On Purpose: Anticipating Needs

“We always try to anticipate the needs of the clergy and lay employees we serve so that we can be in the best position to meet those needs, consistent with our purpose and vision,” CEO and President Mary Kate Wold often explains when describing CPG’s work.

As we go around The Episcopal Church, we collect personal stories and anecdotes about the future of clergy, lay employees, and institutions. We listen for trends and opportunities that might influence our products and services in the years and decades ahead. Periodically, we take deeper dives and do more thorough mining of data, trends, and perspectives about what the future might hold for those we serve and the lines of business we operate—benefits, property and casualty insurance, and publishing.

Over the next three years, with input from many in the Church, we will host conversations and conduct other forms of research to get a clearer picture—a strategic, vision-relevant point of view—of the opportunities and risks that CPG may need to address in the decades ahead.

“CPG exists to support the clergy and lay employees of the Church in their calling to spread the gospel,” Mary Kate notes. “As the Church and world continue to shift, we must be prepared to shift too, and being prepared requires us to be proactive and thorough in looking ahead.”

Chief Communications Officer Patty Favreau, who oversees CPG’s research efforts, adds, “In the next three-plus years, we will be asking ourselves and the Church how changes in economic, environmental, religious, political, and regulatory landscapes might affect the communities we serve and our work. How do key issues come into play, from an increasing dependence on retired clergy and deacons to artificial intelligence? We will be utilizing all the data we collect and engaging with a variety of Church stakeholders and others to help us get at the big-picture questions.”

But Patty cautions that “our work will be measured and comprehensive, despite our temptation to jump to solutions as soon as we spot something that looks like a trend. We plan to get a clear picture of the future before we start taking action. We need time to ask questions, to sit with the information, and to allow it to tell us where to go next.”

In everything we do, we are focused on our role and the reasons CPG exists. Our ability to adapt as the Church and world change has enabled us to evolve and serve for more than a century and will continue to help us add value and security in the years ahead.

Pictured above: CPG aims to have a presence around the Church. Here CPG CEO and President Mary Kate Wold attends the installation of the Most Reverend Sean Rowe as the 28th Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church. | © 2025, David M. Rider. All rights reserved.