History of the Central Congregational Church, Middleborough, Massachusetts 1847-1947, Part 8

Author: Witbeck, Mertie E
Publication date: 1947
Publisher: Middleborough, Mass., Central Congregational Church
Number of Pages: 116


USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Middleborough > History of the Central Congregational Church, Middleborough, Massachusetts 1847-1947 > Part 8


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


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Section 4. The duties of the several officers shall be those apper- taining to their respective offices with annual detailed reports in writing covering the preceding financial year, from the Clerk, the Superinten- dent of the Sunday School, and (properly audited) from the Treasurer.


Section 5. The Clerk shall keep a distinct and full record of all business transactions of the Church; a record of the time and mode of the reception and dismission of members; of the baptisms; shall conduct all the correspondence of the Church, shall issue letters of dismission and recommendation in accordance with its votes; shall preserve its ar- chives, which shall be open for inspection at all proper times by any member of the Church.


Section 6. The Treasurer shall receive, hold and disburse, according to the direction of the Standing Committee, except as otherwise pro- vided, all moneys or securities belonging to the Church, or contributed by the Church and Congregation for missionary or benevolent purposes; also all money contributed by the Sunday School for any purpose; and expend the same according to its direction. He shall keep books of ac- count in which shall be entered each item of receipts or disbursements. He shall keep separate accounts as follows: (1) Moneys raised for the object of Christian benevolence, to be paid by him to the several persons or societies entitled thereto; (2) Moneys raised for the support of public worship, subject to the order of the Standing Committee. The invested funds of the Church, including all property given to the Church with the understanding or condition that the income only of said funds shall


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be used, shall be kept and invested by the Treasurer under the direction of the Investment Committee and the Treasurer shall report annually the investment of said funds and the amount of income therefrom.


Section 7. The Standing Committee shall have general care and management of the property of the Church and of the financial affairs, other than charitable or benevolent, except the invested funds of the Church: the appointment of Ushers and Janitors, of the raising of moneys for the support of public worship, and the manner thereof, in the absence of action by the Church; and perform such other duties as legally belong to such a committee in religious societies. No member of the Standing Committee having served the full term of three years shall be eligible for re-election for one year. The Standing Committee shall as soon as may be after each Annual Meeting of the Church organize for the ensuing year by the election of a Chairman and shall forthwith noti- fy the clerk in writing of such election. The Chairman of the Standing Committee shall be ex-officio a member of the Investment Committee.


Section 8. The Church Committee shall examine candidates for admission to the Church; decide upon objects for public benevolent contributions, when the Church does not act thereon; provide temporary supplies for the pulpit; have regard to discipline; the administration of relief for the poor; shall decide all questions relative to the use and oc- cupancy of the Church edifice; and generally shall have cognizance of the spiritual affairs of the Church.


Section 9. The Teachers and other necessary Officers of the Sun- day School shall be appointed by the Superintendent with the advice and consent of the Church Committee. The course of instruction shall be determined by the School with the approval of the Church Committee.


Section 10. The Investment Committee shall have the oversight and management of the invested funds of the Church, shall examine all securities held as a part of said funds at least annually, shall have power to sell, and dispose of any of the property or securities belonging to said funds and to re-invest the same, no purchaser to be answerable for the application of the purchase-money and shall have power in their discre- tion to apportion between the principal and the income of such funds any extra dividends, rights, stock dividends, or other receipts from such investments which might otherwise be regarded as income, and to charge against the income and credit to the principal of said funds such amounts


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as may be necessary to off-set any loss in principal on account of the purchase of bonds at a premium.


Section 11. The Committee on Religious Education shall co-oper- ate with the Superintendent of the Church School and with other officers and committees appointed by the Superintendent in initiating and carrying out the program of religious education in the Church.


Section 12. The Missionary Committee shall have general charge of promoting the benevolences determined upon by the church, shall suggest and carry out plans for missionary education, throughout the church and devise and put into operation plans for the raising of money for their purposes and in general forward the missionary interests of the church.


ARTICLE III-MEETINGS


Section 1. The Lord's Supper shall be administered on the first Sunday in January, March, May, July, September and November; and the Thursday evening next preceding each may be occupied as a pre- paratory service.


Section 2. Meetings for worship shall be held each Sunday Morn- ing and EVENING, and on each THURSDAY EVENING; and at either of such meetings it shall be competent for the church, without special notice, to act upon the appointment of delegates to councils or conferences of churches.


