WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:08.480 Alright, so we're gonna really talk about polity, how it is that the church is run, in addition to leadership roles. 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:10.800 So let me start with leadership roles. 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:14.240 That is like who has ministry in the church? 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:26.960 And I have this really convenient diagram, and I want you to imagine that the actual piece of paper, this 8.5 by 11, that has no border, are all the lay people. 00:00:27.199 --> 00:00:28.960 That includes everybody here. 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:30.000 Right? 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:45.200 So what we say in the prayer book is that it the church is a ministry of lay people, some of whom are deacons, some of whom are priests, some of whom are bishops. 00:00:46.399 --> 00:00:49.600 But it's really important you hear it in that order. 00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:56.719 See, in the 28th prayer book, we said the Episcopal Church is a ministry of bishops, priests, deacons, and lay people. 00:00:56.960 --> 00:00:58.560 We got it wrong. 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:11.200 The church is a ministry of everybody, some of whom are called to be deacons, some of whom are called to be priests, even fewer are called to be bishops. 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:11.680 Okay? 00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:18.400 So maybe you're wondering, let me go from the inside, let me start at the beginning. 00:01:18.719 --> 00:01:21.519 What can lay people do in the church? 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:24.879 Everything except sacraments. 00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:27.920 Now, there's a caveat. 00:01:28.799 --> 00:01:31.599 Lay people, we talked about sacraments last week, right? 00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:35.040 And we talked about the sacrament of unction, where you can anoint people with oil. 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:36.560 Y'all can do that. 00:01:36.799 --> 00:01:38.560 You just can't bless the oil. 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:40.159 But you can do that one. 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:47.760 Otherwise, it's either a deacon, a priest, or a bishop doing the sacraments, right? 00:01:48.159 --> 00:01:51.120 So lay people can be readers. 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:56.719 They can bring communion to people who are at home, who are in facilities. 00:01:57.040 --> 00:01:59.040 Lay people should pray for people. 00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:05.040 Lay people should serve, because this is not a ministry of priest to lay people. 00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:09.360 It's a ministry we're all called to with different aspects. 00:02:09.599 --> 00:02:09.919 Okay? 00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:22.080 Now, we say, and we talked about this last week, ordination is one of the sacraments, and some people, as lay leaders, are called to be deacons. 00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:24.479 What do deacons do? 00:02:24.719 --> 00:02:25.680 It's a mystery. 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:34.800 What they're supposed to do is represent the voiceless to the church and the church to the voiceless. 00:02:35.039 --> 00:02:43.439 So that's their primary call, which means in general, the deacons I know who are really living into that call do Kairos prison ministry. 00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:50.879 They volunteer and they go and they build relationships to prisoners and their chaplains, right? 00:02:52.400 --> 00:02:54.800 They deal with migrant ministries. 00:02:55.120 --> 00:02:59.439 And they can do this for hire, like you can get paid, you can make a career of this, right? 00:03:00.400 --> 00:03:02.479 But that ain't why they're doing it. 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:15.840 They have this call, frankly, to social justice, and when it works right, I think the church says, we really need you to wear a collar because you make the church look good. 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:29.360 Your care for the voiceless and the powerless is exactly the kind of press the church needs, and we want folks to know you're doing it with our blessing and with our authority. 00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:35.039 So some people say, hey, I think I'm called to be a deacon. 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:40.879 I was delighted at my last church that this guy did prison ministry because his father had been incarcerated. 00:03:41.039 --> 00:03:43.439 Even though he was very successful, he'd been incarcerated. 00:03:43.599 --> 00:03:47.599 So he just did this, and the bishop said, We need you to be a deacon. 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:55.039 Like I don't I don't know if you've felt this, but we need people like you to wear the collar. 