Vestryman's Guide' Now Going to Senior Wardens
Diocesan Press Service. September 21, 1972 [72127]
NEW YORK, N. Y. -- A grant by The Episcopal Church Foundation making possible the distribution of complimentary copies of the just-published manual, "A Vestryman's Guide," to senior wardens of all 7 ,500 Episcopal parish vestries in the United States was announced here by Henry S. Noble, Foundation president.
The guide, also underwritten by the Foundation, undertakes to clarify the role of the vestry. "This guide is a valuable tool for all vestry members, churchwardens and rectors," Mr. Noble said. "It sets up guidelines for meeting specific problems and also suggests the practical boundaries within which vestry members may define their own organizational pattern."
In his foreword Presiding Bishop John E. Hines said: "No two parishes are alike, and each vestry will interpret its role in the light of its own tradition and personality. The fact that each parish is unique does not mean, however, that certain problems are not common to all.
"This manual sets up signposts to guide a vestry in meeting those problems," Bishop Hines continued. "I am happy to commend it."
"A Vestryman's Guide" was written by Foundation Vice President V. S. Bowen with the guidance and counsel of experts in Episcopal canon law and in parish renewal and administration. The 64-page book, published by Seabury Press, official publishing house of the Episcopal Church, costs $1.25 per copy.
Included in the book are chapters on the duties of the vestry; parish structure, program and administration; the roles of rectors and bishops; history and background of the parish vestry; calling a rector; church organization and statistics, and excerpts from canon law.
The Episcopal Church Foundation is an independent, national organization of laymen that initiates and underwrites programs in support of the work of the whole church.