Big Changes at Episcopal Lobby Office

The following originally appeared in a recent Anglican Action Weekly e-newsletter. If you would like to receive our bi-weekly e-newsletter, register as an IRD User today.

Last month the General Convention of the Episcopal Church made steep budget cuts for the upcoming triennium. Church leaders were clear that every department at the church center was going to lose personnel. Some of the consequences were realized almost instantly – the wholesale axing of an evangelism program at the national level, for instance.

Other changes are gradually being determined. Recently, the church’s Office of Government Relations (OGR) announced that Washington, D.C.-based Episcopal lobbyist Maureen Shea will retire at the end of the month. Similarly, New York-based Director of Advocacy Rev. Canon Brian Grieves will retire in October. The two roles had been set to be combined into a single position, but now the search for that position has been completely suspended.

It’s tempting to celebrate the cutting of resources for the OGR. It is a group that has, in the name of Episcopalians, promoted unrestricted abortion-on-demand, backed a litany of pro-homosexuality and anti-family legislation, and enthusiastically supported high taxes and big government.

That being acknowledged, the OGR has also been an advocate for combating human trafficking. It supported the creation of the Commission on International Religious Freedom when the National Council of Churches vocally opposed it. Importantly, OGR staff worked on behalf of persecuted Anglicans in the Sudan long before Darfur entered the vocabulary of Hollywood celebrities. Shea herself joined with Honduras Bishop Lloyd Allen in authoring General Convention’s balanced resolution on the political crisis in that Central American nation.

In an e-mail released through the Episcopal Public Policy Network, OGR staff said “we are being asked to do more with less – but with your help, our voice will be stronger than ever as we live into the challenging public policy issues before the country.”

Of course, you and I know that when an organization cuts staff, priorities have to be set and more is not done with less. Less is done with less. This is a moment when the priorities of the church are going to come to light: will the Episcopal lobbyists and the advocacy center of which they are a part use their lessened resources to continue prioritizing religious liberty and human rights, or will they spend their time advocating leftist causes? To read a commentary by my colleague, Alan Wisdom, about how these denomination lobby offices function, click here.

Anglican Action will strongly advocate for religious liberty and the promotion of just democracy. We think that the OGR should serve all Episcopalians-not just the liberal activists. Its publications should stress the biblical teachings that Episcopalians hold in common. When the office presents information and arguments on a particular issue, it should fairly represent different positions held by faithful Episcopalians. It should let church members make up their own minds on particular legislation.

The OGR should be truly ecumenical and non-partisan. Our Episcopal office should be cooperating as frequently with Roman Catholics and Southern Baptists as it does with Presbyterians and the United Church of Christ. It should be aligned with the Republicans as often as with the Democrats.

Jeff Walton is IRD Communications Manager and Director of Anglican Action for Faith & Freedom.