Diocesan Council Highlights, October 8th, 2013

 

OPENING – Welcome

As was established at the September 10th, 2013, meeting of Diocesan Council, the Dean of the Diocese, the Very Reverend Peter Elliott and the Chancellor of the Diocese, George Cadman, QC are co-chairing the meetings. This meeting began with the Dean as Chair.

Dean Peter Elliott opened the meeting with prayer

For the first order of business, Dean Peter drew Council’s attention to item 5.2 on the agenda, the resignation letter from the Reverend Margaret Cole, the Clerical Secretary elected at Diocesan Synod 2013. The Reverend Andrew Halladay had offered his name to stand as Clerical Secretary for election at Synod. Following the receipt of the letter, the Dean asked Andrew if he would serve and he agreed to have his name stand in nomination. As there were no other nominees, Council unanimously endorsed Andrew’s appointment.

Dean Peter also suggested that as the November meeting of Diocesan Council looks to be extremely busy that Council consider meeting at 6pm for sandwiches, with the meeting beginning at 6:30pm. Council agreed to this change in start time.

As part of the Boundaries Task Force recommendations coming up in the agenda, the Venerable Lynne McNaughton brought Council’s attention to the large maps fastened to the wall. This map using different colours of tape outlined the proposed boundary changes in the recommendations.

MINUTES
The Minutes of the September 12th, 2013, meeting as circulated was approved by Council.

CORRESPONDENCE
Letter from the Reverend Dr. Richard Topping, September 12, 2013
Letter from the Reverend Margaret Cole, September 23rd, 2013

PRESENTATION
Electoral Synod Update

The chancellor who is the chair of the Search/Nominations Committee (SNC) gave Council a brief overview and summary of how things are developing.

 He updated Council on the writing, editing, posting and printing of the Diocesan Profile. This process had been an important component of the September 10th Council meeting.

At the SNC meeting of September 12th, Communications Committee Chair, Valerie Casselton and Communications Officer, Randy Murray met with SNC to go over Diocesan Council’s recommendations of September 10th to expand and clarify the content of the Diocesan Profile. With that as a goal, Valerie approached a professional editor and writer of her acquaintance who took the original draft of the profile and blended in the many suggestions and edits of Council and others. This work was finished in just over a week with the Diocesan Profile posted to the Electoral Synod website by September 23rd and sent to a designer for development into a print document with graphics and photos one week later.

The chancellor reported that he has so far received 6 nominations.
The next piece of the chancellor’s report was to ask Council to ratify the proposed cut-off date for nominations being 4pm on October 18th. Council unanimously agreed.

Following the vote, the chancellor asked the Business Administrator, Rob Dickson to give Council an update on the digital voting process that will be used at this Electoral Synod. As of this meeting, he has received four quotes from suppliers of this service and is waiting for one more. There will be a provision for paper ballots to be used if there is a glitch with Legal Registrar Don Paul arranging for a staff of returning officers to count votes in case that is necessary.

Next item to look at in terms of the development of the Electoral Synod and its imminent approach was the need to get the Credential Committee in place as soon as possible.
Registrar, Don Paul briefly went over the Precis and Proposed Resolutions.
The Motion was CARRIED

The chancellor advised Council that the Notice of Electoral Synod is ready to go out but there were some details that needed to be finalized.

 The candidates whose nominations have been received by the cutoff date and time (4pm [PDT] on Friday, October 18th) who have not been disqualified through the vetting of the candidates by the SNC will have the opportunity to answer interview questions in a video format directed through the communications officer.

 There is one other date for nominations to be submitted to the Chancellor at the Synod Office pursuant to Canon 219 (4pm [PST] Tuesday, November 19th), however due to considerations of time and technical restraints nominations received after October 18th may not be able to participate in the video component. Nominations may also be made from the floor of Synod after the first or any subsequent ballot, with the consent of Synod, pursuant to Canon 224.

