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President Elect Report, Annual Meeting, July 31, 2024
Elaine Bayless, President Elect 1.Accepted position in the fall of 2023, after the First Annual Retreat a. Participating in regular meetings b. Offering proof reading and feedback on website design c. Considering steps for organizational updates d. Occasional leading of Noonday Prayer 2. Assisted with planning for our table at General Convention a. Brainstormed about new materials necessitated by new name b. Designed and procured badge reels with new name and logo 3. Began work on planning Annual Retreat for 2025 a. Researching locations b. Talking with other members c. Thinking about potential theme and speakers d. Obtaining quotes to be discussed at meeting on August 2nd
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President’s Annual Report of the Association of Episcopal Chaplains (AEC)
The Rev. David Fleenor, AEC President July 31, 2024 We are the Association of Episcopal Chaplains (AEC). Anyone who identifies as an Episcopalian and a chaplain, whether endorsed, certified, ordained, or not, is welcome to participate. A major milestone this year was changing our name from the Assembly of Episcopal Healthcare Chaplains (AEHC) to the Association of Episcopal Chaplains (AEC). This change reflects our inclusive mission to serve all chaplains within The Episcopal Church (TEC), not just those in healthcare. Our new logo, featuring the labyrinth of the Cathedral in Chartres, symbolizes our shared journey of life and faith. Our vision is to be a community for all chaplains in TEC that fosters recognition, connection, and growth through advocacy, community, and education. We are led by a strong Executive Committee comprised of the Rev. Mark Jeske, Secretary; Mr. Andrew Peterson, Treasurer; Past-President, the Rev. Sherry Black; President-Elect, Ms. Elaine Bayless; and your truly, the Rev. David Fleenor, the current President. We also have two very valued ad hoc members: the Rev. Marshall Scott, our Web/Net Chair, and the Rev. Susan Roberts, a past president. We meet monthly to care for one another and to manage the AEC's affairs. Regrettably, Andy, our treasured treasurer, has come to the end of his service. Andy has served this association faithfully and capably for many years. I speak for all of us when I offer this heartfelt thank you. Andy, thank you for all you have done for us and this association over the years. We will miss you in that role and hope you will continue to be an active member with us. We will need to find a new treasurer soon, so if you have the skills and the time, please get in touch with us. In support of our vision, we have become a more active association over the last year.
As we look ahead, we face two challenges: one big and one small. Let’s begin with the small one. The AEC is a non-profit organization. We learned some time ago that we lost our official non-profit status. We assume it was due to failures in filing annual reports with the government. We are actively working to re-establish AEC as a non-profit organization so that we may resume receiving dues and donations, which are vital to the health and durability of this association. We are actively engaged with a law firm that will help us once again become a non-profit organization. Now, on to the big challenge: TEC's most significant challenge at this point in our history is the steep and irreversible decline in church attendance. Twenty-five years ago, when I became an Episcopalian, we had nearly 2 million members; now, we sit at around 1.6 million. Half of all Episcopalians are ages 65 and older. Our numeric decline has been and is projected to be very steep. Our denomination is searching for ways to stem the tide of decline and discern our purpose, which will never change. And that purpose is, in a word, Love. As the American folk hymn says, Love, Love, Love, Love. The gospel in a word is Love. Love your neighbor as yourself. Love, Love, Love, Love. I am convinced that this grand challenge is also a great opportunity for us as chaplains. We are uniquely positioned to continue living the Gospel of Love no matter how many people choose to walk into an Episcopal Church on a Sunday. People may stop attending church, but they will always show up at hospitals, prisons, workplaces, and other so-called non-parochial settings. And in those places, we will continue to be present, providing spiritual care and doing the work of Love during some of the most mundane and most intense moments of people's lives. Our great challenge is to remain faithful to our vocations as chaplains no matter how large or small our denomination is. And the AEC is here to support us as we face and overcome this challenge, which is best done by being in community with one another. We are people of the resurrection. As a denomination, we may be at the foot of the cross or three days in the grave. But we Episcopalians practice resurrection every Sunday and every Easter. We are prepared for this time, and we know what to do. We know how to remain steadfast in faith, trusting that we have given our lives to the God of Love, who never leaves nor forsakes us and whose very nature is oriented towards resurrection. We may not know what the future looks like, but we trust that God will bring it to pass and that we Episcopal chaplains will always have a role to play in the healing of the world. In conclusion, I would like to offer this blessing: The God of Love, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you, and remain with you always. Amen. Sincerely, The Rev. David Fleenor President, Association of Episcopal Chaplains Today we have an essay by Elaine Bayless, President-elect of AEC. Her opinions are, of course, her own.
