Local
Keeping the faith at a time of economic duress
By: Leah Fabel
Examiner Staff Writer
December 21, 2008
When clergy at the Washington National Cathedral preach to their congregation of about the burdens of the current economic crisis, they speak from personal experience.
Since May, the Very Rev. Samuel Lloyd III has overseen nearly $10 million in cuts to the fiscal 2009 budget, down about 40 percent from a proposed spending level of $24 million. A much-loved greenhouse closed its doors, and the Cathedral College, a school for continuing spiritual education, will no longer offer classes beginning in March.
On Jan. 1, 76 employees from gardeners to office managers will lose their jobs. The remaining 94 employees, overseeing everything from the pulpit to the crypts, will do more with less and rely on volunteers.
The cutbacks have been felt most deeply in the weeks before Christmas.
“This is a time — and we’re talking a lot about this around here — of being aware of how many people are suffering in an economy like this,” Lloyd said. “And finding ways to be both generous in giving, even when our pocketbook feels less full, but also to be active in finding ministries to be involved in.”
The Rev. Canon Steve Huber, who serves as the executive officer of the cathedral and manages many staff concerns, said “It was hard to go through this, and we’re still going through it.”
But Huber took hope from the response to a capital campaign that has raised nearly $400,000 from the church’s membership, formed only two years ago.
“That indicates to me that from these folks who are pretty invested in the life of the cathedral, they are wanting to be supportive.”
Even so, Huber acknowledged that membership contributions provide only a small slice of operating funds. Bigger chunks like the cathedral’s endowment, valued at $66 million last spring, had fallen 25 percent as of November. The $3.5 million usually drawn from the endowment will be cut to $1 million.
Kris Putnam-Walkerly, founder of Putnam Community Investment Consulting, said the church is not alone among nonprofit institutions in scaling back to its core mission — in the cathedral’s case, operating as a church.
“They’re hunkering down and focusing on what they do best,” Putnam-Walkerly said, “and seeking funding for those services.”
To get that funding, however, churches often need to work extra hard to educate potential donors who are unaware of services offered that nonmembers or the non-faithful may use, Putnam-Walkerly said.
The cathedral leadership is confronting the economic challenges with the faith of their calling.
“Central to our Christian understanding of Christmas is that God seeks us out,” Huber said. “And promises to walk with us in times of grief and loss and anxiety, like we’re in.”
Since May, the Very Rev. Samuel Lloyd III has overseen nearly $10 million in cuts to the fiscal 2009 budget, down about 40 percent from a proposed spending level of $24 million. A much-loved greenhouse closed its doors, and the Cathedral College, a school for continuing spiritual education, will no longer offer classes beginning in March.
On Jan. 1, 76 employees from gardeners to office managers will lose their jobs. The remaining 94 employees, overseeing everything from the pulpit to the crypts, will do more with less and rely on volunteers.
The cutbacks have been felt most deeply in the weeks before Christmas.
“This is a time — and we’re talking a lot about this around here — of being aware of how many people are suffering in an economy like this,” Lloyd said. “And finding ways to be both generous in giving, even when our pocketbook feels less full, but also to be active in finding ministries to be involved in.”
The Rev. Canon Steve Huber, who serves as the executive officer of the cathedral and manages many staff concerns, said “It was hard to go through this, and we’re still going through it.”
But Huber took hope from the response to a capital campaign that has raised nearly $400,000 from the church’s membership, formed only two years ago.
“That indicates to me that from these folks who are pretty invested in the life of the cathedral, they are wanting to be supportive.”
Even so, Huber acknowledged that membership contributions provide only a small slice of operating funds. Bigger chunks like the cathedral’s endowment, valued at $66 million last spring, had fallen 25 percent as of November. The $3.5 million usually drawn from the endowment will be cut to $1 million.
Kris Putnam-Walkerly, founder of Putnam Community Investment Consulting, said the church is not alone among nonprofit institutions in scaling back to its core mission — in the cathedral’s case, operating as a church.
“They’re hunkering down and focusing on what they do best,” Putnam-Walkerly said, “and seeking funding for those services.”
To get that funding, however, churches often need to work extra hard to educate potential donors who are unaware of services offered that nonmembers or the non-faithful may use, Putnam-Walkerly said.
The cathedral leadership is confronting the economic challenges with the faith of their calling.
“Central to our Christian understanding of Christmas is that God seeks us out,” Huber said. “And promises to walk with us in times of grief and loss and anxiety, like we’re in.”
