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Acts of Vestry

April 2004

The Mission Statement
At their regular Spring Retreat on the weekend after the annual meeting, the vestry chose the following words to be our new Mission Statement:

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church is an open community, welcoming people wherever they are on their faith journey. We celebrate the gifts of God that empower us to engage boldly in the struggles of life and care for others with love, justice, and compassion.

We believe these words reflect the five basic values of this parish which have been discerned over the last year of discussion and strategic thinking:

  • We are a community grounded in the Christian tradition and our own rich heritage as the people of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Capitol Hill.

  • We value diversity across a broad spectrum of religious beliefs and are open to spiritual seekers wherever they are on their faith journey.

  • We are boldly active across the full spectrum of our generations and programs.

  • We value love and compassion for each other, for those in the greater circle of our own lives, and for those in the wider world of people we do not know.

  • We seek opportunities to promote fairness and justice for all people.

The Tower Project
Two hundred and eighteen parishioners have donated $175,000 in funds and pledges to assist in the reconstruction of the St. Mark’s Tower. These wonderful acts of generosity and caring about our beautiful old building will allow us to avoid borrowing money from a commercial bank unless the contractor discovers additional problems, as yet unknown, during construction. Combined with funds that the vestry has already set aside for longterm maintenance and emergency repair situations, we expect to be able to pay all bills for the rehabilitation of the Tower. We are grateful to everyone who contributed to solving this problem, but most especially to Betty and Wes Foster and Tucker and Jack Harris whose love for St. Mark’s has once again manifested itself in amazing generosity.

New Vestry Members
The Vestry welcomed the new members elected by the parish at the April 18, 2004 Annual Meeting, Burton Reist, Susan Thigpen, and David Willson who join the following ongoing members, David Dill, Nancy Van Scoyoc, Dick Rumpf, Stewart Andrews, Julie Murphy, and Rod Lawrence. Penny Hansen and Jack Burton were also elected as Senior and Junior Warden respectively. Charlie Rupp enters his second year as Mancipal and Nathan Monell his second year as Personnel Chair. The vestry also elected Pete Carlson to a two year term as St. Mark's Treasurer and Hank Donnelly to a two year term as Register.