St. John's Cathedral to Buy 'Diocesan House'
Location of New "Diocesan House" to be Decided in May

by Alice Clayton
Canon to the Ordinary, The Diocese of East Tennessee
A proposal by St. John's Cathedral to purchase the Diocesan House topped the Bishop and Council's agenda as the group gathered March 23-24 for their annual retreat meeting. An explosive growth of young families at St. John's Cathedral forced the Cathedral Chapter to explore ways to expand the church's facilities and ministries.

Right in their line of sight sits Diocesan House-about 10,000 square feet of potential classroom and meeting space.

Although the decision to sell Diocesan House to St. John's Cathedral for fair market value and moving expenses was unanimous, Council was not ready to decide where to relocate the diocesan offices. The group heard about three possible sites: property adjacent to Church of the Good Samaritan on Cedar Bluff Road, an available lot near St. James Church on Broadway and the campus of the Knoxville Episcopal School near Lovell Road. Council requested that more definitive proposals be presented at the May 4 meeting when a decision will be made.

Meeting at the site of the future camp and conference center, the Council heard a presentation by Schuyler Lehman, a representative from RSI-Ketchum, the fund-raising consulting firm hired by the Council to conduct the diocese's capital funds campaign. Lehman told the group that the first step in the process would be a planning study, which would involve personal interviews, focus group meetings and a direct mail survey. Work on the planning study will begin this spring.

In other business, the Council approved a revised 2001 diocesan budget of $1,644,841. The 2001 budget adopted by the convention in February was $1,737,128 and was based on an anticipated receipt of 100 percent of the voluntary asking requested of the churches. The actual voluntary commitments, however, came in at 93 percent, falling $109,324 below the full commitment level. The shortfall was offset by increases of $17,037 in income from diocesan trust funds and Episcopal Endowment Corporation funds, resulting in a total shortfall of $92,287. As a result of the shortfall, the following budget items were reduced:

• New start funds from $50,000 to $0
• Companion diocese from $10,000 to $300
• Mission Congregations and Campus ministry from $300,735 to $290,000
• Staff Support for the Episcopate from $226,556 to $204,560.