Search Committee News
The Nominating Committee
May, 2011
The Nominating Committee consists of the Senior Warden (Spike Panilaitis) and the Junior Warden (Chuck McGrane), the Interim Rector (Pat Stelz), Judy Bratt from the 8 a.m. service and Sandy DeFazio from the 10 a.m. service. They met for the first time on Sunday, May 8, 2011.
The task of the Nominating Committee is to come up with criteria for choosing parishioners to serve on the Search Committee for the new rector, to communicate these criteria to the parish, and to set up a time to present the names to the parish. The criteria are listed below and are designed to select a Search Committee that will represent the parish as a whole. Parishioners are asked to prayerfully consider the criteria before presenting names of parishioners that they feel will serve the parish in the process to call our next rector.
The Search Committee will consist of 9 members of the parish plus the senior and junior warden. Everyone whose name is presented will not be able to serve on the Search Committee because the Nominating Committee will be choosing 9 people plus the wardens and those 9 people need to represent the parish. We hope that if the person you suggested is not selected to be on the Search Committee, you will understand and prayerfully support the people that have been asked to serve.
The other task of the Nominating Committee is to get the names approved by the vestry and then to invite the parish together to present the names of the Search Committee. First the list of 9 names plus the Senior and Junior Warden will be presented to the vestry for their approval. After the vestry approves the list of names, the Nominating Committee will then present the slate to the parish on June 19th and ask you to affirm the 9 names they have chosen to represent you.
Deadline for submitting names to the Nominating Committee is Sunday, June 5, 2011. The vestry reviews and confirms the slate and authorizes the Nominating Committee to bring the names before the parish. The names will be posted in the bulletin and on the web site on Sunday, June 12th.
Your sisters and brothers in Christ,
The Nominating Committee
Judy Bratt jbratt@hamdenhall.org (860-274-3351)
Sandra DeFazio (860-274-5397)
Chuck McGrane cmcgrane@northeastbuilders.com (860-274-6118)
Spike Panilaitis (860-274-0021)
Pat Stelz aeinterim@att.net (484-356-8119)
Criteria for Search Committee
1. Wardens are ex-officio members of the Calling Committee.
2. No clergy or parish staff members; they carry conflicts of interest into the work of the calling committee.
3. Nine members will be chosen. Too few can put too much work on too few; too many may become unwieldy and prolong the process.
4. Balance with respect to such factors as age, sex, race, activities and length of time in the congregation.
5. No two members from the same household or family.
6. Regular worshippers, members of the Episcopal Church, with a track record of support of the parish.
7. Each member able to work well in a group, get promised work done on time, and keep confidences (even from a spouse).
8. Each member able to listen and be open to new perspectives, views and ideas respecting established and new traditions.
The following people have been selected by the nominating committee and appointed by the vestry to the search committee. These selections were affirmed by the parish on Sunday June 12th.
The members of the committee are:
Bob Baron Theresa Gorman
Linda Caesar David Jean
Ann Kuegler Karen Langin
Will Palmer Ashley Taylor
Alma York Colleen Mailhot
Ex officio Members:
Spike Panilaitis Chuck McGrane
Senior Warden Junior Warden
As most of you are probably aware, a parish gathering was held at 4:00pm on Sunday, September 18th. This is really the first step in the search process (if you don’t count the formation and parish approval of the search committee). For those who are not familiar with this event, a word of explanation.
As the search revs up, it is important that a complete picture of our parish is developed. When a group representing long-time members, those new to the All Saints’, and everyone in between gather and hear what others remember of our history, a picture of who we were and who we are now is developed. Newer members are able to learn where we have been and all members can contribute their thoughts on where we see the parish now. This event is important to the calling of a new minister.
Linda Caesar
November 9, 2011
Search committee update
We began our official duties on September 18th at the “tell our story” dinner. Thanks to all who attended and gave input to help us on our journey. Moving on, we meet each Sunday on our walk to a new minister. Our next commission will be to ask the entire congregation to take a few minutes to fill out an anonymous survey. This will assist us in determining what the whole of the congregation would like in a new minister, with the help of each of you, and god we hope to find a spiritual leader to guide us into the future.
We will be having Survey Sunday in conjunction with our November breakfast on the 20th. Please try to join us and fill out the survey so everyone will have a voice. Surveys will be available in the hallway on November 20th.
In the coming months we will be compiling all your information and working on our church profile. Our journey is expected to average a year and information will be updated as needed. Look to the reporter and our website for progress updates. Suggestions or information is welcome by seeking out any member of the committee; however information compiled will be on a need to know basis for privacy purposes.
Please pray for us and with us.
Thank You,
The Search Committee
The parish survey is complete. you can see the results on the jump page
Parish Search Process Report January 2012
The Parish Search Committee members are Bob Baron, Linda Caesar, Theresa Gorman, David Jean, Ann Kuegler, Karen Langin, Colleen Mailhot, Will Palmer, Ashley Taylor, and Alma York. The Senior Warden, Spike Panilaitis, and the Junior Warden, Chuck McGrane, are ex-officio members. Our Diocesan Consultant is Denise Holl. We have been given the opportunity by the parish of laying the ground work necessary to be completed before the vestry can call a rector to All Saints’. Since our first meeting, the well-attended “pot luck” event on September 18th, we have met nearly every Sunday evening.
Our first duty was to determine guidelines for our meetings so that each member would feel confident that he/she could express an opinion openly. We have been able to come together as a committee that intends to work in a spirit of hope and consensus on the many decisions we have made to this point and on those to come.
In the following weeks we learned about the search process itself. Denise led us through the entire process, an expected time line, and explained about the point at which we hand our work over to the vestry. We discussed a budget and estimated a number in dollars that the parish would need to complete the process of calling a rector including expenses leading up to and including moving our next rector to All Saints’. A sum of $10,000.00 has been allocated in this year’s budget.
With those items completed we began to plan our parish survey in October. We first studied other parish surveys and then began working to compose one for All Saints’. We worked diligently in order to meet a self-imposed deadline of completion by November 20th, the usual third Sunday breakfast. We felt it was important to have it handed out by this date so we could have it back and the answers tallied before the Christmas holidays.
We are happy to report that out of the 155 surveys handed out, we received back 90 surveys. This is a 58% return, which, as surveys go, is a very good response. We thank all parishioners who spent time to thoughtfully answer the survey and get it back to us by the deadline. One of the first things we discovered is that if we want parishioners to use our website frequently, we need to advertise our website often and in a variety of places! Beginning January 1st our website address and our e-mail address are in the bulletin.
We met on Wednesday, January 4th, and began studying the answers that you provided on the survey concerning all facets of our parish. Shortly you will be hearing about the results and our plans to meet with parishioners and discuss important information we learned from your survey answers that will be helpful in the next step which is to begin composing a parish profile. This parish profile will contain an abundance of current information about our parish and the Watertown/Oakville community. Any minister interested in our parish will be able to use this information to study about us: who we are as a Christian community, what we look for in a rector and what he/she can expect from us. It is one of the most important documents we will produce and we will use the survey results to help us give as accurate and complete a picture as we are able.
The committee wants to thank the parish for your interest in our work and we remind you that we will be asking for your input again in the near future. We know that the committee members and the vestry can continue to count on your cooperation as we continue to work toward the goal of calling our next rector and we ask you to continue in your prayers for a successful completion. Your Search Committee