Section 3. The Church Committee may temporarily suspend any meeting provided in Section 2, and may temporarily substitute or add other meetings at their descretion.


Section 4. Services of an unusual nature shall be held only by con- sent of the Church Committee.


Section 5. The business meetings of this Church shall be an Annu- al Meeting, an Annual Roll Call of the Members, and such special meet- ings as may be called in accordance with Section 10 of this Article.


Business may be transacted at the close of the regular prayer meet- ing of the Church, but not after the Preparatory Lecture, except the admission of members duly propounded by the Church Committee.


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Section 6. The Annual Meeting shall be held on the first Tuesday of April in each year-the hour and place to be specified in the warrant- for the presentation of reports, the choice of officers, the raising and ap- propriation of money, and the transaction of any business that may le- gally come before the meeting. Said meeting shall be called by the Stand- ing Committee, who shall issue a warrant for the same to the Clerk, directing him to notify and warn the voting members by posting an at- tested copy of said warrant in some conspicuous place on or in the meet- ing house at least seven days before the holding of said meeting, and no business shall there be transacted the subject matter of which is not specified in the warrant. Notice of this meeting shall also be given from the pulpit. The Financial year of the Church shall close on the thirty- first day of March in each year.


Section 7. (Annulled by vote of the Church, April 1, 1895.)


Section 8. The Annual Roll Call of the members of this Church shall be held on the day of the Annual Meeting, every member being duly notified thereof at least one week previous; and it shall be the duty of every member to answer either in person or by letter at this meet- ing; and the neglect of this requirement by any member for three suc- cessive years shall be deemed a sufficient cause for belief on the part of the Church that fellowship with us has been abandoned; and for drop- ping such person from our membership as provided in Section 5, Article 1.


Section 9. The Pastor may, from the pulpit, call a special business meeting for such purposes as do not require a notification in the manner prescribed by law, and he shall call such meetings when requested by the Church Committee.


Section 10. Special meetings for the transaction of business re- quired by law to be notified by legal warrant may be called by the Standing Committee in the same manner as the Annual Meeting, and the committee shall call such meeting on the written request of seven members of the Church entitled to vote; at such a meeting no business shall be transacted the subject matter of which has not been specified in the warrant.


Section 11. In the special business meetings noted in Section 9, this Article, the Pastor, or in his absence, the Senior Deacon present, may preside.


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Section 12. At all business meetings, except those of Section 9, this Article, a Moderator shall be chosen; and fifteen members shall be necessary for a quorum, except that a less number may adjourn a meet- ing to a fixed date.


Section 13. Such resident members as are in full and regular stand- ing and do not hold letters of dismission, and have attained the age of twenty-one years, and such only, may act and vote in the transactions of this Church.


ARTICLE IV-SOCIETIES WITHIN OR CONNECTED WITH THE CHURCH


The members of this Church may organize and maintain, either by themselves or with the assistance of well-disposed persons not members, various societies for the assistance of the Church in its religious or benevolent work. These societies may, with the consent of the Church Committee, use the Church edifice as a place of meeting, and may select their officers and system of working; but the officers shall be persons acceptable to the Church Committee. All such societies shall make a yearly report to the Church at the Annual Meeting.


ARTICLE V-AMENDMENTS


Section 1. These By-Laws may be altered or amended by the con- currence of two-thirds of the voting members present at any meeting called by the Clerk in the manner prescribed by law, the proposed amendment being stated in the notice of the meeting.


Section 2. Thirty members shall constitute a quorum under this Article.


Section 3. These articles of faith may be altered by a vote of two- thirds of the voting members of the Church present at an Annual Meet- ing; notice of the intention to propose alterations and a statement of the substance of such alterations having been submitted at a previous business meeting and duly stated in the warrant calling such Annual Meeting.


