Corporate body

Anglican Church of Canada. Diocese of New Westminster. Netten Report Committee

The organizational structure of the Diocese of New Westminster had been a matter of concern in the early years of 1960 to Bishop Gower, diocesan officers and committees, parish clergy and laymen, and Synod. The heavy workload carried by the Bishop and the fragmentation of the Diocese's programs gave rise to much discussion at the 62nd session of the Diocesan Synod, in 1966. That Synod instructed the Executive Committee to take the steps necessary to improve the organization of the Diocese at the earliest moment. In the light of this recommendation, it seemed opportune to ask for the assistance of an independent organization. Price Waterhouse Company, a management consulting firm, was retained to undertake a study of the organizational structure at both diocese and parish level. The study was conducted by E.W. Netten and the recommendations were presented at the meeting of the Diocesan Executive Committee, held on April 11th, 1967. Key recommendations of the report included: election of second full-time Bishop as coadjutor Bishop; replacement of the existing Executive Committee with the Diocesan Council with three major sub-committees - a Strategy Committee, a Program Committee and an Administration and Finance Committee; consolidation and unification of parishes on a community basis; modification of the role of the clergy through sharing of the ministry by several clergy; greater part-time participation of laymen groups in such areas as investments, insurance, capital financing and extension planning; new methods of appointing clergy and of the system of clergy tenure to give the Church more flexibility in making the best use of its people. At a request of the Executive Committee, Bishop Gower named three ad-hoc committees - Episcopal Assistance, Diocesan Structure, and Parish and Deanery Structure Committees, to study the recommendations on reorganization of the Diocese embodied in the "Netten Report". The comments and suggestions were presented to the Executive Committee during the summer of 1967. The recommendations of the "Netten Report" were adopted at a special meeting of the Synod, called on December 8th and 9th, 1967. To a large extent the "Netten Report" recommendations have been put in effect at the diocesan level between 1967 and 1971. The work at the parochial level started in 1971 with a redistribution of pastoral districts.