[Magdalen] Sharing the JOY!

[Jon Egger]

When I was assigned to Resurrection, our senior warden hadn't been
conformed.  (He was in his late 50s.)  We made sure he was confirmed at the
bishop's next visit.

On Wed, Jul 29, 2015 at 12:41 PM, Ann Markle <ann.markle at aya.yale.edu>
wrote:

> The National Church has defined membership in 2 different ways, in my
> understanding:  One is by baptism, confirmation, reception, or official
> letter of transfer, which is entered into the big green register book; the
> other is by regular attendance, at least quarterly reception of communion,
> and "being known to the treasurer" (which does not even require a pledge --
> this can mean regular giving by check, with name recorded.  Individual
> parishes, as far as I know, make decisions about who will be allowed to be
> a voting member and/or serve on the vestry.  It has nothing to do with
> being "accepted into a parish."  My guess is that most parishes have
> non-members who are still "accepted" as family.  The technicality is about
> voting at the annual meeting (including participating in the election of
> vestry/wardens) and also usually serving on the vestry (which includes
> legal responsibility/liability for the parish).  But again, parishes and
> dioceses may be more or less rigid about these criteria.  At St. Raphael's
> we were fairly legalistic, because in the past, candidacy for and
> membership in vestry was questioned when one or more controversial issues
> arose, such as property purchase, indebtedness, building projects, etc.
>
> Ann
>
> The Rev. Ann Markle
> Buffalo, NY
> ann.markle at aya.yale.edu
> blog:  www.onewildandpreciouslife.typepad.com
>
> On Tue, Jul 28, 2015 at 2:28 AM, James Oppenheimer-Crawford <
> oppenheimerjw at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > For the folks who get them, I'm sure it's a very nice feeling of
> > continuity. I was just thinking (1) never ever even heard of such a
> thing.
> > Nobody ever brought it up in my travels, and (2) the conversation seemed
> to
> > indicate that a person was not accepted into the parish if they didn't
> have
> > this letter, which just didn't seem plausible to me, since so many people
> > come from unorthodox (or non-existent) prior churches.  I certainly
> wasn't
> > objecting to it, just astounded that a bishop can prevent a person from
> > joining a parish without the proper paperwork.
> >
>