Re: Vestry Authority (was St. Luke's Vestry....)

[barbara wolf <lupa@biddeford.com>]

>At 12:32 PM 1/19/96 -0500, David Lewis wrote:

>>Let's not forget a couple of things.  First, in the Episcopal Church
>>governance decisions are the prerogative of the vestry rather than decided in
>>congregational meetings.  This being said, I would expect that any vestry
>>would act in a manner sensitive to the overall body; from what I have heard
>>such was the case at St Luke's.

One of the reasons I am having such a great time with the contributions of
all you sages on ANGLICAN is that the responses to issues raised are so
good.  Thanks especially today to Virginia Maurer and to Eric Funston who
pinned down the problem with Mr. Lewis' answer to the news that vestry
members had called parishioners to say that the "service" had been
cancelled.  (Of course, we still haven't had the definitive answer to
Molly's question, but even the possibility that it happened as the newspaper
story suggested is enough to raise not only an eyebrow or two but some hard
questions about the way in which Bp. Dixon's visit was handled by the vestry
as well as the Rector.)

I am *most* happy to see that both the underlying canonical and the ethical
questions were addressed in these last two posts.  Virginia, thank you for
clearing away the garbage of "I wouldn't have done it if he hadn't made me!"
And Eric, thank you for setting the record straight as to the vestry's
charge and power in decisions like this one.

Incidentally, and however, doesn't the authority to cancel a service belong
solely to the Rector?  If he did use that authority, then the responsibility
for the calls may lie with him.  And if he merely asked vestry members to
notify the parish, he certainly put them in an awkward position.  Given the
heat (not much light, I must say!) of the situation, it was poor use of
authority.  But at least the rest of us may have learned something from
this.  I devoutly hope so!

Barbara Wolf

(Former vestry member, Church of S. Mary the Virgin, Falmouth, Me.--a parish
which is high church to some, low church to others.  I thought all that
label stuff had long since faded into unlamented history.)