Feb. 6, 2006 - addendum to minutes
Addendum to the minutes of Feb. 6:
Ted noted Betsy Pringle's letter of resignation from the committee. The text
is as follows:
Dear Next Step Committee:
The Next Step Committee has been very fair in giving me a chance to express
my views and I appreciate that. I also appreciate the opportunity to serve.
It is to your credit that I was given the right to present so many ideas
about plans even though I realize most members of the Committee had made up
their minds before I came on board.
I don’t question the sincerity of your vision for an all new building but
I
do have a very different vision of the direction we should take.
I am committed to the idea that we should preserve our past and adapt it for
whatever the future holds. Preserving flexibility in the event that parking
constraints or other factors hold down our growth is important. Once you
have torn down what is here you cannot put it back. The huge commitment of
resources in both time and money will undoubtedly cut into that available
for other needs in our community and the work of our Parish.
Saving what we have while building a new Fellowship Hall retains the option
of revisiting its possible future preservation and provides for a more
gradual discernment of the growth and needs our Parish will experience. I
hope the Vestry will retain that option for a future that will unfold rather
than be fully envisioned ahead of time.
Given my strong disagreement with the course the Committee has chosen, I do
not feel I can, in good conscience, continue to serve. I cannot find the
will or desire to try to persuade other parishioners that the Vision of the
Next Step Committee is the right one for The Chapel of the Cross.
If the Parish enthusiastically supports the vision of the Committee, I will,
of course, respect that choice and learn to live with it. The Chapel of the
Cross is my Church home and I will continue to serve in other ways.
Faithfully,
Betsy Pringle
Last updated: March 5, 2006
