The vestry is the legal representative of the parish with regard to all matters pertaining to its corporate property. At Trinity, there are 9 vestry members, each serving a term of 3 years. These vestry members are elected at the annual parish meeting, along with the treasurer, a non-voting member of the vestry. The presiding officer of the vestry is the rector. There are two wardens. The senior warden leads the parish between rectors and is a support person for the rector. The junior warden is “the people’s warden”, bringing concerns of the parish before the vestry. The basic responsibilities of the vestry are to help define and articulate the mission of the congregation; to support the church’s mission by word and deed, to select the rector, to ensure effective organization and planning, and to manage resources and finances.
Senior Warden: Ginny Lee Pistl Vestry term expires 2018
Junior Warden: Karen Eubanks ” ” ” 2018
Treasurer: Peg Dailey*
Clerk: Mark Creighton Vestry term expires 2018
Members: Jim Miller Vestry term expires 2017
. Rita Roberts ” ” ” 2017
. Bill Trudeau ” ” ” 2017
. Paul O’Sullivan ” ” ” 2019
. Lisa Robeson ” ” ” 2019
. Sue Sandusky ” ” ” 2019
Ever wonder where the term “Vestry” for the governing body of an Episcopal parish comes from?
In England the annual election of churchwardens took place in Easter week. The parishioners gathered at the church to hear the outgoing wardens render their accounts and elect their successors. The parishioners assembled in the vestry, the room off the chancel where the clergy vested. The assembled parishioners came to be known as the vestry. These were open vestries in that all adult male parishioners could participate. It was like a modern annual congregational meeting. In Virginia the parishes were very large and it was difficult to get all the male parishioners together. So they would meet only once and elect twelve of their number to serve for life. This was known as a closed vestry. The transition to a closed vestry was completed by 1633 or 1634, when a Vestry Act was passed. It provided that “there be a vestrie held in each parish.” The current vestry evolved from this colonial pattern.
—– from the glossary on the library page of the national church website: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/library/glossary/all