his or her new role.

Since the health of bishops, clergy and congregations are tied together, bishops develop vision and resources to deepen their own and the Church's sense of mission through the college. It gives them the ability to sustain the benefit of forming and supporting clergy and equipping laity within dioceses.

"I have found the work of the College for Bishops to have had an immensely positive impact not only on bishops, but on the functioning of the entire Church," Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has noted. "I believe that it is essential to secure the future of this program in order to ensure the continued educational and formational growth of episcopal leaders in a community environment."

On hearing the news, the evangelical former Bishop of South Carolina the Rt. Rev. C. FitzSimons Allison commented, "It is outrageous and shows some of the self indulgent priorities of some bishops."

Liberal Episcopal bloggers have also gone ballistic over the issue. "I'm amazed that this would be announced at a time when diocesan, parochial, and mission budgets across the church are being slashed; parochial clergy and staff salaries are stagnant at best; our seminaries are struggling financially; unemployment is widespread; and the wealth disparity in the country is wider than ever," wrote one blogger.

Another opined, "I don't begrudge our bishops the need for support. No one argues about the stress they experience. But they are also generally the best-paid clerics of the church...

"I don't see it as an either/or thing, said another liberal priest. I hardly think we need to be reminded that unhealthy bishops make for unhealthy dioceses with unhealthy parishes, making an unhealthy church. As an Episcopal church that relies on the direction and leadership of bishops, there is a need to make sure that they are healthy, balanced folks who stay healthy and balanced.

"I suspect that those who will contribute to this campaign would not contribute to the General Fund of TEC. And the $15 million is an endowment, so it is the income that gets used, not the principal. Frankly, I'd almost rather see money going to something I know is going to make a difference then go to what often seems like simply an effort to sustain and support TEC bureaucracy."

A more cynical liberal wrote, "I checked and it is not April 1. Asking is certainly free but my extra cash will go to the Cathedral in Haiti or our development projects in Kenya. I just find this in appalling bad taste."

Stated another, "The theology is screwed up. You don't go through a painful budget cutting process and then allow the programs that were cut to go out and run their own capital campaigns. That's only encouraging us to run to our own silos. You reap what you sow.

"Surely the world and the church present us with more urgent opportunities to give than this rather self-serving effort. My tithe and offerings will go elsewhere."

Liberal Episcopal leaders squawked at this horrendous outlay of money. "Is this "trickle-down ecclesiology"? $15 Million, in some circles, is not a great deal of money; indeed some would question if it is enough. In others, $15 Million would mean a great deal in terms of the edification of the church and the mission of the gospel. It certainly is enough to raise an eyebrow - even though the College of Bishops is, apparently, its own private agency with its own independent non-profit status."

"I understand the thinking: Strong leaders make a strong church; however, the timing of this program - in the midst of a fragile economy and when many, many churches are having difficulty keeping the heat and lights on and many clergy are seeing their pension and health care payments in arrears - makes this pretty difficult to swallow.

"The question is how does this square with the budget priorities as outlined in the 2009 General Convention Budget - even though the College of Bishops is a separate agency? And how does this fit in with the Millennium Development Goals?"

The Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Kaeton, a lesbian priest from Long Neck, DE, asked, "How does this reflect the Five Marks of Mission of the Anglican Communion?

To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom"
* To teach, baptise and nurture new believers
* To respond to human need by loving service
* To seek to transform unjust structures of society
* To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth * (Bonds of Affection-1984 ACC-6 p49, Mission in a Broken World-1990 ACC-8 p101).

One irate blogger said, "I have no problems with educating bishops but have to wonder, as others have already done, whether now is the right time to be raising money for this when so many churches and dioceses are scrambling. If you work it out on a per diocesan basis, it is about $14,000 each. I'll bet we could find 110 seminarians who need that money more."

The irony of this endowment should not be missed.

Nearly all the bishops in question are liberals and or revisionists who have no discernible gospel to proclaim and their dioceses are in numerical decline. They have all fallen off the wagon of inclusivity, diversity, pluriform truths and interfaith dialogue with the result that they have nothing to proclaim from the pulpit.

Many of them face the anxiety of lost income from parishes that have fled their jurisdiction, taking plate and pledge with them. Even if they win the property, the victory is pyrrhic. An empty building is useless at the end of the day, and many cannot be sold in the present real estate markets they are in. Recently, the Diocese of Eastern Oregon gave away an empty parish to a Baptist church just to keep the property in the hands of Christians.

