(Highlights of the Sep. 30, 2019 vestry Meeting)

Holy Cow! Diocesan Canon for Congregational Life, Jim Gettel, spent about an hour with the Vestry at an off-site meeting on September 30th. The meeting was postponed to this date to accommodate Canon Gettel’s schedule and held offsite because the Jewish High Holy Days were happening at our shared building.

Canon Gettel led a bible study and explained that “Holy Cow” is the name of a consulting company that specializes in assisting congregations in transition between pastors. The company offers a customizable survey instrument designed to provide a picture of the congregation that will assist in writing a parish profile, a necessary first step in calling a new rector. Canon Gettel explained that the survey consists of a core set of questions to which focused modules may be added. The consultants will even help write questions to add if the modules don’t address a perceived need.

Vestry member, Mike Meyer, was drafted as liaison to Holy Cow in the design and implementation of the survey. A lot more information on this next step in the transition process will be forthcoming very soon.

Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head (Part II). Jack Petersen, Genesis Board President, reviewed roof repair costs for the Genesis building. The Vestry approved a proposal of about $35,000 to repair several areas of roof on the Genesis building. (Our sister congregation, Temple Beth Emeth, separately approved an equal amount.) The cost of the proposal will be offset by a grant from the Diocese and a gift from member Jack Morris. So, raindrops won’t keep falling on my head.

Cooling Hot Conversations. A workshop on how to have difficult conversations without losing one’s cool was funded when the Vestry approved an Endowment Board proposal to that effect.

The St. Francis Chapel Altar Cross. A large, antique processional cross was deemed too large for the top of the St. Francis altar, where it had been. It thus became surplus. The question then became what to do with it. The Vestry decided to determine its value, and received a recommendation to inquire whether St. Peter’s Anglian Church (Mirebalais, Haiti) would like to have it. The Vestry asked that we inquire with St. Peter’s first, and if they are open to the gift, arrange for transportation during St. Clare’s next Haiti mission trip.