The Venerable Howard Stringfellow
333 Wyandotte Street
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015
(610) 691-5655, ext. 222 archdeacon@diobeth.org
St. Margaret’s Church in Emmaus
Vestry Meeting
2 December 2009
Agenda
Introductions
Devotions, Charlie Barebo
Conversation about Parish Spirit and Morale
Conversation about St. Margaret’s Family School
Adult and Child Literacy Program
Conversation with Canon Lexa about Part-time Priestly Ministry
Formation of Day School Committee
This Committee is charged to learn and to evaluate the mission and operation of the Day School; to analyze its financial position; and to make any appropriate recommendations to the Vestry.
Formation of Sunday Schedule Committee
The Committee is charged to recommend to the Vestry a worship schedule that furthers St. Margaret’s mission and ministry.
Formation of Parish History Committee
This Committee is charged to develop and to present to the Vestry a parish history from a systems perspective, so that automatic patterns of functioning can be improved and changed to assist the mission and ministry of St. Margaret’s.
Setting of Meeting Dates
Other Business
The Venerable Howard Stringfellow
333 Wyandotte Street
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015
(610-691-5655, x222 archdeacon@diobeth.org
The Committee of St. Margaret’s Church in Emmaus
1 December 2009
As we prepare to meet on December 2 at 7 pm at St. Margaret’s, some background as well as some range of our scope need to be set forward and discussed. This Introduction to our work has these for its purpose.
This Committee, that includes St. Margaret’s new Vestry, is constituted in agreement with Diocesan Canons and Bishop Paul’s letter of November 16 to Canon Shallcross, Mr. Joseph Cardinale, the Senior Warden, and the former Vestry of the Parish.
Diocesan Canons 28, 29, and 30, are important reading. You may access them here or at www.diobeth.org/Constitution/const-canons.html.
Diocesan Canon 29 allows “appointment, by the Bishop, of three (3) to five (5) persons, some or all of whom may be adult communicants of the Parish to govern the affairs of the Parish as the Vestry, replacing the current vestry, notwithstanding any other provisions for such governance or the election of Vestry in the Canon of this Diocese.”
Bishop Paul’s letter requests me “to assemble and chair a committee that will assume the powers and functions of the vestry no later than December 1. I have asked that he include two members of the present vestry on the roster. Another member of St. Margaret’s has agreed to serve, along with the people you see here with me and one other priest from the Allentown area.”
Accordingly the Committee of St. Margaret’s includes both Members of the Vestry and Advisors to the Vestry so that the Vestry may receive sufficient information, context, and guidance from the Parish and expertise from other valued sources.
Members of the Vestry
Howard Stringfellow, Chair
Anne Kitch
Libby House
Connie Archer
Charlie Barebo
Advisors to the Vestry
Joe Cardinale, Senior Warden
Jenny Wager, Treasurer
Dave Leber, Member of St. Margaret’s
Tim Merrill, Member of St. Margaret’s
Maria Tjeltveit, Rector of Mediator, Allentown
Bruce Reiner, Assistant Treasurer of the Diocese, ex officio
Lexa Shallcross, Vicar of St. Margaret’s, ex officio
Generally, our first and most important responsibility is to be effective leaders who will take such decisions and show such concern for all the people of St. Margaret’s that it will be restored to full status as a Parish, neither a Parish Under Review nor a Parish At Risk.
Bishop Paul’s letter of November 16 also charges this Committee with three quite specific tasks: “In addition to overseeing the operations of the church in general, I am charging the committee to look immediately at the day school, enlisting the advice of other Episcopal Schools in the diocese. I am charging them to set a worship schedule that can work for St. Margaret’s mission and ministry before taking up the question of the Presbyterians. Finally, I ask them to develop and present a parish history from a systems perspective, so that as many people as possible can understand that St. Margaret, like any ‘family,’ has automatic patterns of functioning and that these can be changed.”
I ask that we keep each other, St. Margaret’s, Bishop Paul, and the Diocese in our prayers daily. The responsibility we have is neither light nor easy, but it is possible to achieve and worthy of our best effort. May God who gives us this responsibility give us also the grace to achieve it.
