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Reading the Bible in a year!
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The Episcopal Lingo, Part 1: The Parish
The series will explore words used in the Episcopal Church that may seem arcane to visitors and confusing to old timers. We use them all of the time and never consider their origin. Time to root out our history!
I find it ironic we invite people into the church and one of the first people they meet may be a “warden”. Are they locking us in until we contribute ? They may hear people talking about “vestries” and questions over “canons”. In old days, there were words like the “glebes” and the “levies” that are rarely heard today. This week’s word is basic – the parish
In our history there are mentions of St. Peter’s being part of St. Mary’s Parish. This was formed in 1677. In 1713, that part of St. Mary’s Parish lying in Richmond Co was added to another parish. When Caroline Co was formed from Essex Co (also King William & King and Queen Co), St. Mary’s Parish went too.
So what is a Parish ? A parish in colonial Virginia was a unit of both civil and religious authority that covered a set geographical territory. Usually covering much less territory than a county, the parish was the layer of government closest to the people, and for many it probably had a greater day-to-day impact on their lives than the county or colony-wide government. Virginia parishes tended to be large – 20- 40 miles long, 5-10 miles wide.
Government ? Remember the church and count government were closely linked prior to the Revolution. As a religious institution, a parish contained a mother, or central, church, and frequently two or more so-called chapels of ease in outlying areas that the minister served on successive Sundays. As a civil institution, the parish vestry was charged with overseeing a wide range of responsibilities that included social welfare and presenting moral offenders to the court (more about that in another week).
Vestries were formally established by the General Assembly in 1642–1643, although these bodies were likely acting to control church affairs by 1635. Parishes were given authority over "all matters concerning the vestry, their agreements with their ministers, touching the church-wardens, the poore and other things concerninge the parish or parishoners respectively be referred to their owne ordering and disposing from time to time as they shall think fitt."
Vestries actually were more powerful than their English equivalents, such as being able to choose their own ministers. They were also closer to the people than the county governnment. In England the parish patron traditionally nominated a minister to become the parish’s rector; the diocesan bishop then inducted the minister into his new role, a position the pastor enjoyed for life barring the commission of gross offenses.
Continued below…
Christ centered, Biblically based, spirit filled and a place of simple hospitality, we have shared our communal life with our church,our community, and those in need. Your presence enriches us.
August 12 -11:00am Holy Eucharist, Rite II
Help Us Collect School Supplies for Caroline County. Details
"I dream of a church…(finish the sentence)
At the General Convention priest and lay alike considered ideas for the restructuring of the Episcopal church in the so called "Acts 8 meeting" on July 5th. Watch the video to see how they responded..
How you would answer it ? Here you can answer the same question by clicking on the title below and also see how others have responded…
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Leonardo’s "Savior of the World" Bulletin art, Sunday, Aug 12
Leonardo da Vinci created his own "Savior of the World" or “Salvator Mundi” around 1500 that was lost after generations and only restored and exhibited for the first time in London in 2011. It was purchased by a consortium in 2005 from a private collection. The painting shows Christ, in Renaissance garb, giving a benediction with his raised right hand and crossed fingers while holding a crystal sphere in his left hand. We will use this on the cover of next week’s bulletin but the its rediscovery and the distinctive nature of this work is its own story.
August , 2012- Projects Here and Abroad
Whether you will be hanging around here or venturing away, August has both.
First let’s consider places far away
The Parish Post as several articles about the mission trip to Staten Island to work with the Moravians. We will send them off in the August 19th service before participate between the 22nd-28th. In general the purpose of this mission trip is :
• To create an awareness of the global body of Christ and to participate in that work . This year is the 9th annual clothing distribution for the children who have been referred by social service agencies who are in need of clothes for the upcoming school year.
• To build relationships with those in NY and to foster fellowship.
• To encourage personal spiritual growth for all participants.
12 of you are going (plus one from outside the parish. That about’s 30% of typical attendance of a Sunday. That’s extraordinary! Hopefully some ideas from the experience could enrich our life.
The second point above is important. Besides working on the clothing distribution there will be a chance for a baseball game, tours of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and free time around.
We have several links about the trip:
About the Moravian Clothing Distribution – a powerpoint presentation about 12 minutes.
Information about the Moravians
We will have a group web site within the St. Peter’s website at (http://www.churchsp.org/statenisland2012) so that the participants can post their thoughts and you can comment on them. It should be off the ground by August 12, 10 days before the trip
Projects here
We are starting two initiatives this month:
1. Church Directory – The Vestry would like a group to consider publishing a Church Directory. Yes, we do have a directory both in print and online. However, they were looking one with pictures and broader scope.
There are a couple of decisions about directories:
A. Concept ?
1. Traditional Church Directory –LifeTouch will provide a no cost directory both print and online since they make their money selling custom photos and photosets. LifeTouch needs 35 families to sit for photos. We can extend the minimum to Port Royal and those outside the Church but they would not be in our directory.
2. Yearbook – Instead of a traditional directory, we could make it like a yearbook with event photos and other features. There are companies like Entourage that allow you to design the book online with their templates. There obviously is more work to do this, possibly more cost and more risk to come out even but it allows us to have a greater role in the final product.
3. Keep it as it is
B. When would it appear ? June at the end of the program year ? Dec at the end of the calendar year ? January in time for the parish meeting ? Another time ?
Signup here if you would like to help with the church directory project
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Bless Ralph Fall who published his history of Port Royal. However, that has been 30 years ago. As good as it is, it doesn’t cover the many groups and ministries we have fostered. We would also like to try some oral history of members and possibly produce an updated history. Could this be supplemented with an updated story of Port Royal ? Interested ?
Signup here if you would like to help with the history project
How do mission and these internal initiatives of a directory and updated history fit together ? We are family. We can provide gifts of ourselves to provide labor to help children in another community and learn about another faith. By participating in a mission and by documenting our own story better, we are both building a new chapter in our history and also looking back in our recent past to understand who are and who we can become. How can we delve more deeply into our Christian story—our scriptures and traditions—so that we can be more powerful witnesses to God’s love in all the places in which we live and work?
As territorial divisions, the parishes’ bounds were set by Virginia’s General Assembly. They also divided parishes, often at the request of parishioner In the eighteenth century, parishes took on expanded political roles as either power bases for local elites or sources of political controversy within counties. As county populations increased, splitting an old parish could be divisive: one set of residents would gain greater access to religious and welfare services while another set would gain little and have their parish taxes increased.
Gradually after the Revolution power that were attached to the Parishes were taken over by local government even before the Episcopal Chuch was set up. Now the word “Parish” means little except as a gateway to our colonial past but important for researchers and genealogists.
The parish kept key records including registers of parishioners and vestry minutes. This may be their most significant legacy. The registers included birth, baptism and marriage records that are interesting to genealogists. More information about the records here. Virginia Church records are described by FamilySearch, Virginia Family Research and others. St. Peter’s New Kent has an extensive record as well as St. Paul’s reflecting King George and Stafford. There are two general references – here and here.