From the Rt. Rev. Stephen Lane, Bishop of Maine. A million here or there, and then this:

Finally, the amount of $286,438 for Formation and Vocation is an error. Although Executive Council was clearly reducing the amount for this part of the budget, the actual number was lost in the complex process of combining the 15% and 19% cases the Executive Council used to build the draft proposed budget. The budget was adopted and Executive Council adjourned before the error was discovered. Questions have been asked regarding what the “real” number might have been. Council members at the Province I Synod suggested something in the range of $1.9 million. Other knowledgeable persons suggested $1 million. PB&F will need to address this matter at General Convention. Restoring funds to Formation and Vocation will require taking funds from other places.

Bishop Lane reminds us that there’s nothing to be done about these errors and inconsistencies until General Convention but perhaps much of the outrage over the last month was misguided. At the same time, one wonders about a process that allows errors or inconsistencies of such magnitude to arise and whether there ought to be some mechanism with dealing with them.