00:03:55.120 --> 00:03:58.719 And I'll tell you this the collar opens a lot of doors. 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:04.400 Like I can go to hospital, and nurses will violate HIPAA like that. 00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:08.639 They will tell me what's going on because there's a sacred trust. 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:11.840 They shouldn't, and it opens doors. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:13.840 And I'm grateful for that, right? 00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:14.800 Deacons. 00:04:15.039 --> 00:04:17.439 Now, what do deacons do in worship? 00:04:17.600 --> 00:04:20.800 They wear a sash, not a stole. 00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:24.480 Not because they're winning a beauty pageant, but let's think about that way. 00:04:24.720 --> 00:04:26.639 The most beautiful people serve others. 00:04:28.879 --> 00:04:31.519 They set the table, they read the gospel. 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:37.839 You'll notice we don't have anybody with a sash here, and that's because we only have one deacon in the whole convocation. 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:43.279 That's 12 churches that go from Pearland down to Galveston, from Alvin to Laporte. 00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:46.720 There's only one, and I don't even know if they're active. 00:04:47.199 --> 00:04:50.079 I'm gonna tell you we don't need deacons in worship. 00:04:50.399 --> 00:04:56.240 We need people to represent the love of God in places where we need the love of God represented. 00:04:56.399 --> 00:04:57.519 And that's what deacons do. 00:04:57.680 --> 00:05:02.959 Now, everybody who fits in one of these boxes starts as a deacon. 00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:04.959 So I was deaconed first. 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:07.040 That was my first ordination. 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:17.360 And then after a minimum of six months, people who are called to the priest box get a second ordination to become priest. 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:20.000 What do priests do? 00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:23.040 Well, see, you notice they live in the deacon box too. 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:31.120 So they're supposed to do all the stuff the deacon does, and then what we usually say is the priests do the ABCs. 00:05:32.240 --> 00:05:34.319 The priests absolve you. 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:39.920 The priests bless you, the priests do communion. 00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:43.040 The deacons absolve us. 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:48.319 The deacons bless us, and they can't do communion. 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:51.120 Those sound like minor differences. 00:05:51.279 --> 00:05:58.240 You might be wondering, well, geez, if priests do all the stuff deacons do, why would anybody want to be a deacon when you could just be a priest? 00:05:58.480 --> 00:06:01.920 It isn't about what we want, it's where we perceive God's calling us, right? 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:03.439 Why am I not a deacon? 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:05.040 Because I'd be depressed. 00:06:06.079 --> 00:06:10.959 I've done social justice ministry, and at the end of great things, I'm like, but I could have done more. 00:06:11.519 --> 00:06:18.160 So I need, in my personality, the reconciliation of the sacraments. 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:25.279 I need the Eucharist, I need to baptize, I need to hear your reconciliation and absolve you. 00:06:26.560 --> 00:06:27.519 I celebrate wedding. 00:06:28.079 --> 00:06:29.360 A deacon can do a wedding too. 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:30.800 I should have said that, right? 00:06:31.839 --> 00:06:36.240 Um with permission from their rector. 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:38.319 I'll talk about that in a second. 00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:47.519 So do you uh if you are a deacon, then do you have you already gone to seminary or you go to seminary? 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:49.199 Depends on your diocese. 00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:54.399 In this diocese, if you want to be a deacon, you need formal Christian education. 00:06:54.720 --> 00:07:02.399 The classical model for all of these ordinations is that you go to a residential seminary for three years. 00:07:03.199 --> 00:07:05.199 We have one in the Diocese of Texas. 00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:08.000 It's in Austin, it's called Seminary of the Southwest. 00:07:08.160 --> 00:07:12.800 So you spend three years, and typically you're in a degree that's called a Master's of Divinity. 00:07:12.959 --> 00:07:14.560 That's a professional degree. 00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:20.160 So it has academic courses, but it's meant to be practical, and it always includes an internship. 