District 4 Meeting Minutes — Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Location: St. Stephen’s Church, Millburn
Present: Anne Davidson, the Reverend Elizabeth Kaeton, Bill Kinnaman, St. Paul’s, Chatham; Beth Rauen Sciaino, Chris West, St. George’s, Maplewood; the Reverend Lauren Ackland, the Reverend Tom Mathews, Larry Taber, Hester B. Wharton, Grace, Madison; the Reverend Cork Tarplee, the Reverend Herb Tinning, St. Stephen’s, Millburn; Louis Crew, Kate Halm-Lutterodt, the Reverend John Hamilton, the Reverend Carr Holland, Edward Onaodowan, Grace, Newark; the Reverend Judy Baldwin, Doug Eldridge, Dolores Macauley, Stella R. Morris, House of Prayer, Newark; Cynthia McChesney, Sam McKeown, Joan Mebane, the Reverend Mary Frances Schjonberg, the Reverend Bevan Stanley, Christ, Short Hills; Crystal Brown, Faith Gideon Brown, Patrice M. Henderson, Marilyn Joyce Lehren, the Reverend Sandye Wilson, St. Andrew & Holy Communion, South Orange; the Reverend Chris Brdlik, the Reverend Laurie Matarazzo, Calvary, Summit; the Reverend Oscar Mockridge, Bethsaida
o Thanks were expressed to Grace, Madison, for providing supper.
o Tom Mathews announced that five lay Eucharistic ministers are still needed for the District 4 Confirmation on May 1. There will be three Communion stations with bread, wine, and grape juice. Also needed are one or two more acolytes and food for the reception. Joan Mebane offered to bring crackers and cheese, and House of Prayer offered to bring sandwiches.
o Stella Morris announced the Spring Extravaganza Dinner and Dance at House of Prayer, Saturday, May 14, 7:00 p.m. to midnight. Stella welcomed everyone to join House of Prayer in this almost annual event, which will include African and Indian dance, raffles, ethnic foods, and a DJ. Cost is $10/adult, $5/child, but if you are without money come anyway. Stella has tickets with her for sale.
Report from members of the Standing Committee on the Election Process
Elizabeth Kaeton and Patrice Henderson of the Standing Committee and Faith Gideon Brown of Diocesan Council shared current information on the upcoming election process for the diocese’s next bishop. The four chairs of the Diocesan Council Committees (Faith being chair of the Congregational Vitality Committee), were invited by the Bishop, with the approval of the Standing Committee, to meet with the Right Reverend Clay Matthews from the Presiding Bishop's office to review canon law and guidelines appropriate to the election of a bishop. In accordance with both Canon Law as well as in keeping with the Guidelines set forth from the Presiding Bishop's office, the Standing Committee is responsible for working out a schedule of the election process and for facilitating, with guidelines developed by the Diocesan Council, the election of the necessary committees (e.g., Search/Nominating and Transition). A resolution and time line, developed by the Standing Committee, with input from the Diocesan Council leaders, will be presented for approval by the Diocesan Convention in June. Committees will be needed to write or revise the diocesan profile, nominate candidates for bishop, and provide transition assistance. Two or three committees are expected to be formed.
At the Special Convention on June 18 at Christ Church, East Orange, the election process, budget, process for electing committees, and timeline will all be presented. All committees report to the Standing Committee and these steps require ratification by the diocese in a Special Convention. The Special Convention will be presented with a resolution which will outline the committees and the process by which they will be elected which includes district representation. Elections will occur at the district level, but candidates for election are not required to be district representatives. There is always the consideration of balance on the committees and in the last search some slots were elected and the Standing Committee was charged with filling others to correct for balance reasons such as parity of orders, gender, etc.
Patrice said that the Committee will tailor the normative process given to them by Bishop Matthews to the Diocese of Newark. There is a wealth of experience on the part of those who have participated in past searches which will make this process easier. The Committee intends to be in constant communication so that there is no room for speculation. In response to a question from Bevan Stanley, Elizabeth said that it is a part of the national canons that a diocese proceed in this manner in this situation. Patrice said that the chancellor and vice chancellor are also overseeing the process. Elizabeth said that it is too early in the process to be considering candidates. Louie Crew clarified that our election would also have to be approved by Standing Committees throughout the country.
Louie said that he is not sure the diocese needs to do another profile because the last one was done relatively recently. Faith responded that this is under discussion; perhaps the profile could be updated and reviewed. No one is suggesting it be rewritten. Patrice said that the economy and demographics have changed since the last profile and the Committee seeks to be judicially responsible. Louie reminded everyone that in the last bishop search the diocese had $125,000 from the sale of a church in Bloomfield to cover the cost of the search.
The profile will be completed by December 1, 2005, in order to be presented to the January 2006 Diocesan Convention. The Nominating Committee will then do its work and announce nominees in June 2006. The election is scheduled for September 2006 with the new bishop present at the 2007 Diocesan Convention. Louie said that because our bishop has chosen to have a direct diocesan successor rather than a coadjutor, the new bishop will have a benefit of four months overlap as bishop elect, in the timeline as outlined. Elizabeth said that she believes that is the plan and intent with the scheduling of a mid-September election.
Doug Eldridge asked whether the national church’s moratorium on consecrating bishops has any bearing on these plans. Elizabeth said that the moratorium lasts until General Convention 2006 and our election plans place us safety beyond that timeframe.
