Just some brief thoughts out of the conversations we had this week between ourselves and All Saints' Westboro. First let me say that these conversations documents are meant simply to keep you abreast of our explorations with All Saints'. These are not final documents with set decisions. I want to remind everyone that we have a special vestry [at St. Matthias] coming up at the end of October to look over the amalgamation process.
This meeting, according to the decision of the June special Vestry, will be the final decision point. These articles are works in process and an attempt to keep people informed of the ideas and outlook thus far. With that in mind there were two meetings this week which will be of interest.
The first of these was the meeting of the combined financial committee. Peter Nichol of All Saints' put together a spread sheet of possible financial scenarios in the first year of a new parish which would reflect different possibilities depending on how many people move over from St. Matthias. We asked the question what if 30% went, what if 60% went etc. What the spread sheets show is that the amalgamated parish would be financially viable but not without some risk if too few people from St. Matthias take part in the amalgamation. That said, and in that case, the diocese would be willing to look again at the various costs in order to ensure that the amalgamated parish had the best chance to thrive.
The second meeting was between myself, Chris Dunn and our parish's respective musicians, Deirdre Piper and Edith Troup. This was a good meeting with far ranging conversations. We talked about what we might do to blend our musical traditions, bringing some of our customs (such as two anthems for Holy Communion) together with their less formal tradition of congregational singing. Deirdre and Edith commented that they felt confident that they could work together well. Toward the end of the meeting we talked about the Organ. Initial conversations at the level of our Corporations had left little doubt that there could be no money to move St Matthias' organ to ASW. Deirdre suggested that perhaps, if it can be worked out to everyone's satisfaction, there may be an exterior donor who could make the move happen at no cost to either parish. This has opened the door to a possibility which had not been previously considered. Some additional thought will to be given to this possibility by both All Saints' and ourselves, but there does remain a concern about the size of the organ and the amount of space that would be required and the need for modifications to the ASW worship space.
It is important to remember that these 'conversation' documents are just that, a record of conversations thus far. If you have questions please do not hesitate to ask myself or the wardens in person, by email or phone. We are attempting to keep lines of communications open a completely as possible as part of our pledge to transparency.
Respectfully submitted,
John Wilker-Blakley