00:07:20.319 --> 00:07:23.120 Everywhere you go in the country, an MDiv has that. 00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:32.160 Deacons might get away, I don't mean get away, but they might get away with a Master of Arts and Religion or a Master of Sacred Theology. 00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:38.959 But in general, we want in the Episcopal Church, and let's be honest, we're a white-collar church. 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:42.079 We really are proud of education in our church. 00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:47.680 We want to send our clergy to be, well, religious professionals. 00:07:47.920 --> 00:07:54.319 Not to lord it over you, but so we can spend our time sharing with you what we've studied and learned. 00:07:54.720 --> 00:07:57.920 Including deacons, because deacons are going to teach. 00:07:58.079 --> 00:08:04.000 And deacons, my opinion, need to say, hey, we're not like doing this stuff to be nice. 00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:08.160 We're doing this stuff because the risen Lord compels us to do it. 00:08:08.399 --> 00:08:16.399 So sometimes we can say, Well, you know, if they'd made better decisions, those poor people wouldn't be poor. 00:08:16.560 --> 00:08:23.839 And the deacon needs to be able to say, do not despise the poor for their poverty, which comes out of the Psalms. 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:25.439 Right? 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:32.399 So when you see somebody in the Episcopal Church with a collar, trust that they're educated. 00:08:32.960 --> 00:08:36.799 Not that they know more than you, but they know different things from you. 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:37.600 Right? 00:08:37.840 --> 00:08:41.279 And I went to seminary because you weren't going to go. 00:08:41.519 --> 00:08:47.840 So I did it for you, and my opportunity is to share the TLDR with you. 00:08:49.120 --> 00:08:50.879 Some people say, where'd you get that idea? 00:08:51.039 --> 00:08:55.039 Well, I read nine books, and they were so boring. 00:08:56.799 --> 00:08:58.960 And each one had one sentence. 00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:03.279 And I spent all that time to give you nine sentences, right? 00:09:04.879 --> 00:09:06.240 That's how I see it. 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:06.879 Right? 00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:16.320 Now, um, so that's the ministry of the priesthood: justice and reconciliation and regular nourishment. 00:09:16.559 --> 00:09:16.879 Okay? 00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:23.840 And then the smallest box is that some priests are called to be bishops. 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:29.360 And bishops are not our rulers, God is our sovereign. 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:33.440 Bishops, I'll tell you more about the government in just a second. 00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:40.559 The real things the bishops do that I can't do are confirmation and ordination. 00:09:41.200 --> 00:09:48.080 So the bishops make priests and deacons, and they make other bishops, and the bishops do confirmation. 00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:56.480 I'm going to recommend you for confirmation, and Hector's going to bless you all, but I can't do the right myself. 00:09:57.200 --> 00:10:01.600 Now, uh, so does that sort of make sense? 00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:12.720 One of the ways we think about bishops, honestly, are being people who set a vision and have controls on clergy. 00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:18.080 We have five bishops in this diocese. 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:25.200 Three have real authority, and two work on behalf of the bishop with the authority. 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:31.039 So Hector and Brian cannot vote in anything. 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:32.559 They don't have vote. 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:35.360 They have voice at the House of Bishops, but they don't have vote. 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:37.120 And who are they, who do they obey? 00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:39.039 Andy Doyle, diocesan bishop. 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:44.080 So when Hector comes here, he's the one who will be doing confirmation, renewal, reception. 00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:47.840 Hector only exists at the pleasure of Andy Doyle. 00:10:50.320 --> 00:10:54.720 So he's an extension of Andy's ministry, if that makes sense. 00:10:54.960 --> 00:10:59.440 If Andy retires, if Andy gets tired of Hector, he's done. 00:11:01.039 --> 00:11:06.320 We have two other bishops who are called suffragans, and of course, like suffrage means to vote, right? 00:11:06.480 --> 00:11:08.080 That's Kay and Jeff. 00:11:08.559 --> 00:11:10.720 They vote at the House of Bishops. 00:11:11.039 --> 00:11:18.559 Andy can't fire them because they were elected by the diocese, but Andy's the governor and they're the deputies. 00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:20.799 If that makes sense. 