Sharing our Talents
Carr Holland addressed the idea of a talent bank which was raised at our last meeting as a way to resource ourselves to fellow District 4 congregations in need of particular skills. District 4 clergy gathered on March 1 to discuss this idea further. Carr reported that the clergy feels there is enough of a collegial relationship among them for them to address these needs and share resources. The clergy determined that if another priest came with a request for assistance which could be met by their own parishioners that this request would be honored. This model is in place of the original idea of putting together an elaborate talent bank. Larry Taber voiced his opinion that talent banks don’t work well and he thinks it is better for clergy to handle this and know who they are recommending as a volunteer. Hester Wharton reminded us that there are requests made on the diocesan listserv which appear to get answered.
Beth Rauen Sciaino asked what we can do with the positive and enthusiastic energy which developed at our last meeting. Doug reminded us that the idea to organize a talent back arose in response to our discussion of the Star Ledger article about church closings in the diocese and negativity expressed within it. We were asked to consider ways to connect congregations which might be on the edge with people-resources such as lawyers. Sandye Wilson offered that St. Andrew & Holy Communion in South Orange can spare some of its twenty-five lawyers.
Judy Baldwin supported the idea of working through clergy because they known who might be available and willing to volunteer. It would be an orderly process in which the clergyperson contacts a potential volunteer and maintains communication with the priest from the congregation making the request. According to Carr, talent banks often wind up as a list of names which people fail to access and which become dated quickly. Bevan highlighted the relational aspect of a rector’s request for volunteer assistance. District 4 clergy already regularly meet one Tuesday morning a month. John Hamilton suggested that needs could be identified by a vestry and then the priest would bring the request for resources or help to other clergy.
Hester suggested following up on another idea raised in that meeting which was bringing people together around a music event.
Program
As we look toward the conclusion of this year and next fall, Carr asked if there are any subject areas or areas of concern we would like to explore. Our district has met without a lot of advance thinking regarding programming for meetings, but we are certainly able to bring in outside presenters. Other districts have held meetings with more program content.
Louie responded that it is very easy to focus on what we don’t do well in churches. He would love it if we spent half a meeting focusing on things we did in our congregations that went very well, especially portable ones, but those that aren’t portable would be welcome as well. Carr said that if we thought about it we could probably drop some of that sort of sharing into every district meeting.
John Hamilton remembered that congregational development issues were raised in a prior meeting. A brief discussion was held on the subject of congregational development. Bevan defined congregational development as the idea that congregations are not only sacraments of the presence of God but also human organizations. Techniques and learnings from organizational development theory can therefore be applied to congregations without losing the mystery. Elizabeth asked what forms of mission are we are doing on a district level. Sandye said that congregations in mission are congregations that are developing. One doesn’t negate the other. Bevan suggested we could have a conversation sharing what our congregation feels God is calling it to do; we might have a call in common. He said he sits at these meetings year after year and feels guilty that we don’t do things across parish boundaries. Hester reminded people that there is a mini-Creative Congregations workshop this weekend on the topic of listening to God’s call to each of us. Congregations could share their mission statements or logos and tags.
Bevan who is the lead trainer of the diocesan sponsored Church Development Institute recommended its training. This course meets three times per year in November, February, and May. The training begins on a Thursday evening and is held all day on Friday and all day on Saturday. For those employed outside parishes it would require three Fridays off. The training is centered on applying concept models and requires a lot of work in your home parish doing case work for the course. The diocese heavily underwrites the cost. Bevan said that the best way to benefit from the course is to send a team of clergy and lay. CDI currently meets in Denville, but the location can shift depending on who signs up. Information is available online. Both John Hamilton and Mary Frances Schjonberg have received this training.
Edward Onaodowan voiced the need to hold a program to bring the district together. Tom suggested two or three people from each parish intentionally visiting another parish to experience our fellow congregations and focus on the many gifts they share in worship. Edward agreed that that is a good idea; however it doesn’t bring parishioners from District 4 congregations together. He followed up on the idea of a music festival and/or picnic. He feels we have a lot to gain by bringing our parishioners together. Hester suggested that Dolores Macauley might be willing to serve as choir director to gather people from various choirs for a community sing. Dolores recommended that we choose a date to work toward. It was agreed that Edward would chair a District 4 subcommittee, the Program Committee. Dolores, Hester, Tom, and Marilyn Lehren volunteered to also serve on this committee and agreed to caucus after this meeting to pick a tentative date and determine how to do this.
The minutes from the February 22 meeting were accepted as amended. It was explained that they were emailed and posted online shortly after the meeting, in advance of the clergy’s March 1 meeting. It was agreed that the minutes should also be mailed to District 4 representatives. Hester suggested the minutes be posted on bulletin boards in congregations to share with parishioners.
If you are a new representative to District 4 or you are not receiving postcards or other mailings please give your information to Nina Nicholson, Parish Administrator of Grace, Madison. Nina can be reached at (973) 377-0106 or nnicholson@gracemadison.org. If you are not receiving email announcements at your correct email address please sign up for email notification at the District 4 pages in the District News section of the diocesan website, www.dioceseofnewark.org/am/d4news.shtml. You can also remove yourself from the listserv.
The next district meeting is this coming Tuesday, May 24, at 7:00 p.m. at House of Prayer, 407 Broad Street, Newark.
Beth Rauen Sciaino,
District 4 secretary
