Board of Trustees for the Church Pension Fund

Mandate

Canon I.8

Sec. 1. The Church Pension Fund, a corporation created by Chapter 97 of the Laws of 1914 of the State of New York as subsequently amended, is hereby authorized to establish and administer the clergy pension system, including life, accident and health benefits, of this Church, substantially in accordance with the principles adopted by the General Convention of 1913 and approved thereafter by the several Dioceses, with the view to providing pensions and related benefits for the Clergy who reach normal age of retirement, for the Clergy disabled by age or infirmity, and for the surviving spouses and minor children of deceased Clergy. The Church Pension Fund is also authorized to establish and administer the lay employee pension system and denominational health plan of the Church, substantially in accordance with the principles adopted by the General Convention of 2009 in Resolution 2009-A177, with the view to providing pensions, health care and related benefits for the eligible Clergy and eligible lay employees of this Church, as well as their eligible beneficiaries and dependents.

Sec. 2. The General Convention at each regular meeting shall elect, on the nomination of a Joint Committee thereof, twelve persons to serve as Trustees of The Church Pension Fund for a term of six years and until their successors shall have been elected and have qualified, and shall also fill such vacancies as may exist on the Board of Trustees. Effective January 1, 1989, any person who has been elected as a Trustee by General Convention for twelve or more consecutive years shall not be eligible for reelection until the next regular General Convention following the one in which that person was not eligible for reelection to the Board of Trustees. Any vacancy which occurs at a time when the General Convention is not in session may be filled by the Board of Trustees by appointment, ad interim, of a Trustee who shall serve until the next session of the General Convention thereafter shall have elected a Trustee to serve for the remainder of the unexpired term pertaining to such vacancy.

Sec. 3. For the purpose of administering the pension system, The Church Pension Fund shall be entitled to receive and to use all net royalties from publications authorized by the General Convention, and to levy upon and to collect from all Parishes, Missions, and other ecclesiastical organizations or bodies subject to the authority of this Church, and any other societies, organizations, or bodies in the Church which under the regulations of The Church Pension Fund shall elect to come into the pension system, assessments based upon the salaries and other compensation paid to Clergy by such Parishes, Missions, and other ecclesiastical organizations or bodies for services rendered currently or in the past, prior to their becoming beneficiaries of the Fund. For the purpose of administering the lay employee pension system and denominational health plan, The Church Pension Fund shall be entitled to collect from all Parishes, Missions, and other ecclesiastical organizations or bodies subject to the authority of this Church, and any other societies, organizations, or bodies in the Church which under the regulations of The Church Pension Fund shall elect to come into the lay employee pension system, assessments and/or contributions based upon the salaries and other compensation paid to eligible lay employees by such Parishes, Missions, and other ecclesiastical organizations or bodies, determine the eligibility of all Clergy and lay employees to participate in the denominational health plan through a formal benefits enrollment process, and The Church Pension Fund shall be entitled to levy upon and collect contributions for health care and related benefits under the denominational health plan from all Parishes, Missions, and other ecclesiastical organizations or bodies subject to the authority of this Church with respect to their Clergy and lay employees.

Sec. 4. The pension system shall be so administered that no pension shall be allotted before there shall be in the hands of The Church Pension Fund sufficient funds to meet such pension, except as directed by the General Convention in 1967.

Sec. 5. To every Member of the Clergy who shall have been ordained in this Church or received into this Church from another Church, and who shall have remained in service in the office and work of the Ministry in this Church for a period of at least twentyfive years, and in respect of whom the conditions of this Canon shall have been fulfilled in the payment of assessments on such reasonable basis as The Church Pension Fund may establish under its Rules of Administration, The Church Pension Fund shall provide a minimum retiring allowance the amount of which shall be determined by the Trustees of the Fund, and shall also provide surviving spouses' and minor children's allowances related thereto. In the case of a Member of the Clergy in whose behalf assessments shall not have been fully paid for a period of at least twenty-five years, The Church Pension Fund shall be empowered to recompute the aforesaid minimum retiring allowance and the other allowances related thereto at a rate or rates consistent with the proper actuarial practice. The Trustees of The Church Pension Fund are hereby empowered to establish such Rules and Regulations as will fulfill the intention of this Canon and are consistent with sound actuarial practice. Subject to the provisions of this Canon, the general principle shall be observed that there shall be an actuarial relation between the several benefits; Provided, however, that the Board of Trustees shall have power to establish such maximum of annuities greater than two thousand dollars as shall be in the best interest of the Church, within the limits of sound actuarial practice.

Sec. 6. An Initial Reserve Fund, derived from voluntary gifts, shall be administered by The Church Pension Fund so as to assure to clergy ordained prior to March 1, 1917, and their families, such addition to the support to which they may become entitled on the basis of assessments authorized by this Canon as may bring their several allowances up to the scale herein established.

Sec. 7. The action of the Trustees of the General Clergy Relief Fund, in accepting the provisions of Chapter 239 of the Laws of 1915 of the State of New York authorizing a merger with The Church Pension Fund, upon terms agreed upon between said two Funds, is hereby approved. Any corporation, society, or other organization, which hitherto has administered clergy relief funds, may to such extent as may be compatible with its corporate powers and its existing obligations, and in so far as may be sanctioned in the case of diocesan societies by the respective Dioceses, merge with The Church Pension Fund, or if merger be impracticable, may establish by agreement with The Church Pension Fund the closest practicable system of co-operation with that fund. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to the prejudice of existing corporations or societies whose funds are derived from payments made by members thereof.

Sec. 8. Women ordained to the Diaconate prior to January 1, 1971, who are not employed in active service on January 1, 1977, shall continue to have the benefit of their present provisions for pension protection at the expense of their employers, through the Pension Plan for Deaconesses provided by the Church Life Insurance Corporation, or through some other pension plan providing equivalent or better guarantees of a dependable retirement income, approved by proper authority. Women ordained to the Diaconate prior to January 1, 1971, and who are employed in active service on or after January 1, 1977, shall be entitled to the same provisions for pension protection as other Deacons based on prospective service on or after January 1, 1977. Women ordained to the Diaconate on or after January 1, 1971, shall be entitled to the same pension protection as other Deacons.

Sec. 9. The General Convention reserves the power to alter or amend this Canon, but no such alteration or amendment shall be made until after the same shall have been communicated to the Trustees of The Church Pension Fund and such Trustees shall have had ample opportunity to be heard with respect thereto.