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This month's "Grace Notes" newsletter
Father David's Page
Summer 2010
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
There have been questions raised over the past few
months about the decision making process at Grace
Church. Some have not liked decisions the Vestry has
made and demanded that the Rector override them which
is not really possible. Others have thought that I make decisions
arbitrarily and capriciously without listening to the
people. So what is the story?
Many decision are made beyond the boundaries of the
Parish through the Constitution, Canons and policy of the
Episcopal Church. For example, we can decide to paint
Grace House or put a new roof on the Rectory but we are
not allowed to sell or mortgage any of the property as it is
all held in trust for the Episcopalians of tomorrow. Only
the Standing Committee of the Diocese can permit the
sale or mortgaging of property.
How the property is used on a day to day basis is the
sole responsibility of the Rector under the Canons. But
there are overlapping areas of authority and responsibility,
however. The Rector has the right to start a day care center
and hire people to staff it but he has no right to spend a
dime of Church funds to do it. That part of the process is
the sole responsibility of The Annual Meeting and it’s representatives,
The Vestry.
One of the decisions made by The Annual Meeting is to
retain the services of a musician. The policy is set by The
Annual Meeting via the Budget process but who gets to be
the musician is the responsibility of the Rector. Each priest
has his own style in administering his or her responsibility.
In my case, I take a lot of input and look for consensus but
don’t always find it. For example, when a solution to our
music problems presented itself last year the Vestry discussed
it for about 3 months. When 3 people expressed
negative concerns over the issue I presented those concerns
to ‘elders’ of the parish and to two other priests so
that the best advice could be obtained. But when all is said
and done, I still had to make the final decision weighing all
the advice at my disposal. Other Priests simply make the
decisions with no input because that is their job.
The job of the Vestry is to administer the policies of The
Annual Meeting and act in their behalf between meetings
acting in accordance with the Constitution, Canons and the
Parish’s own by-laws making sure income is up to that budgeted
and that commissioners stay within their budgets.
Each member of the vestry is responsible for an area of
ministry within the congregation in partnership with the Rector.
That ‘commissioner’ has the right to spend money’s authorized
by the budget in his or her area of ministry limited
only by cash-flow concerns.
When unforeseen events come upon us the Vestry may
amend the budget or find other means to meet the demands
of the moment. In our case, we have some unrestricted memorial
funds that they have the authority to manage and use.
The Vestry has chosen to create a sub-committee to oversee
the investment of these funds but there needs to be a policy
decision made concerning these funds. While they were
given with no restrictions there are people who insist that we
should only spend the interest and not touch the capital.
Others, just as vehemently take the opposite view saying that
those funds were given to be used for unexpected needs. By
default, the latter is the current policy. In the face of continuing
disagreement on the subject, it would be advisable for the
Annual Meeting to make a policy resolution once and for all.
So, there are constantly decisions to be made, and various
ways are provided to make those decision but whenever a
decision is made there will always be people who didn’t get it
their way. In churches that do not have the procedures, policies
and Canons that we do, i.e., places that use
“Congregational Polity” such unhappiness often results in
great turmoil, even division an schism. We should be thankful
for the wisdom and guidance of our founding fathers that
has allowed us the ways and means to minimize such discord.
The genius is that though we do not follow congregational
polity we are quite democratic and though we are of
Episcopal polity, we are not autocratic. I guess only an Anglican
could understand that!
~ Father David
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