00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:26.320 And this brings me to how the church is structured in these roles. 00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:26.879 Yes, sir. 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:28.320 Uh just a question. 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:34.480 So back to the two bishops that are like delegated that people or they work on behalf of the bishop. 00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:36.080 They're called bishop assistants. 00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:51.279 So when they're here doing blessings, is that like blessings that have been delegated by Andy, or are they able to like do it sort of themselves? 00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:52.320 That question makes sense. 00:11:52.559 --> 00:11:55.440 It's such a great question, and the answer is yes to both. 00:11:55.600 --> 00:11:55.840 Okay. 00:11:56.080 --> 00:12:06.000 Because having been not or not just ordained, but consecrated a bishop, they have all the rights and privileges of bishops as long as they're in good standing with the national church. 00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:12.159 That said, if they did a thing in Andy's diocese he didn't like, there could be repercussions. 00:12:12.639 --> 00:12:15.919 So it's meant to work sort of together. 00:12:16.240 --> 00:12:20.559 Now, what I want you to know, uh anybody been Methodist before? 00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:27.120 So in the Methodist Church, that's how the Church of England is structured. 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:28.720 Who we came from. 00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:43.039 In the Methodist Church, there's a bishop and there's a district superintendent, and then the elders, that's what they call their priests, the elders are appointed on theoretically a rotational basis. 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:52.000 Like an appointment supposed to last a maximum of five years, but truth be told, in the Methodist Church, if you're big enough and have enough money, you can keep your elder if you like them. 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:57.279 But supposed to be rotational, there's no tenure in the Methodist Church. 00:12:57.519 --> 00:12:58.879 That's how the Church of England works. 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:02.240 So, you know, the Archbishop of Canterbury, first woman ever. 00:13:02.480 --> 00:13:08.960 She wasn't elected, she was appointed by the head of the Anglican communion, who is the king. 00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:14.639 So we say that the Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of the church. 00:13:14.960 --> 00:13:17.039 The head of the church is the king. 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:23.919 He and our king, and he isn't the head of our church, but we're in communion with him. 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:25.919 Remember, we had the revolution, we broke away. 00:13:26.080 --> 00:13:32.879 Now, uh, that system of appointing bishops, that's how the Romans do it. 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:34.879 They're appointed. 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:38.639 In the Anglican church, they're appointed by the king. 00:13:38.960 --> 00:13:43.919 We decided when they had the revolutionary American Revolution, we didn't want appointing. 00:13:44.080 --> 00:13:46.240 We didn't want all the power in one box. 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:50.240 We wanted not a democracy, but a republic. 00:13:50.480 --> 00:13:50.799 Right? 00:13:50.960 --> 00:13:52.960 Everybody's clear we don't have a democracy, right? 00:13:53.039 --> 00:13:54.799 We have a republic in this country. 00:13:55.039 --> 00:13:56.159 And what do you know? 00:13:56.320 --> 00:14:05.360 The government of the Episcopal Church sounds a lot like the government of the United States, because the same people made both up. 00:14:05.840 --> 00:14:08.399 So here's how it works in the Episcopal Church. 00:14:08.559 --> 00:14:11.919 We have somebody called the presiding bishop. 00:14:12.159 --> 00:14:19.840 They're elected by their peers, bishops, and they have very little say over what happens in any diocese. 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:22.399 So there's a bunch of dioceses in Texas. 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:23.840 We've got how many, Courtney? 00:14:24.159 --> 00:14:24.639 Five? 00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:30.559 We've got Diocese of Texas, Diocese of Dallas, West Texas, Northwest Texas. 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:31.600 Is that what's just that four? 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:32.320 Just four now. 00:14:32.720 --> 00:14:37.840 So we got four, but the way you want to think about a diocese is like a state. 00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:40.159 Who's in charge of a state? 00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:43.919 A governor, and that's the diocesan bishop. 