Response to Report of CPF on the Revised C029 and D037 Implementation Plan
Resolution text
Resolved, That the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church acknowledges receipt of the Revised Implementation Plan from the Church Pension Fund (“CPF”), in its capacity as the Recorder of Ordinations, in response to Resolutions 2018-C029 and 2018-D037; and be it further
Resolved, That the Executive Council recommend that in requesting information about gender identity, CPF use only an open text box so that clergy can self-identify their own gender rather than being classified as “other” (as specified in the third bullet point under “Implementation Plan”), and
Resolved, That, given that gender identity can change over time, CPF develop protocol for how data on gender identity might be revised, and
Resolved, That CPG clarify and make explicit how it will solicit data from all deacons and non-stipendiary clergy, who are not beneficiaries of the pension plan.
Explanation
The Executive Council Joint Standing Committee on Governance and Operations was grateful to receive the new implantation report from CPF, which addresses the concerns raised by GO009 from our June 2019 meeting. Our conversations about the report identified a few areas of additional concern about which we would like further clarity.
With respect to gender identity, while we understand the importance of being able to compare demographic data over time, we believe that it is important to avoid potentially alienating language such as “other”.
Further, since gender identity can change over a person’s lifetime, we would like to suggest that CPF develop protocol for how such data might be changed, and how those changes would be reflected in their records.
Finally, we would like additional clarity from CPF about how they plan to solicit data from all deacons and non-stipendiary clergy, many of whom do not currently have accounts with CPF.