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<\/a>Source: Acton Power Blog<\/a> | John C. Couretas<\/p>\nA \u201cbudget is a moral document,\u201d right?<\/p>\n
The Institute on Religion & Democracy reports<\/a> that following the loss of a major donor, the National Council of Churches (NCC) finds itself \u201ccloser than ever before to the precipice\u201d of financial collapse. The progressive\/liberal church coalition, comprised largely of mainline Protestant and Orthodox churches, is running out of dough. IRD\u2019s Barton Gingerich:<\/p>\n Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Presiding Bishop told the NCC\u2019s September board meeting: \u201cWe have 18 months sustainability.\u201d All voting NCC board members were scrambling for \u201cimmediate sustainability,\u201d mostly behind closed doors as they discussed the NCC\u2019s audit and budget. Further highlighting the crisis was an interruption of the meeting by placard waving union employees distressed over benefit cuts to NCC staffers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Meeting in secrecy? Workers protesting draconian budget cuts? In response, some NCC leaders suggested that the organization do nothing for a year but seek out prospective donors. Of course, they used the appropriate biblical vocabulary for \u201cshutting this place down\u201d:<\/p>\n At one point, the board broke up into small table groups to propose solutions to these besetting toils. One table, headed up by Bishop Mark Hanson and United Methodism\u2019s Betty Gamble, even recommended the NCC take a \u201cjubilee.\u201d Under this plan, the NCC would withdraw from public activities and focus on fundraising. Many delegates pointed out that such a recess would negate any reasons for donors to contribute.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Faith leaders protest budget cuts (at U.S. Capitol, not NCC meeting)<\/p><\/div>But how strange that the same NCC leaders who signed onto the Circle of Protection\u2019s faux-prophetic admonition<\/a> to \u201cresist budget cuts that undermine the lives, dignity, and rights of poor and vulnerable people\u201d are now looking at slashing pension and health care benefits for their own employees. Didn\u2019t the NCC hear that our nation is facing a health care crisis? Wasn\u2019t it General Secretary Dr. Michael Kinnamon who not so long ago<\/a> reminded us all that with the troubled economic times, \u201cmillions more are finding increases in medical co-payments and participation requirements unmanageable or are losing health benefits with the loss of employment\u201d?<\/p>\n Didn\u2019t NCC\u2019s president, the Rev. Peg Chemberlin, point out when she endorsed the Circle of Protection that Christians have sometimes failed to heed \u201cthe call to economic justice in our national life. Sometimes we have gotten so concerned about our personal lives we have neglected this very point\u201d?<\/p>\n The employees of the NCC, and presumably their union steward, don\u2019t care for the budget cutting idea at all:<\/p>\n Accentuating the tension was an interruption by the NCC staffers\u2019 union, the Association of Ecumenical Employees, which marched into the board meeting waving placards. Ironically, the pro-union NCC has been trying to reduce retirement and health benefits with its own union. It seems that contract negotiations have lasted nearly eight months, prompting distressed unionists to conduct their silent interruption, after which they quietly marched out.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Maybe the memory is too fresh in their minds of NCC executives getting themselves arrested in the U.S Capitol Building<\/a> last summer while they were offering \u201cpublic prayers asking the Administration and Congress not to balance the budget on the backs of the poor.\u201d<\/p>\n Is it finally sinking in among some on the religious left that you can\u2019t just wish away a looming budget meltdown? Perhaps the NCC leadership would profit from a review of the Acton Institute\u2019s Principles for Budget Reform<\/a> or the website of Christians for a Sustainable Economy<\/a>. They won\u2019t find any fundraising tips on these pages but they might just start to better appreciate the virtue of fiscal prudence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Source: Acton Power Blog | John C. Couretas A \u201cbudget is a moral document,\u201d right? The Institute on Religion & Democracy reports that following the loss of a major donor, the National Council of Churches (NCC) finds itself \u201ccloser than ever before to the precipice\u201d of financial collapse. The progressive\/liberal church coalition, comprised largely of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1784],"tags":[11,6,822,48],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10999"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10999"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11002,"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10999\/revisions\/11002"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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