Dioceses like Pittsburgh, Quincy, Ft. Worth and San Joaquin have spent several million dollars on legal fees fighting for properties that promise little or no return at the end of the day even if the Episcopal diocese wins. Is it any wonder that bishops in dioceses like New Jersey, Virginia and Pittsburgh are cutting deals where they can obtain cash for properties in order to keep their dioceses afloat for the "seven lean years" as the money runs out from smaller dying parishes.

If this is why $15 million is necessary to allay the anxiety of bishops as they face internal parish battles, it will be money totally wasted. If the theology of the diocese and the bishop was aligned with the fleeing parishes, peace and harmony would reign. It isn't. Witness the loss of nearly $3 million in the Diocese of Colorado by Bishop Rob O'Neill in his battle with Fr. Don Armstrong. He won the parish, which is now two-thirds empty, and a protracted lawsuit. Armstrong finally got whacked with a single misdemeanor charge instead of the O'Neill's hoped for 20 felony counts.

What sort of "education" and "formation" does Bishop Clay Matthews have in mind? He knows more dirty secrets about bad boy bishops in TEC than any bishop on the planet. He fields interference for PB Jefferts Schori and does his best to keep the lid on bishops' bad behavior so ordinary Episcopalians don't find out the truth about how badly bishops like Robert Gepert are doing as they dissemble their dioceses. The laity in those parishes affected by him know, of course.

Is Matthews trying to keep the lid on the growing sexual nightmare that is TEC? What "sustainable future" is he talking about when every diocese is reporting in with worse figures about ASA, plate and pledge, communicants, marriages and confirmations than the year before?

What sort of "sustainable future" would he like to see for the Diocese of Pennsylvania under Bishop Charles E. Bennison who is so hated by both liberals and conservatives that they have joined forces to try and get rid of him. Would a $15 million "education" program for "Chuckles" Bennison do it? One doubts it.

The lineup of disastrous bishops in The Episcopal Church continues to grow with each passing year. One wonders if there is an end to the Jo Mo Dosses, Walter Righters, Orris Walkers, Charles Bennisons, Jack Spongs, Michael Garrisons, Otis Charleses and Rob O'Neills, to name but a few who inhabit a diocese, watch as it plunges like a penny stock, and then bail out with fat pensions.

Will $15 million stop the rot?

Will such an endowment help the newly minted bishop of Western New York, R. William Franklin reverse the downward spiral of the diocese left by Bishop Michael Garrison? In time, he'll be looking at a "sustainable future" disillusioned, wondering what the blazes went wrong.

Among the programs offered are: 90 Day Companion Program for a newly-elected bishops; New Bishops and Spouses' Conference; Living Our Vows Program, a canonically mandated three-year transitional resource program; Short Courses, Small Group Studies and Continuing Education; CREDO for Bishops...but will a single one of these make a diocese grow without a sustainable gospel to proclaim?

Not a chance. The whole idea is simply whistling Dixie.

Unless the newly minted bishops know what it is they believe and can articulate it to their priests and, in turn, to their parishes, they are beating the air with their words and their dioceses will continue to decline. Efforts by bishops like The Rt. Rev. Larry Benfield, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas, who wrote a letter to Natural State Episcopalians portraying gay ordination and same-sex blessings as a victory for God and a defeat for the devil and all his works, only propounds the delusion.

Bishop Andrew Waldo of Upper South Carolina held the diocese's First Theological Council on Human Sexuality recently, did it change anything next day or next week, did it reduce the "fear" he thinks a small handful of conservative priests allegedly have about same-sex rites? Of course not.

Like Jefferts Schori's millions for MDG's, this $15 million will prove to be a waste of money, money frittered down the drain only to increase the anxiety bishops already have as they watch their dioceses continue their decline into the pit of Dante's Inferno.

There is one thing every diocese and bishop could do that wouldn't cost a penny and might actually turn things around -- take up the suggestion of Albany Bishop William Love who recently called for a revival in Bible reading, beginning in Albany.

If the whole church took up the challenge, the E100 Challenge might bring about a Bible reading revival throughout this country and around the world...and it wouldn't cost $15 million.

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