00:14:44.559 --> 00:15:01.360 The diocesan bishop is elected at a council that includes all the lay people and all the clergy, and every diocese has to have one of those every year, where they hear, here's our budget for the state, which is like the diocese, right? 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:07.200 And here are the people the bishop is appointing because she or he is allowed to just appoint them. 00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:12.559 Here are the people we need to elect to be on executive board or standing committee, right? 00:15:12.799 --> 00:15:16.559 So the bishop can't just do anything they want, nor can the governor. 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:22.240 Some gov, you know, governor can do some things, governor needs permission to do other things, right? 00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:24.080 Kind of like the diocese. 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:30.960 It's a little interesting that in the Episcopal Church, the diocesan bishop is the diocese. 00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:33.120 That's a little confusing. 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:37.279 Andy wears the seal of the diocese, which is shaped like an eye. 00:15:37.440 --> 00:15:38.879 Back in the Middle Ages, right? 00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:40.960 If you were a knight, you had a shield. 00:15:41.200 --> 00:15:45.759 To differentiate us from warrior classes, we got the double shield, like the eyeball. 00:15:45.919 --> 00:15:51.919 He wears that ring because he waxed seals, ordinations. 00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:54.960 Old school, old fashioned. 00:15:55.120 --> 00:16:01.600 When Andy Doyle goes to Hong Kong for the House of Bishops, the Diocese of Texas just went to Hong Kong. 00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:05.840 All the property of the diocese belongs to the bishop. 00:16:06.159 --> 00:16:08.639 Not personally, but in his office. 00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:10.480 This one's so big, right? 00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:13.200 He set up a corporation to manage that. 00:16:13.279 --> 00:16:20.879 So he's divested some of his direct liability by signing the deeds. 00:16:21.039 --> 00:16:25.039 But he holds the deed to our church, which we built and paid for. 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:28.159 But the diocese holds that deed, right? 00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:32.559 Because every church is an extension of the bishop's ministry. 00:16:34.559 --> 00:16:36.960 So what can the bishop do? 00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:41.360 About anything they want, except break the law. 00:16:41.759 --> 00:16:43.279 What if they break the law? 00:16:43.519 --> 00:16:48.480 Well, it's really clear that if the bishop racks up some DWIs, they're going to prison. 00:16:48.799 --> 00:16:52.559 Really hard to exercise your ministry in prison. 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:55.120 So likely that will be the end of it. 00:16:56.559 --> 00:17:03.440 And they have to be tried by an ecclesiastical court of their peers according to canon law. 00:17:05.039 --> 00:17:09.680 So there's the bishop diocesan. 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:18.960 Under the bishop diocesan and the government, we have two kinds of churches: a parish, we're a parish, and a mission. 00:17:19.279 --> 00:17:20.480 What's the difference? 00:17:20.720 --> 00:17:26.640 Well, a parish typically pays all of their own expenses, their lights. 00:17:26.799 --> 00:17:28.400 We don't pay property tax, right? 00:17:28.480 --> 00:17:36.480 But we pay our light bill, we pay salaries to our staff, and we pay something called a diocesan assessment. 00:17:36.640 --> 00:17:54.799 That is like we pay, well, it's roughly 10% of our annual budget, we send straight to the diocese to fund diocesan ministries, to fund things like, well, the bishop's salary and the bishop's secretary's salary, but also to pay for things like the salary of people who work at St. 00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:55.920 Vincent's house. 00:17:56.319 --> 00:17:59.119 That's a ministry of the diocese. 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:09.279 So when you're able to kind of do that with some regularity financially, you get to be a parish and the priest who is. 00:18:09.920 --> 00:18:12.720 It sounds funny, but let's just go ahead and lean into this. 00:18:12.799 --> 00:18:14.960 We're a hierarchical church in government. 00:18:15.119 --> 00:18:17.359 The priest over a parish is called a rector. 00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:18.480 That's me. 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:20.000 And guess what rector means? 00:18:20.079 --> 00:18:21.200 It means I'm right. 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:23.680 Talk about hierarchy. 00:18:23.839 --> 00:18:26.079 In the absence of the bishop, I'm right. 00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:29.599 So if somebody says, why are we veiling the cross? 