DISTRICT 5
EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF NEWARK
MINUTES OF JUNE 15, 2006
Present: Preston Harrington, St. James; Cathy Isaac, Epiphany; Joyce Wellington, Epiphany; Rosa Burke, St. Agnes/ St. Paul’s; Jackie King, Christ Church – East Orange; Bert Jones, Christ Church – East Orange; Rev. Wade Renn, St. Luke’s; Pearl Anderson, Trinity; Rev. George Kaswarra, Trinity; Frieda Smith, Trinity.
Churches Not Represented: Christ Church – Bloomfield/Glen Ridge; Christ Church – Totowa; Holy Spirit; St. Agnes; St. John’s; St. Peter’s.
Bert Jones opened the meeting with a prayer at 7:35. Rev. Wade Renn and Bert Jones presided. Due to the lack of a quorum, no binding decisions were taken.
1. Reports from the Diocesan Council
A. Fall Confirmation. There will be a fall confirmation at the cathedral, if needed. (This does not replace the regular confirmation Schedule.)
B. 2007 Confirmation. The District 5 confirmation will be held on May 6, 2007, location to be determined. The Diocese requests that it be informed by Advent of the number of youth confirmands that are expected.
C. Special Election Convention. The delegates entitled to vote are the same ones who were entitled to vote at the January, 2006 Diocesan convention. Each church needs to have three properly elected alternates available. “Properly elected” means elected, not appointed, and elected by the parish as a whole, not just the Vestry. In order for your Lay delegates to be eligible, the Parish must have filed its 2005 Parochial Report by September 1, 2005. We learned that only the reports of Christ Church, Totowa, whose report was apparently lost after being submitted, and Holy Spirit, whose report is still to be filed, still need to file. District 5 has already elected a youth delegate, A. J. DeWalt, to the special convention.
D. January, 2007 Diocesan Convention. District 5 needs to elect a youth delegate to this convention. The convention will be held on January 20, 2007 and will last only one day. Hearings take place earlier in the month. There will be a farewell banquet for Bishop Croneberger on January 21. Consecration of the new Bishop will take place on January 27.
E. Congregational Vitality. All parishes will be expected to complete a “Ministry Capacity Assessment” in the coming months. Wade distributed a draft form of this assessment. Canon Echols will contact individual parishes as this effort proceeds.
F. Program availability for District Meetings. The Diocese has a number of teams/programs available These are also available to individual parishes at no cost. For example, the Bethsaida team surveys accessibility in all its aspects – hearing, sight, handicaps, youth etc.
G. New Clergy Coming to District 5. Ann Koehler is now the Interim at Christ Church – Bloomfield/Glen Ridge. And Peter Jackson is the new Deacon at St. John’s.
2. Farewell to Bishop Croneberger. Bert and Wade broached the idea of holding some form of a farewell event for Bishop and Mrs. Croneberger that all parishes in our District can participate in. This was received positively by all those present. After discussion, we decided that this event should be an informal social event (a tea) held on a Sunday afternoon in the fall, preferably in November depending on the Bishop’s schedule, and probably at 3:00-5:00 in the afternoon. Because we will not meet again until September, we decided to go ahead and form committees to organize the event. We decided to set up the following committees: Communications, Food, and Gift. The idea of gift of a photo collage of District 5 churches was well received. We would need someone with talent in photography and familiarity with Adobe Photoshop to be part of the gift committee for this to happen.
The meeting closed at 8:40 following a prayer by Frieda Smith.
Respectfully submitted
Preston Harrington