 There were some questions from Council Members about why there are multiple opportunities for nominations. Dean Peter commented that in many ways we are living through a synodical process where we are determining what works best, but for the election of the 9th Bishop of the Diocese of New Westminster we are bound by Canon 2.

He then segued into the following resolution:

That this Diocesan Council expresses its gratitude to the Chancellor and members of the Search Nominations Committee in their diligent work to implement Canon 2 as the diocese approaches the election of the 9th Bishop of the Diocese of New Westminster, and encourages this committee to:
• review and evaluate their work in December 2013 with particular attention to an evaluation of the strengths and limitations of Canon 2 and 3
• report to Diocesan Council in January 2014 on their review and facilitate a discussion with the Council on their experience of the process.

Archdeacon John Struthers moved the above motion (seconded by Archdeacon John Stephens) and followed up by saying that in his view as a member of the SNC, Canon 2 does have constraints around time and deadlines, particularly following a long episcopate. Some time to process transition and time for reflection and discernment might be a good idea.
The Reverend Dr. Richard Leggett offered the friendly amendment that the motion include Canon 3 as well.

Don Paul the Registrar reported to Council that in conversation with the Chancellor of the Ecclesiastical Province of BC and Yukon they opined that it would be a good idea for the dioceses to compare notes about what works and what doesn’t particularly with the Diocese of BC currently going through the same process.

The Motion was CARRIED

ACTION – FOR DEBATE

The first item on the agenda for the evening, a report from the Christian Camping Task Force will be on the agenda for the November meeting as the Task Force had asked for an extension which was granted.

Report from the Clergy Compensation Sub-Committee

 Treasurer, Bob Hardy guided Council through the report and Sub-Committee’s recommendations that the stipend scales for 2014 remain at 2013 levels. This is based on current data on the Canadian CPI as determined by Statistics Canada.

The appropriate diocesan committees have looked at this report and there were some concerns about maintaining the 2013 scale. Treasurer, Bob Hardy and chancellor, George Cadman stressed that these figures are the minimum requirements.
There were concerns that no increase in minimum requirements may open the door to some parishes and parish officers using these figures as a way to save money by moving toward paying the minimums at a time when housing and transportation costs continue to rise.
The Motion was CARRIED.

The Parish of St. George, Maple Ridge Day Care Lease

Council was supplied with a Précis and the lease.

The lease has been examined and signed by the principals involved and Registrar, Don Paul recommended that this has been painstakingly developed and he recommended that the motion be passed.
The Motion was CARRIED

Diocesan Office Relocation Task Force

At the September 10th meeting there were a number of suggestions made about the possible relocation of the Diocesan Offices and creation of a Diocesan Centre in the buildings on the property of St. John’s, Shaughnessy.

Based on Council's suggestions, the Task Force has initiated meetings with the parish of St. John’s (Shaughnessy) and the Task Force is looking at the costs of office space at various locations around the MVA. There will be further discussion on this at future meetings prior to resolution coming before Council.

 After the break, Chancellor, George Cadman took over as Chair.

ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION/INFORMATION

 Boundaries Task Force Update.

Chair of the Task Force, the Venerable Lynne McNaughton spoke to the update.

The Task Force has had this mandate since May. All the changes shown on the map were an outcome of the responses to the questionnaire sent out to parishes.

A goal of the Task Force was to establish some consistency regarding the size of deaneries.

One of the key recommendations was based on flexibility. These boundaries should exist for a number of years, not indefinitely. There should be an ongoing awareness of shifts in population and sociological shifts. Having flexibility built-in to the process was important to the Task Force.

 In the recommendations, the Task Force has suggested 6 Archdeaconries increasing them by 1.

More accurate geographic names will be used for the Deaneries.
It is hoped that the new boundaries will be implemented before Synod 2014 which would see the new Archdeacons and Regional Deans for the new deaneries and new archdeaconry installed by the new Bishop at Synod.

