The Vestry of Calvary Parish

The Vestry of Calvary Parish is charged with the temporal affairs of the congregation and meets monthly on the second Monday at 5:30 pm in the Conference Room on the second floor of the Parish House. Meetings are presided over by the Rector or the Senior Warden, who also serves as the church’s chief administrative officer.  Vestry Officers include the Senior Warden, the Junior Warden and the Clerk. The Treasurer attends each meeting to give a financial report, but may or may not be a member of the Vestry.

The Vestry is responsible for adopting the budget, managing the Parish’s income and expenses, setting salaries and benefits, raising money to meet expenses, heading up liturgical committees and organizations, finding a new Rector whenever a vacancy occurs, and supporting the Rector’s ministry.  Vestry members provide liaison between committees and organizations with the Vestry.

The Vestry consists of 12 members serving staggered three-year terms, elected at November’s Annual Parish Meeting from a slate of nominees submitted by the Vestry Nominating Committee. The Vestry Nominating Committee consists of the four outgoing members of the Vestry and four members of the Parish selected by the Rector and/or the Senior Warden. The committee provides a slate of at least two parishioners in good standing for each open Vestry seat.  Episcopal Church Canon Law and Calvary Parish tradition require that Vestry members be elected by a vote of 50% plus one vote of the members in good standing attending the Annual Parish Meeting, and oftentimes requires multiple ballots to select new members.

The Senior Warden is traditionally selected by the Rector and formally elected by the Vestry members. Duties include supporting the Rector’s ministry through leadership of the Vestry and parish organizations. The Junior Warden (sometimes referred to as the People’s Warden) is elected by the Vestry and is primarily responsible for the church property. The Clerk is elected by the Vestry to keep an official record of the actions taken by the Vestry.

The term “Vestry” as used in the lay leadership of the parish comes from its original definition, “the room for putting on vestments,” since traditionally its meetings were held in the vesting room.

Parish members are welcome to observe Vestry meetings. Petitions, requests or presentations to the Vestry should be submitted by written request to the Senior Warden or the Rector a week in advance for inclusion in the agenda, along with any documentation to be reviewed in advance of the meeting.

The Vestry Counting Schedule