New CAT will oversee creation of upstate New York conference
 enlarge>> The Rev. Janice Palm of Troy Conference, left, the Rev. Jan Marsi of the Wyoming Conference, and Bishop Susan W. Hassinger light candles during worship held at New Conference/Area Team retreat in mid-December. |
Written: 12/19/2007 3:18:06 PM
The chairs of the North Central New York, Troy, Western New York and Wyoming Boundaries Team met with those nominated for a New Conference/Area Team (New CAT) at Christ the King Retreat House in Syracuse, N.Y., Dec. 14 and 15.
The new team will have 18 members, four from each conference, and Bishop Violet Fisher of the New York West Episcopal Area, and Bishop Susan W. Hassinger of the Albany Episcopal Area.
Attending the December meeting from Troy Conference were the Rev. Holly Nye, the Rev. Janice Palm and Evie Doyon from Troy Conference. A fourth Troy representative will be named later. Palm will be the chair of the Troy Conference boundaries team, taking over from the Rev. Henry Frueh, who served as the chair of the original boundaries team.
Three of the chairs from the original boundaries teams, Frueh, the Rev. Bill Guttschalk-Fielding of North Central New York Conference, and the Rev. Ted Anderson of Western New York Conference, will continue to work with the New CAT through the Feb. 12 meeting of the Northeast Jurisdiction (NEJ) Boundaries Committee in Harrisburg, Pa.
New CAT will develop and oversee the process creating a new conference/area in upstate New York. The first task will be to present the resolution, approved by the four conferences at an Oct. 6 Special Session, to the NEJ Boundaries Committee.
Though many seem to think that the proposed boundaries revisions, including the incorporation of the Wyoming Conference churches in Pennsylvania into the Central Pennsylvania Conference and Troy Conference churches in Vermont into the New England Conference is a �done deal,� nothing is certain until boundary revisions are approved at the Jurisdictional Conference in Harrisburg, Pa., July 14 through 18. Conversations between Wyoming and Central Pennsylvania and Troy and New England will continue as the four upstate New York conferences move ahead.
New CAT will meet again in late February after the NEJ Boundaries Committee meeting.