[Magdalen] Private-ish repository for vestry documents?

[Scott Knitter]

Agreed, but in parishes like mine that have had severe conflicts, it's
quite a burden on the clerk to fairly record what people said on each
side of an issue, because then angry parishioners will comb the posted
minutes to find out what "that jerk" said and add it to their reasons
to resent that person or to believe there's a conspiracy to destroy
the parish. And it's the final decision that actually matters, even if
a jerk said something stupid in the discussion that led to the
decision.

I'm glad for our parish's newly revived commitment to open vestry
meetings (all parishioners welcome), though. For some months they had
gone private (although minutes were later published). What's ideal is
for parishioners who care a lot about a decision to attend the vestry
meeting, hear comments in context, perhaps contribute comments of
their own, and then understand the decision better even if they
disagree with it. Better than making sure the clerk gets every nuance
on paper. Nuances can be written up by those involved in the
discussion.

On Fri, Mar 18, 2016 at 12:08 PM, James Oppenheimer-Crawford
<oppenheimerjw at gmail.com> wrote:
> I personally favor transparency, but it is surprising how many others
> fervently do not.  Most minutes are first approved by the body itself, so
> that items can be corrected or entirely removed if desired.




-- 
Scott R. Knitter
Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois USA