Howard Stringfellow
The Venerable Howard Stringfellow
333 Wyandotte Street
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015
(610) 691-5655, ext. 222 archdeacon@diobeth.org
St. Margaret’s Church in Emmaus
Vestry Meeting
2 December 2009 at Seven o’clock
Minutes
Introductions
a. Present: Connie Archer, Charlie Barebo, Joe Cardinale, Elizabeth House, Anne Kitch, Dave Leber, Tim Merrill, Howard Stringfellow, Maria Tjeltveit, and Jenny Wager.
b. Excused: Bruce Reiner.
Devotions, Charlie Barebo
Conversation about Parish Spirit and Morale
a. There was discussion including: mention of those on the former vestry who feel displaced; the event is like a loss; only time will heal the wound; little things will help, especially reaching out; language like “now there’s effective leadership in place” is not helpful; negativity is a self-fulfilling prophecy; positive thinking is hard to come by; meeting with the parish would be helpful; and the business model has changed.
b. As a result of this conversation the Committee decided to meet with the parish on Sunday, December 13, at nine o’clock. Those of the Committee promising to attend were: CA, CB, EH, AK, TM, and JW.
Conversation about St. Margaret’s Family School
Adult and Child Literacy Program
a. Preparations and meetings are underway to prepare for this ministry. HS will telephone Janice Clymer and Sally West to encourage them in this ministry.
Financial Report, Joe Cardinale
a. JC presented a cash-flow summary of the parish’s income and expenses, and it was discussed.
Conversation with Canon Lexa about Part-time Priestly Ministry
a. LS read a list of all the things she does.
b. There was discussion including mention of another parish transitioning to a part-time rector; mention of there being no standing committees at St. Margaret’s; suggestion that parameters are needed around a priest’s ministry, that LS’s personal clarity about ministry is important; suggestion that moving to part-time clergy is an opportunity for St. Margaret’s, and the success depends on how the transition is presented; mention that a part-time priest is not a destination; mention that St. Margaret’s will find out what is important to the parish; that a different model is required; that crisis pulls out the best of people; and that LH has done a great many things at St Margaret’s.
c. There was further discussion about a motion, a motion or two were made, and finally AK moved that the position of rector become half-time on January 1; the motion was seconded by EH; and the motion passed unanimously.
d. HS will meet with LS to begin to clarify the boundaries of priestly ministry at St. Margaret’s.
e. HS will meet with Elizabeth Diely to begin to clarify her part in the priestly ministry at St. Margaret’s.
Formation of Nursery School Committee
This Committee is charged to learn and to evaluate the mission and operation of the Nursery School; to analyze its financial position; and to make any appropriate recommendations to the Vestry.
a. HS entrusts this committee to be chaired by EH who will seek members of the committee from within and outside St. Margaret’s.
b. The term “Nursery School” is substituted for “Day School” above in the charge in henceforth in communication.
c. With this change, CA moved adoption of the charge; EH seconded the motion; and it passed unanimously.
Formation of Sunday Schedule Committee
The Committee is charged to recommend to the Vestry a worship schedule that furthers St. Margaret’s mission and ministry.
a. HS entrusts this committee to be chaired by CB who has begun to seek members for the committee.
b. EH moved adoption of the charge; seconded by CA; and it passed unanimously.
Formation of Parish History Committee
This Committee is charged to develop and to present to the Vestry a parish history from a systems perspective, so that automatic patterns of functioning can be improved and changed to assist the mission and ministry of St. Margaret’s.
a. HS entrust this to be chaired by AK who has begun to seek members for the committee.
b. CB moved adoption of the charge; seconded by CA; and it passed unanimously.
Setting of Meeting Dates
a. HS asked JW when in the month financial statements could be prepared for the Vestry. After some conversation, Vestry meetings were set at 7 pm on the second Wednesdays of the month beginning on January 13.
b. JW in this conversation confirmed that she will continue to function as St. Margaret’s Treasurer.
c. At the January meeting, the Vestry will review a budget for 2010 prepared by St. Margaret’s finance or budget committee (drafted to include the transition to half-time vicar.
Other Business
a. There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:15 pm.
HS
