Bishop & Dean

To: Members of the Diocese of North Dakota

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

The Diocesan Council met last weekend and I am happy to report that they decided to concur with the Cathedral Chapter about my proposal to serve as Dean for the Cathedral as well as Bishop for the Diocese as a one year experiment. I am grateful for the overwhelming support for this proposal as reflected in the votes of the two bodies and their willingness to take risks and try new things as we seek to live within our means for the sake of the Church’s mission and not merely its maintenance.

The conversations and deliberations of the past three months have yielded, in my opinion, a better version of my original proposal. The approved experiment is as follows:

• For one year, the bishop will serve on a 38% time basis for the Diocese as the
episcopal minister and a 62% time basis as the dean of the Cathedral.

Serving with me as part of a pastoral staff will be:

• A full-time Administrator for the Diocese;
• A full-time Secretary, serving the Cathedral primarily and the Diocese as a Receptionist;
• A 1/4-time minister or two 1/8-time ministers for Pastoral Care at the Cathedral;
• 1.875 (FTE) ministers serving the Diocese as the Bishop’s Diocesan Ministry Team (the three current Canon Missioners and the Bishop’s Executive Assistant).

In addition, I have appointed an Evaluation Task Force comprised of Canon Zanne Ness as Chair with John Baird, Sandi Meyers, Rob Odney, Margie Bailly, Brett Shewey, Bart Davis and Carmine Goodhouse as members. The charge given the Evaluation Task Force is:

• To report to the Diocesan Council and Cathedral Chapter in November 2011 with a plan for evaluation for approval by both bodies;
• To conduct the evaluation December 2011 through February 2012;
• To report in March 2012 with recommendations based on their findings to both bodies.

It is my sense that there are valid concerns about whether under this plan the Bishop will have enough time for the Diocese; and whether the Dean will have enough time for the Cathedral; and whether I will have enough time for the Diocese, the Cathedral, my family and myself. I don’t think we will know the answers to these questions until we try it out. I look forward to all of the things we will learn during the coming year.

May this approaching Holy Week draw you more deeply into the mystery of Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection. I am,

Yours in Christ,

+Michael