Mission first
A message at wardens' day
by Ana Watts
“Our spiritual obligations come first. I know it’s tough to put mission first in your parish, especially when the power company is threatening, but if we are right with our mission, the rest will look after itself,” Bishop Claude Miller told 89 participants in Wardens Day in Sussex on Saturday, April 22.
Mission and proclamation of the Gospel are the focus of Bishop Miller’s episcopacy and were the focus of his message to wardens at the fifth annual Wardens Day. Total of 89 representatives of 45 of the diocese’s 84 parishes registered for the event, organized this year by the Diocesan Council’s Parish Support and Development Team.
“In the past, this event was organized by the Synod Office –– by a few people already worked off their feet,” said the bishop. “This year some wonderful lay people, exercising their gifts and talents, did the work and we have a much better product.”
Donna Dobbin, a warden in the Parish of Gondola Point agreed this Wardens Day was a great one. She should know, it was her fourth. “I always learn something new and useful,” she said.Several other wardens nodded in agreement and echoed her compliments with comments like “very informative” and “good information.”
One or two made mental notes to change some of their practices. “Used to be, if I saw something needed fixing, I fixed it. Now I guess I better tell vestry about it,” said David Steele, a warden in Petitcodiac.
Many wardens in the diocese face some difficult choices in their parishes these days. Recent statistics reveal that 22 of the diocese’s 84 parishes, or about 25 per cent, cannot afford a full-time rector.
“There was a time when six or seven of the diocese’s 85 parishes struggled financially and the diocese had enough money, through contributions from the other parishes, to keep those struggling parishes afloat,” the bishop told the wardens. “Today there are 22 parishes that cannot afford a full-time rector, and the resources available to the diocese are no longer sufficient to prop them up. This is cause for a lot of worry and fear.”Rumours flourish in an atmosphere of worry and fear. The bishop put to rest a rumour about an unwritten ‘Fredericton agenda.’”
“Our agenda is to proclaim of Gospel of Jesus Christ and to serve the parishes,” he said. “When parishes are weak, the diocese is weak, when the dioceses are weak, the national church is weak. It all rests on the parishes.
“Things have changed and they will continue to change. We have to keep re-evaluating, but we know this: The future of the church doesn’t reside in the rector or the bishop, it resides in us all. We need creative solutions to some of our problems. We are all called into service by virtue of our baptism.”
Wardens Day began with a Eucharist and featured several informative workshops and plenary sessions. Former Diocesan Chancellor Fred Nicholson offered an overview of the Officer's Handbook in light of recent changes to the diocesan constitution and canons. The Rev. Canon David Kierstead led a workshop on property management and Keith Dow discussed parish leadership and communication in light of relationships and integrity.
Archdeacon Geoffrey Hall and finance committee chair Murray Arnott fielded questions during a “matters financial” question and answer period. They filled in for diocesan treasurer Canon Fred Scott, who was unable to attend because of a family emergency.
