Vestry - Lay Leadership

VESTRY OFFICERS

Barry Meigs, Senior Warden

Rose Lynch, Junior Warden

Cecily Fink, Treasurer

VESTRY MEMBERS

Joe Carbone

Sarah Dougherty

Lisa Houston

Carole Lane

Edward Moore

Gill Romano

Kelly Stecher

Connie Summers

Philip Jolas

About Leadership and Governance at Saint Gabriel 

What are the roles of the vestry, the wardens, and the treasurer?

The vestry is the governing board of a local Episcopal parish: an elected group of representatives charged with the administrative and fiscal management of the parish, its funds and physical property, and with working in tandem with the clergy to develop the spiritual direction of the church. They are leaders in the parish, but their role is to help facilitate the ministry of the members, rather than to perform it on their behalf.

At Saint Gabriel, our bylaws specify a vestry consisting of nine members. Vestry members are elected in groups of three to staggered three-year terms. In addition to the elected members of the vestry, parish leadership includes two “wardens.” The roles of the wardens vary between Episcopal churches, but in general the Senior Warden is charged with direct care of the clergy and with leadership of the vestry. In addition, in the absence of a Rector, the Senior Warden presides over the parish. The Junior Warden is generally given responsibility for the physical property and buildings of the church and is often the liaison to the buildings and grounds committee. At Saint Gabriel, our wardens work together as a leadership team to direct the work of the vestry and to care for both the clergy and membership. Wardens are elected to one-year terms. All elections take place at the parish’s annual meeting which is held each year in January. There are term limits of one 3-year terms for vestry and three one-year terms for wardens.

Parochial leadership in the Episcopal Church is shared between the rector (pastor) and the vestry, an elected group of representatives charged with the administrative and fiscal management of the parish. 

The treasurer is appointed by the vestry to provide financial oversight of church finances, to sign checks, to reconcile the financial records monthly and annually, and to chair (or serve on) the finance committee. The treasurer presents a monthly financial report to the vestry and assists with the annual appointment of an audit review committee.

What is the role of the rector?

According to the Canons (rules of the Church) the rector is responsible for the church’s worship and spiritual life, selects and oversees all assisting clergy, has use and control of all buildings and furnishings, growing communicants and new members in a knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, the doctrine, discipline and worship of the Church, providing stewardship education, preparation for baptism and confirmation, and any number of other tasks that help the church run well.

Most importantly, the Rector introduces people to Jesus Christ, prays for them, visits them in time of need, shares in the sacramental life of the church as presider and officiant, represents Christ in the world with members of the congregations, and seeks to bring the message of God’s grace and life-changing love to all, near and far.

Who makes decisions about how the church's money is spent?

At Saint Gabriel, our budget has both fixed and flexible expenses. Our fixed expenses receive the preponderance of the church’s money. Areas where this impacts us most are buildings and grounds (keeping the lights on), personnel and compensation of clergy and lay staff members, and our diocesan outreach – a mandatory giving of 10% of our plate and pledge income to the Office of the Bishop of Colorado.

Our ministry programs receive funds to support the four core areas of the church’s life – Worship, Children, youth and family, Servanthood and Relationships. The Vestry seeks to be “permission giving” and so entrusts funds to the ministry leaders within these four core areas, with oversight provided by the vestry and input from the treasurer and finance committee when needed. (The finance committee is also responsible for conducting annual audit reviews or the less frequent external audit.) For example, the vestry has chosen to delegate to the Outreach Committee the responsibility of disbursing funds on behalf of Saint Gabriel to ministries that address the needs of the poor and disenfranchised locally, nationally and internationally. The Outreach Committee discerns which ministries to support and the amounts that will be given. The vestry’s role has been to set the dollar amounts that the Outreach Committee will receive. In times past, we were able to use a percentage of our plate and pledge and more recently Outreach has received a set annual figure for disbursement.

Each fall, the vestry requests that ministry areas develop a set of goals for the coming year. Attached to these goals are a budget request. The vestry takes the budget request and, with the assistance of the finance committee, develops the budget for the coming year. The vestry is charged with passing a budget and this budget is then presented to the congregation at the annual meeting.

Who decides which hymns we sing?

In the Episcopal Church, the rector is granted responsibility for the worship of the church. At Saint Gabriel the rector delegates hymn selection to the Music Director and collaborates with him or her in worship planning. Further, the worship committee meets quarterly to plan for the liturgical seasons. However, both the music director, the rector and the worship committee are open to hymn suggestions or worship ideas from members of the congregation. So, if you have ideas please send them to Mark Kelly, our Director of Music Ministry!