The Church Of Ireland General Synod 1999

MEMBERSHIP

The Bishop of Cork (Chairman)
Mr W Kingston
Mrs D Burns
Rev Canon Dr RSJH McKelvey
Rev Canon MAJ Burrows
Rev AP Patterson
Miss E Ferrar
Mr A Smallwoods
Rev Canon RD Harman
Rev IP Poulton (Honorary Secretary)

• Bishops’ Appeal encourages commitment to the principles of Jubilee and the lifting of the debt burden on the world’s poorest people.
• The Diocesan Representatives’ Conference reflected a desire for those at diocesan level to become more pro-active and better resourced.
• Income has shown an encouraging steady growth over the past three years without there being major church-wide appeals.
• Grants paid amounted to £279,325, an increase of over £40,000 from 1997.
• The Committee bade farewell to the Bishop of Cork whose chairmanship was marked by a deep personal commitment to justice and dignity for all people.

The Jubilee 2000 campaign has been a major item on the Bishops’ Appeal agenda during the past year. Embracing the principles of the biblical year of jubilee, the campaign has been directed towards securing the cancellation of the debts faced by the world’s poorest countries. The debts, which were often incurred more than twenty years ago, have increased sharply through the addition of unpaid interest to the capital sum outstanding and the fall on the international market of the prices of products produced by developing countries. Overall, for every £1 the developing world sends in aid, £8 comes back as interest. The president of the World Bank, Jim Wolfensohn, told those assembled at the Lambeth Conference in August 1998 that more than 3 billion people live on less than $2 a day. The debt can never be repaid and constitutes a major barrier to the development of the indebted countries.

The Committee welcomed the resolutions on international development passed at the Lambeth Conference. There was a clear call for the cancellation of unpayable debt combined with a call for the dioceses of the Anglican Communion to commit themselves to increasing their giving towards development. The benchmark figure was that used by the United Nations as the target for national governments, 0.7% of income. The Bishops’ Appeal Committee is anxious that dioceses accept that this commitment is in addition to the current parochial support of Bishops’ Appeal and that it is not passed to the parishes in the form of an additional levy. It would be disappointing if a resolution which sought to elicit a positive response from the church should become perceived as an additional burden.

The Bishops’ Appeal Committee was encouraged by the decision by the General Synod in May 1998 that the Church of Ireland should join the Jubilee 2000 coalition. Mrs Bet Aalen, our Education Adviser, was appointed by Standing Committee as the Church of Ireland representative at meetings of the coalition.

A Debt Pack containing a range of educational and campaign materials has been produced and is being circulated in dioceses. The importance of the debt issue to the lives of hundreds of millions of people cannot be overstressed.

The Committee was consulted by representatives of the Council for the Church Overseas concerning their proposed Millennium Project "All God’s Children", but regrettably it was felt that direct involvement in this Project was not consonant with the remit of Bishops’ Appeal.

A conference for diocesan representatives was held on 9 June, 1998 at the Church of Ireland College of Education. The day included reflection on the running of the Appeal and a presentation by Margaret Boden, General Secretary of Christian Aid in Ireland. A number of points arose from the discussions: there was a perceived need for a single co-ordinator in each diocese, such persons to be identified on the basis of who was most pro-active; the appointment as a representative should be for a fixed term; and there was a need for a greater degree of ownership of the Appeal by the bishops.

The steady growth in the ordinary income of the Appeal has been encouraging. The figures do not match those of the years when there have been appeals for responses to major disasters or emergencies, but they do reflect a growing recognition of the need to support long-term development. Such development creates the capacity within the developing countries to avoid emergencies or to initiate local responses to pressing situations that arise.

Income for 1998 was £140,847Stg and IR£179,595 compared with £127,767Stg and IR£163,229 in 1997 and £129,176Stg and IR£143,118 in 1996.

The Committee submitted recommended allocations to the House of Bishops after the meetings in March, April and November; a single emergency grant was approved after the June meeting. Reports on grants made by Bishops’ Appeal regularly appeared in the Church of Ireland Gazette as well as in diocesan publications and the annual newsletter.

Bishops’ Appeal made seven allocations at the March meeting. The famine in North Korea had been a major story in 1997 and a further £10,297Stg was sent to support relief work through Christian Aid. Support for Afghan Further Education received £10,000 following the devastation caused by the earthquake in their country. Two grants of £5,000 were sent to Michael Lugor, bishop of the Sudanese diocese of Rejaf, one grant was for child care and adult education and the other for work with pre-school children. SAMS received a grant of £10,000 towards a building programme at St Andrew’s College in Paraguay. Christian Aid work in the field of rural development was supported by two grants of £10,000Stg, one assisted the Peasants’ Associations in Ethiopia, while the other went to the work of the Association for Rural Advancement in the Kwa Zulu-Natal region of South Africa.

