From the Office of Public Affairs
Providing Clarity
Recently a statement by former members of the board of the United Thank Offering has been circulating. The following is offered in the hope of providing some clarity.
The United Thank Offering is a central part of the life and mission of The Episcopal Church. The United Thank Offering is all of us who offer our coins in thanksgiving for the blessings that God has bestowed upon us. As our Episcopal Church leadership has frequently expressed, the Church needs a healthy and vibrant United Thank Offering. Its important work is not threatened, and United Thank Offering programs and grants will continue.
As part of the support of this important work, drafts of new bylaws and a Memorandum of Understanding were put forward by Episcopal Church leadership as part of a process agreed to by the United Thank Offering board. Leadership’s proposal would establish standard business and fiduciary practices, including for accountability and transparency, expected in the life of the Church and as is expected of all CCABs.
It is Leadership’s hope that respectful and reasoned dialogue, as was anticipated by the agreed-upon process, will continue around these proposals, with all stakeholders sharing their points of view to enable life-giving creativity and health to the United Thank Offering in the 21st century.
Please keep The Episcopal Church and its United Thank Offering in your prayers as we move forward.
Neva Rae Fox
Public Affairs Officer
September 4, 2013
Neva Rae Fox is a communications professional with extensive Episcopal experience, serving the boards of The Living Church Foundation, Bible and Common Prayer Book Society, Episcopal Community Services of New Jersey, and others.
