A tale of two dioceses?
It's the worst of times and the best of times
By Ana Watts
With a string of major health challenges among diocesan staff over the past year — Archbishop Claude Miller was hospitalized twice in 2011, 
the tragic death of Diocesan Treasurer Fred Scott in the fall, health problems plaguing Archdeacon Geoffrey Hall, and the recent loss of acting treasurer Canon David Kierstead due to health concerns — it would appear 2011 and early 2012 are among the worst of times in the Diocese of Fredericton. With valuable downtown Fredericton property and lots of people happy to “blue sky” (imagine, dream of) its emerging possibilities, it would also appear some aspects of early 2012 are close heralding some of the best of times for the Diocese of Fredericton. The health challenges, however, have pushed diocese administration to the brink of crisis. “When we lost Fred we lost 40 per cent of our administration capacity,” Archbishop Miller told the new Diocesan Council during its orientation meeting at the Fredericton Inn on Jan. 20 and 21. "Now Archdeacon Hall is on the sick list and will be for the next 12 to 14 weeks," the archbishop continued.
“The bottom line is, we are left with Phyllis (Phyllis Cathcart, the archbishop’s secretary) and Maureen (Maureen Vail, Diocesan Administration Officer) in the office,” he went on. “We have had some wonderful offers of help from qualified people and we are most grateful, but it takes time to integrate it.” To date a volunteer has taken over the Camp Medley books and another is stepping in to assume Archdeacon Hall’s many scheduling and agenda duties. For now Ms. Cathcart is dealing with his heavy e-mail load and other inquiries. “We will be able to use the other offers of help eventually though. And the staff is grateful to all of you in the parishes for your patience with us during these difficult times. To be honest, we are doing everything we can, but we can only do what we can do.
“We have identified our major roles as payroll, benefits and general help for the parishes. We are doing everything we can and I am confident we will prevail. We know some parishes rely heavily on their investment fund returns and I am pleased to say the cheques were deposited in parish accounts last week. We are working hard to make sure all the income tax receipts and returns are going to be prepared in time as well.”
When Canon Scott died at the end of September the diocesan Executive Committee met immediately in order to put a treasurer in place. That resulted in three-month appointments of Canon Kierstead as acting treasurer and Mr. Norm McLeod as acting assistant. At the same time, work began on creating a position profile for the new treasurer the Executive Committee hoped to have in place by the end of December of 2011. Analysis of the position proved a larger task than anticipated so the acting appointments were extended until June of 2012.
Soon after Christmas Canon Kierstead realized he could not carry the diocesan treasurer’s load into the busy year-end and tax season and accomplish his several other volunteer financial duties. That left Mr. McLeod and Maureen to cover the treasurer’s duties. She is making good headway up the steep learning curves of pensions, benefits, investments and other responsibilities, but the position profile necessary to recruit a new treasurer has yet to be completed. When Canon Kierstead stepped down he recommended the diocese consult with its auditors to see if they would and could assist in its preparation. The company is willing, and will also work with the diocese to update some of the systems Canon Scott had developed over his many years in the position.
It would take a lot to balance all these challenges, and perhaps the opportunity to dream large about the church’s several properties around Christ Church Cathedral and its beautiful green isn’t quite enough to do that, but the possibilities are still exciting.