00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:30.640 It's not Lent. 00:18:30.799 --> 00:18:31.680 We shouldn't do that. 00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:32.559 You can't do that. 00:18:32.640 --> 00:18:35.759 Well, we sure can, because the rector said we're doing it. 00:18:37.039 --> 00:18:43.279 It's not meant to be exercised over people, but if push comes to show, that's how it goes, right? 00:18:43.599 --> 00:18:47.039 A rector has tenure. 00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:51.599 So what do you do if you don't like your rector? 00:18:52.160 --> 00:18:53.680 You hope they leave. 00:18:54.880 --> 00:18:56.799 Can you make them leave? 00:18:57.359 --> 00:18:57.680 No. 00:18:58.160 --> 00:18:59.119 You can't. 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:01.599 Can the bishop make me leave? 00:19:02.480 --> 00:19:02.799 No. 00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:05.359 Unless I commit a crime. 00:19:06.799 --> 00:19:08.880 So you gotta be careful who you call as your priest. 00:19:09.039 --> 00:19:09.519 Let's just say that. 00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:10.480 How's your rector? 00:19:10.799 --> 00:19:11.359 Right? 00:19:11.680 --> 00:19:22.160 And I also represent the bishop in his absence, which sort of means, right, if somebody comes on the property I don't like, I can call the police and say they're trespassing or move them. 00:19:22.400 --> 00:19:29.119 And the police, sorry, have to obey because I'm sort of the absentee landlord for the bishop. 00:19:31.119 --> 00:19:34.720 When we carry this power heavily, it's bad for everybody. 00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:35.279 Right. 00:19:35.440 --> 00:19:38.880 But I just want to tell you this is kind of how we've how we've arrived. 00:19:39.119 --> 00:19:45.519 The rector can hire, with the bishop's permission, another priest to be an associate. 00:19:45.599 --> 00:19:46.319 That's Sean. 00:19:47.039 --> 00:19:48.640 Sean does not have tenure. 00:19:50.480 --> 00:19:54.559 And in fact, if like I went somewhere else, Sean probably be leaving too. 00:19:55.759 --> 00:19:57.920 Not to go with me, right? 00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:01.359 But needs the bishop's permission to stay in place. 00:20:01.839 --> 00:20:04.400 And if I have tenure, he doesn't. 00:20:06.400 --> 00:20:09.279 So he works at the pleasure of the record. 00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:17.279 Well, till I turn 72 or till I terminate it myself. 00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:21.119 So you can't make me stay and you can't make me leave. 00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:25.279 You can make it so unpleasant I want to leave. 00:20:26.720 --> 00:20:31.599 If we're not doing well, you can trim my salary till I choose to go, right? 00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:37.039 Although you can't just trim it willy-nilly because that sets a dangerous precedent, right? 00:20:37.279 --> 00:20:39.359 I mean, I'll tell you the church I grew up in. 00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:44.319 If I preached a sermon, I I could be fired that same day if they didn't like it. 00:20:44.640 --> 00:20:47.920 So what's the tenure system protect my conscience? 00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:51.359 Intellectual freedom. 00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:56.000 And it also protects me not visiting sick people, which is too bad, right? 00:20:56.079 --> 00:21:00.000 But we've we've decided to err on protecting the conscience of the priest. 00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:02.160 Everything's got pros and cons. 00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:02.640 Yeah. 00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:06.720 But you can be like there are like Title IV, you're gonna talk about it. 00:21:06.960 --> 00:21:17.839 If I commit a crime, I mean, listen, I told you last time I'm ordained by God, not by the bishop, and yet the bishop can say, you can't serve sacraments in my diocese, and all of a sudden I'm unemployable. 00:21:18.079 --> 00:21:23.119 So how do I lose my ability to exercise my priesthood? 00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:31.359 Uh I steal money, I have an affair, I get a DWI, some other crime in which I'm incarcerated, right? 00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:35.920 There's a provision called conduct unbecoming a clergy person. 00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:40.079 I don't think that means running around without a shirt. 00:21:40.160 --> 00:21:45.440 I do that often in this neighborhood, and I have not had an ecclesiastical council. 00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:52.559 But even in that case, it's not only the bishop, there's a disciplined committee and they vote. 00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:54.160 And like I get a case. 00:21:54.240 --> 00:21:57.200 I'll tell you in general, we're guilty until we're proven innocent. 00:21:57.359 --> 00:21:59.680 But that's that but there is a there's a trust. 00:22:01.440 --> 00:22:02.880 Sounds like the Constitution, right? 00:22:02.960 --> 00:22:04.319 Because we thought that up too. 00:22:05.839 --> 00:22:07.279 What about a mission? 