
Current Vestry
Elizabeth Lennon | Senior Warden |
Steve Abreu | Financial Management |
Caitlin Dobson | |
Jason Estavillo | |
Chris Gold | Secretary |
Sacha Grippando | Outreach |
Charlotte Johnston | Choir Liaison |
Don Miller | Outreach |
Chris Rideout | |
Rachelle Sherris-Watt | |
Sandy Solis | Parish Events |
Bernadette van Niekerk | Parish Events |
What is the Vestry?
The Vestry is the body within the congregation that, with the clergy, leads the parish. They are there to:
– Help discern the vision toward which God is drawing the St. Clement’s community
– Articulate and communicates this vision
– Hold the community accountable for making that vision reality
Members are elected by the congregation at our annual meeting. All candidates come from the St. Clement’s congregation. In keeping with the democratic principles on which the Episcopal Church was founded, our parish vestry is elected by the Parish as a whole and serves for limited (3-year) terms. St. Clement’s does its best to stagger the terms of the vestry members to ensure a regular influx of new members while continuing to develop more experienced members.
Vestry Leadership
The presiding officer of the vestry is our Rector, Bruce O’Neill. The presiding officer conducts vestry meetings and serves as the principal communications link to the vestry about diocesan and national church issues, concerns and events. St. Clement’s also has two wardens, the Senior Warden and the Junior Warden. This preserves the tradition in the Church of England dating back to 1604, in which two wardens were selected by the rector and the parishioners, or if they failed to agree, one was appointed by the rector and the other by the people. National canons assign only one duty to the wardens (as distinct from other vestry members); if, because of the absence or disability, the clergy person in charge of a congregation is unable to give consent to another member of the clergy to officiate at “the stated services of the congregation,” one of the wardens gives this consent.