A common complaint, often phrased as feedback, is that DEI programming creates division and harms community. People in the majority often feel uncomfortable when they face the oppression or harm done by members of their “group” to other groups. I believe this is the blind spot of privilege. Pointing out differences, or talking about current and past events, is not inherently divisive. You might as well say that a colonoscopy causes colon cancer. When we acknowledge events in the past, we are illuminating the ignorance of the past. As a 20th century white woman, I did not participate in the US slave trade. However, I did benefit from it. Understanding how I benefited from it can cause all sorts of feelings, many of them uncomfortable. Feelings like guilt, sorrow, self-doubt and anger. But having to face uncomfortable feelings is not divisive. It does not place a barrier between me and a Black person for me to acknowledge that I have benefited today from the suffering of their ancestors in the past. It gives me a glimpse into their story, and how it intersects with my story. What can create the barrier is how I chose to handle my uncomfortable feelings. I hear many people scoff at the idea of white privilege, saying they earned their degrees, their jobs, their health, their homes. And it is true that I worked hard to earn high grades, to be responsible with my money, to make healthy decisions. But I had free time to spend studying, because my parents provided for me financially out of their own success. I had a safe home to study in because they were the children of homeowners and could borrow money from their family instead of a bank. I could afford to make healthy choices because my parents always could find and afford fresh fruits and vegetables. And where did my parents’ wealth come from? Their parents, who, despite the Depression, had stable housing and enough food to eat. My ancestors never had their neighborhoods razed to the ground by the city they lived in. My ancestors were never thrown in jail for voting. My ancestors were free to attend any college they chose. We can choose to numb our discomfort by claiming that all we have came from our own hard work. But even if this is true, what about the Christian principle of stewardship? As a Christian, can I really say that my blessings and successes are not from God? I don’t believe that I can. God gave me gifts and talents, and God placed me in my family, at this time. And the Bible is clear that tithing is an act of worship and faith. My former pastor, Mark Batterson, used to say that when we tithe, we are saying that God can do more with 90% than we can do with 100%: in other words, when we only have 90% of our money, God can bless us far better than we can bless ourselves if we kept 100%. So then, how can I claim that my success is only from my hard work? We are taught to prioritize individual success and hard work, often to the detriment of community. And this leads to the blind spot of privilege: when we are not aware of how deeply community and our ancestors have contributed to our success, we reject the idea that discrimination against one’s ancestors and communities have contributed to a person’s lack of success. And so we fight back against DEI programming because it makes us uncomfortable by challenging our individualistic concept of success. But Christianity pushes back just as hard against this concept. Christianity says that obedience to parents will bless one thousand generations! Stewardship should make Christians as uncomfortable as DEI programming: our success or failure is not our own, as even our lives and our bodies are not our own: we belong to the Body of Christ. DEI programming shows us how we have failed to follow our Christian ideals. It shows us the deep illness of prejudice in our society, and how complicit we, the majority group, have been in that prejudice. To paraphrase Paul, does this mean that DEI is bad? No, not any more than the ideal of stewardship is bad! At the end of the day, truth is a tool of liberation. DEI programs often reveal truths that we have been content to remain ignorant about. But the Christian message also reveals truths that we would like to remain ignorant about. As Christians, whether it is the Bible or DEI programming, we are not meant to be comfortable in the world. We are meant to be liberated by the truth, and to bring that liberation to everyone. Elaine F. Bayless, MA, MDiv, BCC Clinical Chaplain, Pastoral Care Services UNC REX Healthcare |
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