Funds for Ministers' Children

MANUAL OF THE LAWS AND DISCIPLINE OF THE METHODIST CHURCH IN IRELAND ______

CHAPTER 33

FUNDS FOR MINISTERS' CHILDREN

The Children's Fund

33.01 The Children's Fund provides allowances for the maintenance and education of the children of ministers, probationers and theological students in connection with the Irish Conference.

33.02 The income of the Fund is provided from the Comprehensive Assessment Fund, as the Conference may from year to year determine.

33.03 The Conference shall annually appoint as Treasurers of the Fund a minister and a lay person, and a Secretary who shall be a minister. The Treasurers shall keep an account in a bank in the name of "The Methodist Ministers' Children's Fund." The Secretary shall keep an up-to-date register of children who are claimants on the Fund.

Administration 33.04 The Children's Fund shall be administered under the direction of the Stipends and Allowances Board.

33.05 Payments of allowances to children shall be made to their parents or guardians; but the officers of the Fund, with the approval of the President of the Conference, shall have power under exceptional circumstances to determine otherwise with regard to the payment of the allowances.

33.06 Those entitled to the benefits of the Fund shall be children, step-children or legally adopted children of ministers and probationers, and of retired and deceased ministers, within such limits of age as may from time to time be determined by the Conference. The period of probation includes time spent in the Theological College. If a minister has been given permission to be without pastoral charge, his/her children shall cease to receive allowances from the Fund. An exception may be made where the minister is unwaged, subject to the discretion of the officers of the Fund.

33.07 Where an application for an exceptional payment is made for educational purposes, and does not fall within the existing rules of the fund, the officers of the fund, with the consent of the Stipends and Allowances Board, may make a payment for the benefit of the child. Such application shall be made no later than the 30th September in the year in which it applies.

33.08 Maintenance allowances shall commence in the quarter following a child's birth. In the event of a child beginning to earn his or her own living or in the event of a child's death the maintenance allowance shall cease with the payment made in the following quarter.

33.09 If a minister shall marry after having permanently retired, the children of such marriage shall have no claim upon the Fund.

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33.10 Children of ministers who from any cause cease to be recognised as being in full connexion with the Methodist Church in Ireland, have no claim upon the Fund.

33.11 The allowances from the Fund for maintenance and education shall be as the Conference may from time to time determine.

33.12 The birth, legal adoption, death, employment of a child or the continuance of secondary education beyond the age of eighteen must be reported immediately to the Secretary of the Children's Fund.

33.13 Allowances from the Fund become due at the end of September, December, March, and June, and shall be paid not later than the fifteenth of the following month.

The Ministers' Sons' Fund and The Ministers' Daughters' Fund 33.14 In addition to the allowances for education provided by the Children's Fund, special provision is made for the education of the sons of Irish Methodist ministers at the Colleges in Ireland by means of the "Ministers' Sons' Fund." The income of this Fund consists of the interest on certain sums of money which, from time to time, have been allocated for this purpose.

33.15 By means of allocation from the "Thanksgiving Fund" and the "Jubilee Fund," and through the benefactions of the late Sir William McArthur, K.C.M.G., special provision is made for the board and education of the daughters of Irish Methodist ministers at the Methodist College and the McArthur Hall, Belfast, in addition to the allowances for that purpose from the Children's Fund. The sums constituting the endowment for ministers' daughters are held in trust by the Governors of the Methodist College, Belfast.

33.16 The annual proceeds of the Funds shall not be distributed in grants to the parents, but shall be applied in part payment of the charges for board and education of the children of our ministers in Wesley College, Dublin, and the Methodist College. Belfast, and be paid to the Treasurers of these Colleges.

33.17 Admission to the benefits of the Funds shall be granted, if the income will allow, to all sons and daughters of ministers between such ages as the Conference may determine. If the number of applications exceeds the number of vacancies, these shall normally be filled in the following order of priority, subject to due regard being had to the circumstances of each applicant and to the benefits already received from the Fund by the family concerned:

(a) Children of ministers stationed in the Republic of Ireland, outside Dublin. (b) Children of ministers stationed in Northern Ireland where there is no suitable school within reasonable distance. (c) Children of other ministers. Within these priorities those not previously benefited by the Funds shall have preference. If there is still an excess of applications, precedence shall be decided by the seniority in the ministry of the father/mother; in a case in which this is equal the child of a deceased father/mother shall have preference over the child of a living one. If both fathers/mothers are

2004 (Revised 2011) 184 MANUAL OF THE LAWS AND DISCIPLINE OF THE METHODIST CHURCH IN IRELAND ______living, or both deceased, precedence shall be given to the senior child, or as the Conference may decide.

33.18 Elections to the benefits of the Ministers' Sons' Fund, Ministers' Daughters' Fund, and Miss Houston's Bequest Fund (see paragraph 33.25) shall be for one year. An applicant shall be eleven years of age at least on 30th June in the connexional year in which application for admission to the benefit of the Funds is made. Applications for election or re-election to the benefit of the Funds must be sent to the Secretary of the Children's Fund not later than 25th April in any year.

No pupil shall be given the benefit of the Ministers' Sons' Fund, or the Ministers' Daughters' Fund, for more than six years, unless there is a vacancy in the Foundation concerned, in which case the Conference may re-elect for a seventh or subsequent year.

33.19 The amount to be paid by the Funds, and the total number of boys and girls admitted to their benefits, shall be determined by the Conference from time to time.

33.20 The officers of the Children's Fund are authorised to make any necessary adjustments occasioned by stationing, in accordance with the rules.

33.21 The sons and daughters of ministers of the Methodist Church in Ireland serving overseas who are being educated in Ireland shall be eligible for the benefits of the Ministers' Sons' and Daughters' Funds on the same conditions as children of ministers in the home work, provided that no payment from the Funds shall be made during the period when such children are in receipt of the education grant from the World Church Office.

33.22 The number of boys and girls to be admitted to the benefits of the Funds shall be communicated to the Headmaster of Wesley College and the Headmaster of the Methodist College by the Secretary of the Children's Fund immediately after Conference.

33.23 The Secretary of the Trustees of the Methodist Church in Ireland shall report annually to the Conference the number of boys and girls who may be admitted to the benefits of the Funds.

33.24 The Accounts of the Funds shall be presented annually to the Conference.

Miss Houston's Bequest 33.25 Under the will of Miss Mary Houston, in the year 1818, the sum of £1,400 was bequeathed for the benefit of daughters of Irish Methodist ministers. The following are the regulations of the Conference with reference to this Fund:

(a) The capital of the Fund is vested in the Statutory Trustees. (b) The income of the Fund shall be applied for the benefit of the daughters of ministers of the Irish Conference, subject to the following regulations:- (i) The terms of Miss Houston's Will regulate the distribution of the Fund, provided applicants answering the conditions therein prescribed shall present their claims.

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(ii) If no such applicants present themselves, from year to year, or if any surplus remains undisposed of after their claims have been considered and dealt with, it shall be lawful to allocate the annual proceeds, or the surplus as the case may be, to assist ministers' daughters who are boarders at Wesley College, Dublin, with their education after the age of eleven. Should any surplus remain after such claims have been dealt with, it shall be lawful to allocate such surplus to assist ministers' daughters to continue their education at a University or similar institution until the age of twenty-one on 30th June in the year in which the grant is made.

(c) The Stipends and Allowances Board shall be the committee for selecting girls to be admitted to the benefits of Miss Houston's bequest. (d) The Accounts of the Fund shall be presented annually to the Conference.

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