 The Reverend Stephen Muir asked the question about whether there exists a definition of deanery. Why do we have them? What is their purpose?

The Venerable Johns Stephens responded to Stephen saying that smaller groupings answers the concerns expressed during the time of the Reconnect Task Force of parishes wanting to connect with one another. A connection through deaneries (groupings) will help that happen.

Granville-Point Grey Deanery representative Professor Elizabeth Hodgson said that in her experience life in the parish is very busy, there is a lot going on and Deanery events should be in the form of designated projects for mission and ministry.

The Reverend Clarence Li asked the question about the integration of Lutheran parishes into this discussion.

 Lynne handed out a list of the new deaneries and Archdeaconries with the proposed parishes.

At the November 2013 meeting, Diocesan Council will vote on these suggested changes.

Statistics and General Synod Representation.

The Venerable Lynne McNaughton spoke about how the gathering of diocesan statistics is the source for how the numbers of General Synod delegates and committees are formulated.

The D of NW’s representation at General Synod depends on the collection and tabulating of accurate attendance at Easter, Christmas, Pentecost and the Second Sunday of September.
The chancellor pointed out that every parish has a vestry book and that the attendance records should be in those books.

Prior to adjournment, Dean Peter Elliott spoke about the experience of our diocese during the TRC – Week of Reconciliation and he highlighted the extraordinary work of Melanie Delva in her role as archivist for the Province of the Ecclesiastical Province of BC and Yukon helping survivors and relatives through the material, photos and letters, some wonderful pastoral work.
He also said that he has asked the Reverend’s, Laurel Dykstra, Michael Batten and Clarence Li to continue their work on behalf of the diocese on issues relating to residential schools and residential school survivors, and to report back on follow-up and progress.

Adjournment at 9:45pm

 Next meeting: 6pm for sandwiches, 6:30 meeting convenes at St. Augustine, Marpole.

Images: Top and homepage, Archdeacon of Burrard, the Venerable Ellen Clark-King points out some changes on the map to the Reverend Vivian Lam and Valerie Casselton. Upper right, the co-chairs for the meeting, the Very Reverend Peter Elliott and George Cadman, QC. Upper-middle left, the new Clerical Secretary of Diocesan Council, the Reverend Andrew Halladay. Middle, Jack Blanchford, Dr. Starr Allaby and the Reverend David Price. Lower right, Professor Elizabeth Hodgson speaks with the Reverend Richard Leggett during the break. Lower left, the Venerable Lynne McNaughton points out boundary changes on the map.

Diocesan Council is the decision making, governing body of the Diocese of New Westminster consisting of: the Diocesan Officers (Bishop, Dean, Executive Archdeacon, Chancellor, Treasurer, Assistant Treasurer)
the Archdeacons of the five Archdeaconries
the Archdeacon who is the Director of Deacons, two additional Diocesan Legal Officers, (Registrar and Legal Assessor), a Lay Secretary, a Clergy Secretary, the chairs of the Diocesan Standing Committees
There are two Deanery reps either Ordained or Lay. Sometimes Deaneries have two lay reps and sometimes two clergy reps, sometimes one of each. A Deanery is a group of churches, geographically affiliated and the reps are elected at the Annual Synod Meeting.
Synod Staff also attend meetings but are not members of Diocesan Council. They include: Business Administrator, Stewardship and Planned Giving Officer, Comptroller, Youth Coordinator and Communications Officer (and other staff as required).
Diocesan Synod consists of all the active clergy in the Diocese of New Westminster and 2-6 lay people elected from each diocesan parish proportionate to the size of the parish community.
Diocesan Council functions as the Synod between Synods, it is a representation of the large group that meets annually.
Diocesan Council and Diocesan Synod are both chaired by the Bishop.
Diocesan Council meets monthly on the second Tuesday of the month usually at St. Augustine, Marpole at 7:30pm. Diocesan Council is adjourned for the months of July and August