Annual Parish Meeting 2008

Our annual parish meeting was Sunday 14 December 2008. Normally at this meeting we approve the budget for the next year and make any major decisions that will affect the parish. Also, anymajor spending has to be approved by the parish as a whole and typically it would be done at this meeting unless we need to call a special meeting during the year. Also the parish officers for the next year are elected at this meting.

Running a parish is somewhat like running a non-profit corporation. In fact, that is exactly what it is. The parish is the local Body of Christ and at the same time a corporation in the state in which it functions. The parish exists for one reason, our salvation. But there are hard realities that we must face. Angels from heaven do not come down every week and clean our building nor do they fix anything that breaks.

As most people know, it does take money to operate a church. Electricity and teleplhone services are not free. Neither is heat.

The priest is responsible for the spiritual aspect of the parish and the Parish Council takes care of the physical aspect. David once put it very well: "I don't tell Fr. Michael what color vestments to wear and he does not tell me how much gravey to put in the potatoes."

Each parish has different rules about who can be on the Parish Council. I heard of one parish in which anybody who was not of that ethnic group was expelled from their rolls. This is wrong and sinful. My parish is open to anybody who is Orthodox and if you have been a member of the parish long enough, you can be on the Parish Council. There are rare exceptions.

It is truly a privilege to be a member of the parish and to be able to vote on issues and to make an impact.

Monika is our stewardship chairman and also charity chairman. She has done a great job in collecting clothes and sending them to a needy orphanage or monastery in Ukraine. At the meeting she gave quite a presentation on what she is doing.