00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:10.000 A mission could be a church plant. 00:22:10.400 --> 00:22:17.359 It could be a place that's paying its own bills, but it's not quite paying a diocesan assessment, right? 00:22:17.680 --> 00:22:20.640 So they don't get a rector, they get a vicar. 00:22:21.200 --> 00:22:28.480 The vicar is appointed by the bishop and can be removed according to the bishop's will. 00:22:29.839 --> 00:22:32.319 Rarely does the bishop just say, you're stuck with this person. 00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:34.400 Oh, you like them, too bad, I'm taking them away. 00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:36.400 I mean, usually we exercise these things. 00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:41.759 But in terms of like the way the letter is written, that's how missions work. 00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:44.240 Some places are always going to be missions. 00:22:44.720 --> 00:22:48.480 Lord of the streets will always be a mission, because guess who their congregation's made up? 00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:49.920 Homeless people, right? 00:22:50.079 --> 00:22:58.079 So they're going to be a mission, and they've got a vicar, and usually, as long as the vicar is like keeping their nose clean, it's going to be fine. 00:22:58.160 --> 00:22:59.759 And Brad's been great there, right? 00:22:59.839 --> 00:23:03.279 So that's one of our probably perpetual missions. 00:23:03.599 --> 00:23:07.599 Sometimes a parish will become a mission and then become a parish. 00:23:07.759 --> 00:23:12.400 Like you can go up and down according to demographic shifts. 00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:14.799 That can happen. 00:23:15.440 --> 00:23:20.559 Scary to become a mission if you like your priest, because that means you can't control whether they stay. 00:23:21.119 --> 00:23:25.200 Although, you don't like your rector and you become a mission, they're not a rector anymore. 00:23:25.279 --> 00:23:25.519 Right? 00:23:25.599 --> 00:23:28.720 So there's some thought. 00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:34.880 A parish like ours has a vestry. 00:23:35.440 --> 00:23:43.759 A mission has a bishop's committee who advises the bishop as to the finances and the missional nature of the place. 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:51.920 Our vestry, their role as sort of a board of directors, is to vest their rector. 00:23:53.920 --> 00:23:58.960 Like I wear a vest mint, the vestry is meant to vest me. 00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:05.359 So if you think that a board of directors is there to control the priest, you've got it wrong. 00:24:05.599 --> 00:24:12.079 The vestry is to support the priest in their ministry, and boy, when it doesn't go well, it gets ugly. 00:24:12.799 --> 00:24:15.599 And I'm going to say about 25 years ago at St. 00:24:15.759 --> 00:24:18.319 Thomas, it got real ugly. 00:24:18.640 --> 00:24:20.240 I don't know that any of you were here. 00:24:20.400 --> 00:24:26.319 It got so ugly that members of the vestry would wait, say every vestry meeting we have at St. 00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:29.200 Thomas, longtime tradition, we start with communion. 00:24:29.440 --> 00:24:39.119 And there was so much enmity between the rector and members of the church that some of the vestry would wait till communion was over to come into the meeting because they weren't going to have it from their own priest. 00:24:40.319 --> 00:24:42.400 Andy Doyle was canon to the ordinary. 00:24:42.480 --> 00:24:43.920 I'll talk about that in a second. 00:24:44.160 --> 00:24:46.640 And he came down and said, Vestry, you're all fired. 00:24:46.960 --> 00:24:48.799 The bishop has fired you. 00:24:49.599 --> 00:24:51.599 And we had to elect a new vestry. 00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:52.480 Why? 00:24:52.640 --> 00:24:56.160 When you won't take the sacrament from your own priest, there's something wrong. 00:24:56.400 --> 00:24:56.799 Right? 00:24:56.960 --> 00:24:59.440 So we've known dysfunction here. 00:24:59.920 --> 00:25:01.599 I like to think we've learned from. 00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:05.200 How do you elect the uh vestry? 00:25:05.680 --> 00:25:06.480 So glad you asked. 00:25:06.559 --> 00:25:13.839 The way we elect the vestry is every year, and it'll happen at the end of January, we have what's called the annual meeting. 00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:17.359 Now, here's where we're a Republican democracy. 00:25:18.160 --> 00:25:20.720 Um I can make any budget I want. 00:25:20.960 --> 00:25:24.880 The congregation and the vestry both have to pass it for it to be a thing. 00:25:25.039 --> 00:25:28.240 So at the annual meeting, we will pass a budget. 00:25:28.640 --> 00:25:31.680 We will also elect members to the vestry. 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:36.240 Now, in the past, it's been open elections. 