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RESPONSIBILITIES OF A PRIEST IN THE DIOCESE OF NEWARK
When a priest comes into the Diocese of Newark he or she often asks, "What is expected of me?"
It is our hope that legalistic responsibilities are held to a minimum, but there is a generally accepted level
of professional performance that we believe every new priest would want to know about.
Minimum Diocesan responsibilities for the active clergy are:
1) attendance at the Annual Convention of the Diocese of Newark, which is normally held on the fourth Friday of
January and continues on Saturday;
2) attendance at the Clergy Conference held in late fall;
3) attendance at a service for all clergy for the renewal of ordination vows and the rededication to ministry held annually on
Tuesday in Holy Week at the Cathedral.
The Canons require that your Parochial Report be submitted no later than February first.
Other expectations that mark our corporate life are:
It is expected that every priest will be knowledgeable about and supportive of our stewardship goals and personally
committed to proportional giving with the tithe as the goal.
The Canons require notification of each congregation's percentage pledge by December first of each year. It is the expectation
that the percentage will not decrease. The dollar amount will rise and fall, based upon your percentage pledge,
but the percentage should not decrease. The goal is to raise that percentage until it reaches 25% of your income.
Twenty-five percent is the maximum expectation. A few of our churches actually give a figure below 10% of their
income. It is our belief that 10% should be the expected minimum for every church and that progress toward 25%
should be the priority of every priest in every year. The bishop, the members of the Diocesan Council and most
of the clergy of this diocese are on record as being morally committed to tithing as a principle of Christian witness.
It is also expected that the clergy attend as many of the following regularly scheduled events during the year
as schedules permit:
1) A special service of Ordination of Transitional Deacons of this diocese on a Saturday early in June each year that we have
candidates. We seek the attendance of every priest within the diocese at this special event.
2) It is our hope that priests in this diocese would attend the installation service for new rectors or the ordination
service of new priests and deacons within their districts.
3) District clergy meetings are scheduled on a periodic basis for the Bishop and each Canon to meet with the leadership of the diocese. It is also expected that all
clergy and their elected leaders will attend the meeting sponsored for their district and that the clergy will
inform and support the attendance of lay leadership at other district meetings.
4) We also expect that the clergy will inform and insure attendance of lay employees and leaders at sexual misconduct
prevention and anti-racism training seminars and other such programs as required by state law, insurance regulations,
or resolutions of Diocesan Convention.
It is the policy of the Bishop to be available to any clergy person upon an emergency basis immediately or, if
there is no emergency, as soon as practically possible. If the Bishop is out of town, the Canon to the Ordinary
and the Dean are available for pastoral and professional emergencies.
Appointments with the Bishop may be made by calling the Bishop's Assistant,
Ms. Patty Leonard, at 973-430-9976, or her e-mail at pleonard@dioceseofnewark.org.
The bishop does not accept appointments requested by lay people who want to discuss the state of the church
or personal problems. They will be referred to their rector/vicar. Exceptions are lay people working on official diocesan committees and commissions who might need consultation with a bishop about their diocesan work.
Mark M. Beckwith
Bishop of Newark
February 2008 |