In April eighteen grants were made to projects in thirteen different countries. Rural development in Mozambique was assisted by a £8,000 grant to Tear Fund for the work of the Nampula Small Farmers Association. In the sphere of education CMSI received £2,800Stg towards training facilities in Kenya, while Jenny Ottewell was sent £5,000 to help the building of a girls’ hostel in Kampala, Uganda. Relief programmes were allocated three grants: the Diocese of Southern Malawi was sent £5,000 after suffering very severe storm damage; USPG received £5,000Stg for work with tribal refugees in Burma and Thailand; and a further £7,040 received for famine relief in North Korea was shared between Trocaire and Christian Aid. Medical, health and social care programmes were supported by twelve grants. The Irish Red Cross was granted £5,000 for a prosthesis workshop in north Kenya, which provides artificial limbs for landmine victims. Crosslinks was allocated £6,325Stg towards work at Jiwan Jyoti hospital in Benares, north India. A direct grant of £5,000 was made to Neyyoor Hospital in south India. £10,000 was sent to the United Mission to Nepal to help fund a dental health programme. USPG’s health programme in Tanzania was supported by a grant of £5,000Stg for training village health workers and £2,000 for AIDS protection packs. Cancer prevention in south India was assisted by a grant of £7,650Stg to CMSI. Work in Oradea, Romania was helped with grants of £2,500 towards the cost of a social centre and £2,500 towards the building of a home for street girls. Tear Fund support a drop-in centre for people living with HIV/AIDS in Recife, Brazil and received a grant of £4,000 towards the work. A community health project supported by Tear Fund amongst the Yanapana community in Bolivia also received a £4,000 grant. A rehabilitation centre established by Motivation in south east Africa was assisted with a grant of £7,658Stg.

A shortage of funds meant that in June a single emergency grant of £5,000 was made for relief work in Afghanistan.

The final allocations of the year were made at the November meeting. Christian Aid partners were the recipients of all but one of the November grants. £10,000Stg was sent to Bangladesh for flood relief and £11,000Stg to Honduras following the devastation caused by a hurricane. Three grants were made for work in the Dominican republic: £10,000Stg for a social work programme; £14,060Stg to a women’s movement involved in health education and skills training; and £5,500Stg to the Union of Sugar-cane cutters to promote women’s rights. Rural development in the Gambia was supported by a grant of £10,000Stg. In Haiti two programmes received grants of £9,375Stg each: a child care and health programme run by the American Friends’ Service Committee and a farmers’ project which provides seeds, tools, storage facilities and access to clean water. Three of the dioceses of the Anglican Church of Tanzania were helped by grants: £10,000Stg for community health care in Tanganyika; £7,500Stg for agricultural development in Mpapwa; and £4,500Stg towards marsh drainage in Ruvuma. The other grant made in November was £8,750 to CMSI for work in Fort Portal in western Uganda where the project is to build a multi-purpose community training hall.

In November 1998 the Committee bade farewell to the Right Revd RA Warke on the Committee, and as Christian Aid Board member, who had been Chair for over a decade and who was retiring on 31 December. Tribute was paid to the bishop’s deep personal commitment to the cause of justice for the poor and he was thanked for the large amount of time he had devoted to the work of both Bishops’ Appeal and Christian Aid, where he was a board member. We welcome the Bishop of Kilmore as successor to the Bishop of Cork. Mrs Bet Aalen began her final term as Education Adviser at the beginning of 1999, a term that will carry her work through to the end of 2000. The issue of international debt has figured large in the work of the Education Adviser in recent times and her efforts have contributed a great deal to a wider understanding and appreciation of the significance of the debt issue. Mrs Valerie Williams continues as Treasurer, a task that has become more complicated with new accounting procedures and the continuing need to present accounts to the Irish Government to satisfy the requirements of the scheme of tax efficient giving.

It was with great regret that the Committee received the resignation of Canon Harman, who has served the Bishops’ Appeal for 25 years as Secretary, Projects Co-ordinator, and as its representative on the Board of Christian Aid.

Bishops’ Appeal is a channel for our response to the needs of the world’s poorest. The ability to respond depends on agencies and partners working in the developing world. A close working relationship with Christian Aid has been a historical feature of the Appeal and we hope that partnership will develop. Miss E Ferrar continues to represent the Committee at the meetings of Dochàs, the umbrella body of Irish non-governmental organisations involved in overseas development.

Clergy and parish treasurers are again encouraged to remind supporters that Bishops’ Appeal qualifies for tax refunds on covenanted contributions. In the Republic amounts between £200 and £750 paid to Bishops’ Appeal enable the Appeal to recover income tax paid on those amounts from the Revenue Commissioners. In Northern Ireland the Gift Aid scheme allows the recovery of income tax on all contributions of £250 or more. This is as well as the provisions for ordinary covenanted subscriptions. Please contact Church of Ireland House in Dublin or the Church of Ireland Education Centre in Belfast for details.

BISHOPS' APPEAL INCOME TABLE

BISHOPS' APPEAL GRANT FUNDS

BISHOPS' APPEAL ACCOUNT 1998

Return to Standing Committee Report 1999

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