00:25:36.319 --> 00:25:39.440 Like here's five people and you need to vote for four. 00:25:39.759 --> 00:25:48.400 And probably for 12 years we haven't done that way because boy, it sure reminds me of middle school, five people running for four, and you were willing to serve your church and you lost. 00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:49.680 That's not a great feeling. 00:25:49.839 --> 00:25:58.559 So typically the way we've done it here is the outgoing vestry members nominate folks who are willing to serve, and we elect a slate. 00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:04.319 There's no rule in the canons how we do it, but they're elected. 00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:06.319 Elected to do what? 00:26:07.279 --> 00:26:13.759 The vestry's job, as I mentioned, is to support the rector, and the things that they control are the purse only. 00:26:15.359 --> 00:26:19.519 I control the property, the vestry controls the purse. 00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:27.279 So if I say, hey guys, I really think we need money to build a statue of a golden bucky beaver. 00:26:28.480 --> 00:26:30.400 That's not in the budget. 00:26:30.880 --> 00:26:33.119 Then I'm going to the vestry for that. 00:26:33.359 --> 00:26:34.720 And hopefully they'll say no. 00:26:34.880 --> 00:26:37.519 I mean, I'm just hoping they'd say no, right? 00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:39.680 Stranger things have happened, but not here. 00:26:39.839 --> 00:26:44.000 So, so um, and how's the vestry supposed to work? 00:26:44.079 --> 00:26:49.599 Remember, we're a Republican democracy, so the vestries don't interview their constituents. 00:26:50.079 --> 00:26:52.880 Vestry members vote their conscience before God. 00:26:53.279 --> 00:26:57.920 You're electing people to vote their conscience on your behalf. 00:26:58.240 --> 00:27:06.559 You may not like how they vote, which means think who you're electing, right, when we elect that slate. 00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:09.440 A vestry term tends to be three years. 00:27:09.519 --> 00:27:16.640 The vestry has officer positions like a clerk who not only takes minutes at the meetings but signs diocesan documents. 00:27:16.799 --> 00:27:25.279 We have a treasurer, you don't have to be on the vestry to be the treasurer, and our treasurer isn't, which I love because we can keep them for more than three years. 00:27:26.079 --> 00:27:27.519 Which means there's continuity. 00:27:28.480 --> 00:27:30.160 How do we protect that continuity? 00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:31.839 We have an audit every year. 00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:34.319 So we those are our checks and balances. 00:27:34.559 --> 00:27:45.119 We have a junior warden who at some churches is in charge of the facilities, but I don't know anybody wanting to do that except Herb Meyer, so he's just the facility chair and he's not on the vestry. 00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:47.920 Helps that he's been the senior warden like three times. 00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:50.400 Um but Herb does this fantastically. 00:27:50.559 --> 00:27:55.200 So you've heard me say it from up front, we don't have a parish administrator. 00:27:55.519 --> 00:27:58.559 We decided we'd rather spend the money on mission. 00:27:58.720 --> 00:28:05.920 So we have volunteers maintain our fire system and our HVAC and our odds and ends. 00:28:06.240 --> 00:28:09.039 We don't employ someone to do it, volunteers do that. 00:28:09.680 --> 00:28:13.680 And then we have somebody called the senior warden who's like the chair of the board. 00:28:13.839 --> 00:28:18.480 The rector picks the senior warden, the vestry elects the junior warden. 00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:27.359 If I get hit by a car or go to jail, the senior warden is the fiduciary responsibility of the church in absence of the bishop and the rector. 00:28:27.759 --> 00:28:34.000 Which means, right, while I'm on vacation or something, John McFather's in charge of St. 00:28:34.079 --> 00:28:35.440 Thomas, not Sean Steele. 00:28:41.279 --> 00:28:41.440 St. 00:28:41.680 --> 00:28:45.119 Thomas Vestry is a really nice place. 00:28:45.920 --> 00:28:54.240 In ten and a half years, I've had two uncomfortable meetings, and it's not because we didn't get along with each other, it's because we had strong feelings about what we needed to do. 00:28:54.960 --> 00:28:59.599 When we closed the school, it was not one of those meetings. 00:29:00.319 --> 00:29:04.000 It was thoughtful and painful, and we didn't fight. 00:29:04.240 --> 00:29:07.599 So we've had two tough meetings in ten and a half years. 00:29:07.759 --> 00:29:14.000 So what Rini says is vestry, on vestry, fun is one of our core values, damn it. 00:29:14.160 --> 00:29:16.960 And uh we have sort of decided that vestry is a fun time. 00:29:17.119 --> 00:29:20.480 We don't just talk about the purse, we talk about mission. 00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:30.640 And one of the things that Hal gave us being on Vestry is that each vestry person writes a report on an area of ministry prior to the meeting so that we can stay updated. 00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:31.200 And what do you know? 00:29:31.359 --> 00:29:33.599 That makes the meetings last less than an hour. 00:29:34.160 --> 00:29:38.960