Financially troubled NCC charters jet plane for Gonzalez’ grandmothers
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, January 25, 2000
The National Council of Churches, after a deficit of nearly $4 million in 1999, chartered a multi-million dollar jet aircraft to ferry Elian Gonazlez’ two grandmothers from Havana to New York, Washington and Miami to argue for the boy’s return to Cuba, according to news sources.
A Lear jet like the one chartered by the deficit-ridden National Council of Churches to ferry grandmothers of Cuban boy from Havana to New York, Washington and MiamiBoth The Washington Times and the Institute for Religion and Democracy reported that the NCC, long a promoter of Fidel Castro, chartered the jet plane for the grandmothers.
The spending practices of the National Council of Churches are of keen interest to the Presbyterian Church (USA). In the 1999 fiscal year, while the NCC was accumulating its $4-million deficit, the PCUSA was by far the leading financial supporter of the council. During its meeting beginning Feb. 15 in Louisville, the General Assembly Council will consider appropriating another $400,000 to help the council bail out of its financial hole.
The NCC’s financial problems were disclosed during the organization’s 50th anniversary celebration in Cleveland in November. The celebration itself added to the council’s financial crisis. The NCC had estimated that the celebration would cost $300,000; the final figure was closer to $750,000.
As part of their recommendation for additional funding, Presbyterian ecumenical leaders have stated that the National Council of Churches has corrected its overspending and other financial shortcomings.
$100,000 already committed
The prospect of giving the NCC $400,000 more, plus $100,000 from the Office of General Assembly that has already been committed by Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick, has spawned a flurry of protests against additional support for the NCC. The Presbytery of San Diego adopted a resolution opposing the funding. The presbytery also approved sending the resolution to the other presbyteries in the denomination. The presbytery’s stated clerk, Herb Christ, is a member of the General Assembly Council.
Hundreds of Presbyterians have written letters or called a special opinion telephone line set up by the General Assembly Council to monitor reaction to the request for additional NCC funding. The opinion line, a recording, can be reached toll-free at 800-872-3283.
There are other complicating factors in considering whether to provide additional funds for the NCC. “The Dawn … An Epiphany,” a year-end youth and young adult celebration, drew only 2,000 people out of a projected 30,000. Leaders of the event say the financial loss was somewhere between $350,000 and $850,000.
$3.3 million-debt forgiven
Last September, the General Assembly Council forgave $3.3 million in debt by the Curriculum Publishing Program Area of the Congregational Ministries Division and extended a $1.2 million loan so that the publishing area could release its new curricula. The council also approved $400,000 for severance packages as part of a plan to cut staff in the publishing area from 45 to approximately 30.
The NCC has taken a lead role in fighting for a return of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez to Cuba. The boy was rescued from the Straits of Florida. His mother drowned while trying to flee with her son from Castro’s communist government.
NCC’s argument questioned
The NCC has used a close-kinship, pro-family argument in the Gonzalez case – that Elian should be returned to his father in Cuba rather than remain with other relatives in Miami – but Mark Tooley, a director of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, isn’t convinced.
“We do not think the NCC is impartial,” Tooley told The Washington Times. ” They have been openly sympathetic to the Cuban government for many years.”
The Institute on Religion and Democracy has been keeping a close eye on the NCC’s relationship with Cuba and other Communist regimes.
Tooley told The Times that the NCC’s left-wing politics contributed substantially to its deficit. “Even their liberal membership sees them as irrelevant and out of touch,” he said. More than one-third of the denominations that are members of the NCC paid no dues during 1999.