ONE of the United States’ wealthiest Episcopal churches, Trinity NYC, is in dispute with the diocese of New York over a new parish-share scheme under which it is being asked to contribute more than $8 million (£6.07 million) a year, double the present amount.
The diocesan convention overwhelmingly approved a new Common Mission Share plan to fix what the diocesan Bishop, the Rt Revd Matthew Heyd, called a “broken” funding system. The new fund is crucial to the diocese’s first thoroughgoing financial restructuring for 40 years. Congregational numbers have shrunk by 43.5 per cent in the past decade.
Under the new plan, about half of the 172 congregations will pay one per cent on budgets up to $250,000. Churches with budgets of more than $250,000 will be asked to contribute one per cent of the first $250,000 and 5.75 per cent above that.
More than 90 per cent of the congregations will see the amount that they are asked for fall, the diocese says.
Previous arrears have been forgiven in a “Jubilee moment”, the Bishop Heyd told the convention.
Trinity is one of the diocese’s largest congregations and its wealthiest, with an average of about 800 people in church on Sundays. Its assets were valued at more than $6 billion in 2020.
The church said it had communicated concerns about the rise to the diocese in a series of meetings before the convention. The Rector, the Revd Phillip Jackson, told convention delegates that the church would not pay the new amount, and instead it would continue to pay the current contribution of $4 million a year. The new contribution request represents more than 60 per cent of the diocese’s total budget, he said.
A statement from Trinity said: “We are all aware of the critical need for fiscal and organizational reform to ensure the long-term solvency of our diocese. Trinity would eagerly participate in such an effort intellectually, spiritually and financially. But the request to more than double Trinity’s financial contributions without that plan — asking us to provide 62 per cent of the organization’s annual budget — jeopardizes the future of our shared mission and takes money away from the people of our parish and our city while papering over the diocese’s deep structural issues.”
Trinity has provided more than $400 million to the wider New York community since 2019, and last week it announced the distribution of $16.7 million in community grants, many of them to other faith organisations
Trinity, founded in 1697, owned extensive lands on the West Side of Manhattan. Alexander Hamilton, the founding father, and his wife, Eliza, the philanthropist, are buried in its churchyard. It is still one of the largest landowners in New York City.
Bishop Heyd said in a statement: “Our Convention voted overwhelmingly to adopt a fair and sustainable Common Mission Share so that every congregation contributes to our shared diocesan mission according to its capacity. These reforms reflect our Anglican belief that we belong to one another — and that renewing our congregations requires shared commitment, shared hope, and shared responsibility. We will continue in conversation with all our congregations, including Trinity Church Wall Street, as we move forward with the model approved by Convention.”