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Thursday, June 07, 2007

Ta Da!


I am pleased to report that the Power Point presentation I prepared for the
Standing Committee of the Diocese of Newark is now available in PDF format here on
the Web Page of The Episcopal Church of St. Paul, Chatham, NJ.

Click on "Communications" and scroll to the bottom of the page to "Duties and
Responsibilities of The Standing Committee."

This link should take you directly there.

Please note: This is not a complete, much less exhaustive presentation of the Canons. Rather, it is my sense of them, the way I have come to think about them, the way I presented examples of them as an orientation to members of the Standing Committee.

I take full responsibility for the content of the presentation, even as I am deeply grateful for the sharp editorial eye of our chancellor, Diane Sammons, Esq., as well as the assistance of Cheryl Brocking, Secretary of Standing Committee.

The presentation is arranged in four categories or organizing principles:

Organic Interdependence
Organizational Structure
Council of Advice
Realm of Authority: in conjunction with and in the absence of the bishop


Another important component to note is that all "local" or "diocesan" canons refer, of course, to those in the Diocese of Newark. You will need to check with your own diocesan canons to see how they have modified or adapted national canons to your local situation.

Finally - These are just the application of the canons in terms of the Standing Committee. There's much, much, much more to the canons than this presentation and in this one aspect of our corporate life.

Please don't hesitate to give me feedback - positive or negative. This is my first attempt at anything like this, and when I tried to put something together as an orientation, I came up empty handed. I hope this proves to be helpful - or at least a springboard for future, even more helpful tools of understanding.

2 comments:

Muthah+ said...

Elizabeth,
Would that all SC's have such a clear teaching device to make clear what the work of the Standing Committee is. All too often the work of many diocesan commissions and committees happen without much notice and then decisions "from the diocese" come down as being unilateral. It is when our elected bodies maintain a kind of transparency that trust is built and and whole of the church functions better.
Brava, Hermana!

Paul (A.) said...

As to the Note on p. 10, NJ Rev Stat 16:12-16 gives this power to diocesan convention.

More to follow when time permits.