In the Episcopal Church in America (some call 'The church of England in the
Colonies"), I believe that wardens have always been elected by the vestries,
and are members of the vestry. There is a Senior Warden who is the Chief
lay person of the vestry and therefore of the parish, and the Junior Warden
who is the exec officer, but over the years that job has gravitated to be
responsible for the buildings and grounds. In Virginia's three Dioceses,
wardens are wardens, and having had experience as a Senior Warden, I can
tell you that he/she must delicately balance responsibility to the rector
and responsibility to the vestry/church. That can be dicey, particularly
where all is not going well with the rector's performance. In many Dioceses
(like at least one in Pennsylvania), tradition is that one of the wardens is
called 'The Rector's Warden' and the other 'The People's Warden'. But that
REALLY sets up conflict on the vestry. I am sure that dissertations have
been written about 'the management' system of church vestries. There is a
troika when decisions about the rector must be made (hiring and firing.)
The vestry, the rector and the diocesan bishop. If one of the three parties
wants the rector to go (including the rector being the one who wants to
resign), the other two have to agree. i.e. the vestry cannot fire the
rector, unless the bishop agrees, and to a great degree the rector agrees to
be fired. I'm sure there are many dissertations on this interesting
arrangement. New vestries provide fertile opportunity for a Myers-Briggs
session or two.
Randy Cabell - an old vestry person and retired warden :))
----- Original Message -----
From: "Anita Wills" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 1:05 PM
Subject: Re: colonial vestries
> Henry,
> I thought the Church Warden was selected by Church officials, and the
> vestrymen by Church members. It will be interesting to see what the
> difference is.
>
> Anita Wills
>
>
>
>
>
>
> >From: Henry Wiencek <[log in to unmask]>
> >Reply-To: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
> > <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: colonial vestries
> >Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2003 12:39:40 -0500
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> >I have a couple of questions about colonial vestries which I would like
> >to put to the list. Is there a difference between a vestryman and a
> >church warden? Would it be correct to say that since a county's
> >justices of the peace and other officials were appointed by the colonial
> >governor, the vestries were the only local political entities that were
> >elected?
> >
> >Henry Wiencek
> >Charlottesville
> >
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