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“SHARING A GIFT, NURTURING A DREAM”
ECP gifts mother church
 
            At a joint meeting of the Commissions of the ECP held April 2009, the bishops and other representatives of the dioceses resolved to collectively offer prayers and to designate one Sunday plate offerings as a gift to The Episcopal Church [TEC] as it meets for its 76th General Convention in July 2009. This action of the national Church followed an earlier resolution of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Philippines at its Convention held April 2009, calling for the same offering. Consequently, the various local churches held their respective prayerful celebrations in thanksgiving for TEC’s nurturance of the ECP for more than a hundred years and collected a total sum of $5,000 (in Philippine peso) from offerings.
 
            The gift,  hand-carried by Prime Bishop Edward P. Malecdan and Chancellor Floyd P. Lalwet, who were both invited to the General Convention held in Anaheim, California, was given during the offertory of the first Eucharist of the said triennial Convention. The gift carried the following message:

 
“The people of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines [ECP] extend their warmest greetings and best wishes to our brothers and sisters in The Episcopal Church [TEC] on the occasion of their 76th General Convention.
 
“For almost nine decades the ECP has been a constituent part of TEC. In May 1990, with the guidance and full support of its mother Church, the ECP achieved the gift of autonomy, expressed in self-governance and the full freedom to pursue the liturgical and social expressions of its peoples’ faith so that it can become truly a Church for Filipinos. Despite autonomy, however, financial assistance from its mother Church continued and both our Churches journeyed for 17 years to bring this to conclusion and put the grant subsidy at zero-level. The journey ended in December 2007, with the ECP becoming autonomous not only in name but more so in fact.
 
“And as it enjoys the stroll on the national road of self-reliance, the ECP envisions all its local congregations to similarly walk the same path and be showered with the blessings of full parish-hood in their ministries of caring, witnessing and out-reaching – a dream we call the “ECP Vision 2018”.
 
“The ECP now takes the occasion of this General Convention to offer thanksgiving to TEC for its accompaniment during the long and arduous journey towards full financial autonomy. It makes this offering at a time when a serious economic meltdown has swept the global community and brought untold economic difficulties to most peoples, even in the so-called developed countries. TEC, we understand, has not been spared by the global crisis and its capacity to respond to the demands of mission has been challenged. We, in the ECP, share and carry the pain and burden of these difficult times as we have always been in a continuing struggle against economic marginalization and social inequities in our country.
 
“As a token of our friendship and solidarity, we most humbly offer a small thanksgiving gift, with a solemn prayer that TEC, at its General Convention, will be showered with divine inspiration and wisdom to explore and pursue creative ways and new beginnings to respond to the calls and challenges of these times.
 
“This gift comes from the love and offerings of our local congregations – collected in the midst of the joyful and prayerful singing in our cathedrals that are in cities and big population centers, in stone and wooden churches elsewhere in towns and barangays, and in thatched-roofed house churches in our most remote villages. This gift comes from hopeful and inspired young people who, at their recent national assembly, decided to share their savings for this purpose. It is a small fruit of the continuing effort of both our Churches to bring the gift of our partnership to the level of our people in the pews where truly enduring friendships are experienced and treasured. May we nurture these relations in the plans and programs that General Convention will adopt as well as in the course of fulfilling ECP’s Vision 2018.”