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Diocese Offers Way for Online Vestry Meetings to Meet Canonical Requirements

During this time when in-person gathering are suspended by pastoral directive, parish and mission vestries are to meet by teleconference instead of face-to-face. Some vestries have expressed concern over whether such meetings may be canonically valid.

Diocesan Canon 33.1 permits a vestry to adopt by-laws that authorize meetings by teleconference; you'll find the text of this canon below. The choice of a particular technology (such as Zoom or Google Hangouts, for examples) to conduct a teleconference is yours, subject to the requirements in Canon 33.1.

We are aware that some churches either have no by-laws at all or have never taken advantage of Canon 33.1 since it was adopted in 2013. Therefore, the Chancellor and I have agreed that a parish or mission vestry that has no by-law to authorize meetings by teleconference may meet by teleconference if the first item of business is to adopt a by-law consistent with Canon 33.1, so long as a quorum of the vestry is present on the teleconference. If the new by-law is adopted, the remainder of the meeting and subsequent meetings may be conducted by teleconference subject to the new by-law and Canon 33.1.

Furthermore, during this exigency the Chancellor and I are waiving the provisions of Canons 20.3(a)(4) and 22.1(d) that require every by-law to be filed with the Ecclesiastical Authority for approval. However, the waiver that I am granting is effective only if the new by-law is fully consistent with Canon 33.1 and no other change to the by-laws was made. The new-bylaws, in full, should still be mailed or emailed to me to Diocesan House as provided in Canon 20.3(a)(4)or 22.1(d).

I hope this notice provides all vestries with the canonically sanctioned means to carry on with its affairs without jeopardizing the health of our congregations and communities. If your church does not already have the means to conduct meetings by teleconference, please visit the online resources provided on the diocesan website for staying connected, or contact the diocesan communications staff for recommendations or assistance in getting started.

Yours faithfully,
The Rt. Rev. Sam Rodman
Bishop, Diocese of North Carolina


Canon 33
Conduct of Meetings and Voting by Remote Technology

[Added by Act 2013-5]

Section 1. Parish and mission vestries, the Diocesan Council, the Standing Committee, the Trustees of the Diocese, and all other commissions and committees of the Diocese are authorized to adopt by-laws providing for the conduct of meetings by teleconference, videoconference, or any other technology that allows all persons participating to hear each other at the same time and to participate in discussion. For purposes of determining a quorum and for voting, members participating in a meeting by means of remote technology are deemed present in person at the meeting.


UPDATE (July 27, 2020) SAMPLE BYLAW TEXT (from Emmanuel, Southern Pines)

Attendance by Telephone or Video Conference.
The Vestry may permit any or all of its members to participate in a regular or special meeting by, or conduct the meeting through the use of, any means of communication by which all of its participating members may (a) simultaneously hear each other during the meeting and (b) participate in discussion. A member of the Vestry who participates in a meeting by this means is deemed to be present in person at the meeting.

Tags: Coronavirus Resources / Press Room / Preparedness Planning / Situation Summary

Contacts

The Rt. Rev. Samuel Rodman
XII Bishop Diocesan of North Carolina
The Rt. Rev. Anne Elliott Hodges-Copple
VI Bishop Suffragan of North Carolina

The Rt. Rev. Samuel Rodman

XII Bishop Diocesan of North Carolina

The Rt. Rev. Samuel Rodman was ordained and consecrated as the XII Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina in Duke Chapel on the campus of Duke University in Durham on July 15, 2017. He was elected on March 4, 2017.

Prior to his election, Bishop Rodman served as the Special Projects Officer for the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, a role he took on after spending five years as the diocesan project manager for campaign initiatives, where he engaged congregations, clergy and laity, in collaborative local and global mission through the Together Now campaign, helping to raise $20 million to fund these initiatives. Prior to that, he spent 16 years as the rector of St. Michael’s in Milton, Massachusetts, during which the parish established a seven-year plan that included a capital campaign for a major renovation of the church school building.

Ordained in 1988, Bishop Rodman is a graduate of Bates College and Virginia Theological Seminary. He and his wife of 32 years, Deborah, live in Raleigh. They are the parents of two adult daughters. In his free time, Bishop Rodman enjoys basketball, golf, kayaking, crosswords and creative writing.

The Rt. Rev. Anne Elliott Hodges-Copple

VI Bishop Suffragan of North Carolina

Anne Elliott Hodges-Copple was elected the Diocese's sixth Bishop Suffragan and the first female bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina on January 26, 2013, at the 197th Annual Convention. She was consecrated on June 15, 2013, in Duke Chapel on the campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

Bishop Hodges-Copple grew up in Dallas, Texas, and attended Duke University, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in 1979 with a major in public policy. She earned her Master of Divinity from Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California, in 1984.

In the years between college and seminary and then seminary and ordination, Hodges-Copple worked as a community organizer in Massachusetts and Appalachia and as a shelter director for victims of domestic violence in North Carolina. She was ordained a deacon in 1987 and a priest in 1988.

Bishop Hodges-Copple has served her entire ordained life in the Diocese of North Carolina, working 13 years in parish ministry and 13 years as a campus minister. She served as the rector of St. Luke’s, Durham, until she was elected to the episcopate. Bishop Hodges-Copple has a particular passion for shaping mission and ministry to be attuned to the voices, needs and wisdom of disempowered communities.

In her role as Bishop Suffragan, Bishop Hodges-Copple has particular responsibilities in campus and young adult ministries, new mission starts (Galilee ministries), the Racial Justice and Reconciliation Commission, the ordination process for the diaconate, global partnerships for mission, ecumenical and interfaith collaborations and the pastoral care of retired clergy, their spouses and surviving spouses. In the spring of 2018, she led a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, her third such pilgrimage, and plans another in 2020.

Hodges-Copple is currently a member of the Executive Council for The Episcopal Church, the Board of Historic Black Colleges & Universities and the Task Force for Social Advocacy. She served on the Special Legislative Committee for Marriage at the 2015 General Convention in Salt Lake City and chaired the House of Bishops’ Legislative Committee on Social Concerns at the 79th General Convention in Austin, Texas. She is also a member of the Bishops United Against Gun Violence.

During the transition between the 11th and 12th Bishops of North Carolina, she served as Bishop Diocesan Pro Tempore, the ecclesiastical authority of the diocese.

She and her husband, John, have three adult children. John is Director of Planning for the Triangle J Council of Governments.

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