Page 18 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – Friday, February 8, 2019 ASK | from page 5 den, I believe it was in 2008. St. Luke’s was a very small church, a very small congregation, so they were thinking about what their future looked like, and merging made the most sense for them, so they took some time to think about what churches matched who they were and who God needed them to be, and so they decided that St. John’s here in Saugus was the right match for them, so the altar from Malden was brought here and we have St. Luke’s Chapel. Q: Now, have there been other churches that merged with St. John’s? A: No. That was the only merger we’ve had, but there are two other congregations. Sunday afternoons, the True Vine Baptist Church meets in the sanctuary, and then downstairs, My Father’s House meets. It’s a nondenominational Pentecostal church, so one church has merged with us and we’ve leased out space to other churches, and we have AA groups and Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. We try to use our space as much as possible. Q: At its peak, do you know what the membership was for St. John’s? A: That’s a great question. I’d have to go back and look. I BEACON | from page 16 proved or rejected on an unrecorded voice vote. However, at an informal session, a single legislator can hold up consideration of a bill until the next formal session by doubting the presence of a quorum. A quorum is when 81 members of the House or 21 members of the Senate are present. Since only a handful of legislators attend these sessions, the session would be adjourned for lack of a quorum. Supporters said that some informal sessions are not the brief, quiet sessions that they used to be. They said major legislation is sometimes approved at informal sessions and the public should be able to watch these online. (A “Yes” vote is for the study.) Sen. Brendan Crighton Yes CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REPORTS BY 5 P.M. (S 9) Senate 8-31, rejected a proposed new joint rule requiring that legislators receive a copy of any conference committee version of a bill by 5 p.m. on the day prior to voting on the bill. Current rules set the deadline at 8 p.m. Both rules prohibit the Legislature from voting on the bill prior to 1 p.m. the following day. would assume that probably in the 50’s and 60’s, you would get at least 200 people in the church every Sunday, so probably, more than double what we are getting now, and that’s just all of the adults. It doesn’t include the children. Certainly, membership has declined because there are a lot more things to do on Sundays than there were in the 1950’s, 60’s –- and even 80’s when I was growing up. There’s sports; the malls are opened up; there are movies – lots of other things you can be doing other than church. I think Sunday has kind of lost its meaning as the Sabbath Day for Christians: as a day of rest, a day to be with your family and to worship God. Q: It seems going to church doesn’t hold much prominence in the lives of young families nowadays – modern families. A: Yes, and I’m sort of at the beginning of the millennial generation, I guess, and I’m probably part of the last wave of youth that grew up going to church, so people younger than me have been to church only for Easter and Christmas, or have never been to church, which isn’t something that they automatically think of, so at times of crisis when they need Supporters of the new rule said the 8 p.m. deadline gives members only 17 hours to read and understand what are often long and complicated bills. They argued the 5 p.m. deadline would give legislators three more hours to read the measure. Opponents of the new rule said the 8 p.m. deadline has worked well for several years. They noted the extra three hours between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. is often when the staff completes the package of the report. (A “Yes” vote is for the 5 p.m. deadline. A “No” vote is against the 5 p.m. deadline and favors the current 8 p.m. one.) Sen. Brendan Crighton No MATTERS ALLOWED AT INFORMAL SESSIONS (S 8) Senate 6-33, rejected a rule that would prohibit tax hikes from being considered at an informal session of the Senate. Informal sessions are ones in which there can be no roll call votes and everything is approved or rejected on an unrecorded voice vote. Supporters of the rule said it is unfair to allow tax hikes to be brought up at these lightly attended sessions often without informing members of the agenda. Opponents said the rule something, they don’t think of church as an option, especially in the New England area. I think the scandal involving the priest abuse has scared a lot of people off in general, not just in certain denominations. Q: I guess with the Episcopal Church only being a couple of words different in the liturgy for a given service, people can relate to that. A: Yes … a lot of Episcopalians are former Roman Catholics, so the main difference … in the Episcopal Church, we don’t have a Pope. We do have Bishops. I, as a priest, have pledged the Bishop will be my kind of authority as I would at any Episcopal church. But each parish has its independence, so the Bishop can’t come in and tell the church what to do. There are certain laws that govern us, but it’s not as if there’s a topdown person who says “This is what you do” and “This is what you believe.” But, in terms of worship, the main difference is that when we celebrate Eucharist, Communion, the Mass, we believe that the bread and the wine is – through the act of the Holy Spirit – is made into the presence of Jesus. Not the actual