The Bishop - Chapter Twelve: One Year Later
Chapter Twelve: One Year Later
Another minor triumph for the Bishop was his successful suppression of the word "delinquent" with respect to parishes in financial arrears. After a series of throughly tedious consultative meetings with far more "stakeholders" than was surely necessary, they eventually settled on the suitably bureaucratic translation of "delinquent" as "parish of attention and concern." At least he had succeeded in vanquishing a thing that caused much unnecessary hurt.
Over the year, Mr. Arnold Argent, CA, and his elite strike force of volunteer accounting professionals did an admirable job of going around the "parishes of attention and concern" and helping them find savings in their budgets. For example, one parish ended up firing their organist and replacing him with recorded hymns on a Sunday morning (a parish, I might add that I am sure I will never attend). Another priest I know now serves as part-time custodian in their own parish, having been asked by Mr. Argent's team to fire the nice old couple who used to clean the church on Saturdays for the sum of fifty dollars a week. The church now found itself saving two hundred dollars a month and could now pay a greater portion of the priest's salary, and in return said priest now spent her Saturdays vacuuming the church and cleaning the toilets - all for the love of Jesus. Canon Sharpe was aglow at Mr. Argent's success, so much so that she recommended that he be made an honourary canon of the Cathedral - a rare honour for a lay person. And who could have been more deserving of such an honour?
The next battle brewing for the Bishop, though, and one to which he was not looking forward was the move toward finally officially authorizing same-sex marriage across the Diocese. The Diocese had been moving in this direction for many years, slowly but surely. The late Bishop had allowed several "affirming parishes" to conduct same-sex "blessings", but the Synod had in principle voted to embrace same-sex marriage and was now simply awaiting the Bishop's assent, the authorization of a rite, and the green light to begin offering actual marriages in parishes across the Diocese. The Bishop had reserved his assent and authorization at this point because there was a significant minority of Anglicans and Anglican parishes in the Diocese vehemently opposed to what they believed was a serious doctrinal innovation in the life the church. Several of those churches were large parishes who threatened to take their congregations, buildings, and yes, their money, into a break-away Anglican Church if the Bishop allowed the measure to go ahead. Whatever Bishop Perkins decided, the fallout would be nasty, and he was not looking forward to the fight that was ahead of him.
As for Maddie -- or shall I say, "Miss Maddie", as she was almost universally and affectionately called now -- she continued to enjoy little victories along the way. Having outmaneuvered Judy Jumblejump on the matter of the diocesan cheque, she found a new respect from Reg Canon and some other long-time members of the church. Judy had retreated into her den to plot her next attack, but had been surprisingly quiet for some time. It had been so quiet lately, that Maddie knew something must have been brewing and she was adamant that the cycle must be broken.
One particular triumph was a window in memory of the late Miss Lillian Littlestature. Maddie had suggested the idea at a meeting of the Advisory Board and parishioners were more than pleased to make generous donations in her honour and memory. Maddie invited the Bishop to make an additional visit and when he blessed the window there was not a dry eye in the church, and perhaps the most affected was our gentle bishop, himself, as he honoured his late, dear friend.
The annual meeting of the Vestry (that is, the annual general meeting of the parish) was approaching and the churchwardens' terms were coming to an end. Yet, if the church is know for one thing, it is "recycling" - not the sort of "blue box recycling" with which we are all so familiar, but rather the recycling of wardens. It is a thankless job and so few members of the laity with the gifts for such a position wish to subject themselves to the abuse that comes with the office. I have known many a churchwarden whose faith has crumbled under the responsibility of parish administration, conflicts with the clergy, and abusive parishioners. Yet, the good ones often come back for a second and third helping of service in the role. As such, sometimes the role of churchwarden becomes something of a life sentence. There are the faithful stalwarts like Reg Canon, the perpetually elected People's Warden of Hampton's Corners, who continue to serve, if not with profound competence then with loving faithfulness. Then there are those "lay popes", like Judy Jumblejump, the appointed Rector's Warden, who cling to power and never let go.
This was the year that Maddie decided Judy's term would expire permanently. In Anglican polity, there are two churchwardens, one appointed by the priest, the Rector's Warden, and one elected by the Vestry, the People's Warden. Judy had been the Rector's warden since time immemorial and no priest would have thought not to appoint her again - until now. Maddie had now asked Reg to serve as the Rector's Warden. He had proven to be someone who she could count on and while he was sometimes too fastidious in his "by the book" approach, he was a decent man - and kind. To replace Reg as People's Warden, the Advisory Board had struck a nominations committee and Christina Marlowe, a very competent HR professional who worked for a large city firm, and a newer member of the parish, was asked to let her name stand.
When Judy got wind of this plan, having assumed she would have once again been asked to continue as Rector's Warden, was understandably enraged. How dare Maddie rip her ministry away from her? And to replace her with...Reg? Incredible. And this new woman who had been a member for only two years? This was her church and it could not have survived over the years without all she had contributed. It could never survive without her at the wheel.
Needless to say, another battle was brewing, and in truth, Maddie was quite looking forward to it.
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