body and blood, but the presence, the essence of and the spirit was and is for us ... that when we take in the bread and is unnecessary because any single member who shows up at a lightly attended informal session can doubt the presence of a quorum, and at which point the session would end because there is not a quorum. (A “Yes” vote is for prohibiting tax hikes from being brought up at informal sessions. A “No” vote is against the restriction.) Sen. Brendan Crighton No SESSIONS BEYOND MIDNIGHT (S 8) Senate 6-33, rejected a rule requiring a unanimous vote in order for any Senate session to continue beyond midnight. Current law requires a two-thirds vote to go past midnight. Supporters said requiring unanimous consent will virtually put an end to post-midnight sessions. They argued it is unnecessary and irresponsible to work while legislators are exhausted and taxpayers are asleep. Opponents said the rule is undemocratic and will allow one legislator to end Senate debate and action. (A “Yes” vote is for requiring a unanimous vote to continue beyond midnight. A “No” vote is against requiring it.) Sen. Brendan Crighton No the wine or the body and the blood, we do believe we are taking Jesus’ spirit into us. For me, it’s really a rejuvenating experience and kind of like getting ready for the next week. Q: So, in the Catholic Church, the people take the bread, but not the wine as part of the Communion. A: The focus [in the Catholic Church] is more on giving out the bread or the body, where in the Episcopal Church, we do both [bread and wine or body and blood] … Although, we do have some former Catholics who prefer not to receive wine, so there’s more flexibility. There are some people who don’t take Communion. They come up, and I give them a blessing. We have some kids who do First Communion who don’t. In the Episcopal Church, we’re known as the middle way. We try to be Protestant and Roman Catholic, borrowing from both traditions. Q: But anyone can go up and receive [Communion], whether they are Episcopalian or not, right? A: Yes. The National Episcopal Church law says that as long as you are a baptized Christian, you can receive Communion. At many Episcopal Churches in this area, including St. John’s, anyone can receive Communion. We don’t ask for a baptism HARASSMENT PREVENTION TRAINING FOR REPRESENTATIVES State representatives of both parties attended a mandatory harassment training session last week. The session lasted slightly under an hour and went over the policy and procedures in place to address sexual harassment issues and allegations. It also outlined the resources available to an aggrieved party. “It was a helpful and informative introductory session to the new policies and procedures in place to deal with the variety of issues that sexual harassment presents,” said House Republican Minority Leader Brad Jones (R-North Reading.)“It will be the first of many such training/educational sessions with future offerings designed to cover the entire legislative staff.” HOW LONG WAS LAST WEEK’S SESSION? Beacon Hill Roll Call tracks the length of time that the House and Senate were in session each week. Many legislators say that legislative sessions are only one aspect of the Legislature’s job and that a lot of important work is done outside of the House and Senate chambers. They note that their jobs also involve committee work, research, constituent work and other matters that are imporcard to prove you are one thing or not. Anyone is free to receive, but we do ask that they come and receive reverently … that they understand this is something important that we do as a community and everyone is invited to. Q: What’s the most interesting or worthwhile community project that the church is involved in these days? A: Right now, we are part of Healthy Students – Healthy Saugus project that each week puts together 53 bags of food for kids who go hungry on weekends, so we were part of the founding of that project and we, once a month, pack bags and collect food for that. We’re collecting food for the Food Pantry. We are also part of Every Child Deserves a Smile in which we provide meals and gift cards to families living in the motels along Route 1. Right now we’re kind of in a reflective process. We want to be out in the community more, so we are trying to figure out the best way to do that. What does Saugus need and what are our gifts and strengths? Part of that conversation is in dealing with the school system, so this morning the school superintendent came and gave a presentation to our Bible Study ASKS | SEE PAGE 19 tant to their districts. Critics say that the Legislature does not meet regularly or long enough to debate and vote in public view on the thousands of pieces of legislation that have been filed. They note that the infrequency and brief length of sessions are misguided and lead to irresponsible late-night sessions and a mad rush to act on dozens of bills in the days immediately preceding the end of an annual session. During the week of January 28-February 1, the House met for a total of nine hours and 12 minutes while the Senate met for a total of four hours and 31 minutes. MON. JANUARY 28 House11:02 a.m. to11:06 a.m Senate 11:05 a.m. to11 09 a.m. TUES. JANUARY 29 No House session No Senate session WED. JANUARY 30 House11:01 a.m. to 8:05 p.m. No Senate session THURS. JANUARY 31 House11:04 a.m. to11:08 a.m. Senate 11:18 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. FRI. FEBRUARY 1 No House session No Senate session Bob Katzen welcomes feedback at bob@beaconhillrollcall.com
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