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ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY


May 2, 3, 4, 1947


PROGRAM


FRIDAY EVENING-HISTORICAL NIGHT Readings from the history of the church Musical Program-A Century of Music


SATURDAY EVENING-NEIGHBORHOOD NIGHT ANNIVERSARY BANQUET


After dinner speaking, with a program at eight o'clock in the auditorium presenting a speaker


SUNDAY MORNING Centennial Sermon, followed by Communion


SUNDAY AFTERNOON-ANNIVERSARY SERVICE


Speaker


Special music Tea in vestry under direction of the White Church Guild ( 100)


CENTENNIAL COMMITTEES


GENERAL COMMITTEE


Co-Chairmen-Mrs. Mertie E. Witbeck - Elwyn B. Lynde


George R. Austin


Mrs. Kenneth Maker


Mrs. Harry R. Belmont


Roderick Matheson


Stanley D. Benson


Mrs. Ernest E. Maynard


Mrs. James H. Burkhead


Mrs. Frank Minott


Mrs. Ralph B. Edwards


William J. Thibault


Mrs. Clarence E. Harris


Albert A. Thomas


Mrs. John G. Howes


Mrs. Albert A. Thomas


Mrs. Kurt Jellinek


Joseph C. Whitcomb


Mrs. Albert Jones


Theodore N. Wood


Rev. Ralph B. Edwards, exofficio


FINANCE


Albert A. Thomas, Chairman


Elwyn B. Lynde


Lewis F. Harding


Roger W. MacDonald


Boyd A. Iseminger


James H. Kennedy


Alton G. Pratt H. LeBaron Sampson


A. Vincent Smith, M.D.


PROJECT AND MEMORIAL COMMITTEE


Joseph C. Whitcomb, Chairman


Frank Minott


Russell A. Chamberlain


Harry G. Norris


Clarence E. Harris


Charles A. Sherman


John G. Howes


Mrs. Theodore N. Wood


Mrs. E. T. Peirce Jenks


Raymond H. Wood, D.M.D.


RECEPTION AND HOSPITALITY


Mrs. Kenneth Maker, Chairman


Mrs. Edward L. Perry


Mrs. George R. Austin


Mrs. Chester L. Shaw


Mrs. James H. Kennedy Mrs. William J. Thibault


USHERS


Roderick G. Matheson, Chairman


Adnah H. Harlow


Ralph W. Cromwell George N. Harlow Kurt Jellinek, M.D.


PROGRAM


MUSIC


George R. Austin, Chairman


Mrs. Charles B. Deane


Harry R. Belmont


Mrs. Allan M. Hale


Myron B. Thomas


Charles B. Deane


Mrs. Joseph F. Westgate SPEAKERS


Stanley D. Benson, Chairman Allan M. Hale


Mrs. Boyd A. Iseminger James M. Bonnar, M.D.


Ernest S. Pratt


PAGEANT


Mrs. Ralph B. Edwards, Chairman Christie B. Crowell Miss Anne H. Andrews Mrs. James M. Bonnar Mrs. Clyde S. Thomas Mrs. Raymond H. Wood


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BANQUET


DINNER


Mrs. Albert A. Thomas, Chairman Mrs. Charles A. Sherman Mrs. Ralph W. Cromwell Mrs. I. Bradford Thomas Mrs. William T. Tillson


AFTER-DINNER SPEAKERS Theodore N. Wood, Toastmaster and Chairman Clyde S. Thomas E. L. Perry, M.D.


INVITATIONS


Mrs. Clarence E. Harris, Chairman Mrs. Joseph C. Whitcomb Mrs. Stanley D. Benson


TICKETS


Mrs. Albert Jones, Chairman Mrs. Joseph B. MacAllister


MUSIC


Mrs. Harry R. Belmont, Chairman Mrs. Myron B. Thomas Chester L. Shaw


TEA


Mrs. Frank Minott, Chairman


Mrs. Roger W. MacDonald


Mrs. Harold C. Bailey


Mrs. George I. Oliver


Mrs. Arthur D. Benson


Mrs. Albert F. Rockwood


Mrs. Russell A. Chamberlain


Mrs. Orville Walker


Mrs. John H. Holt


Mrs. Harry G. Norris


HISTORICAL EXHIBIT


Mrs. James H. Burkhead, Chairman


Mrs. Henry W. Sears


Grace I. Paun


Mrs. A. Vincent Smith


S. Ida Paun


William T. Tillson


Miss Sue Pitman Horace A. Vaughan


Mrs. H. LeBaron Sampson


Mrs. Horace A. Vaughan


DECORATIONS


Mrs. Kurt Jellinek, Chairman Miss Esther Spooner


Mrs. Lewis F. Harding Miss M. Alice Jones


PUBLICITY Mrs. Ernest E. Maynard, Chairman Miss Helen A. Kingman Thomas Weston


PUBLICATIONS


Mrs. Ernest S. Pratt, Chairman Mrs. Reginald S. Drake


PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD William J. Thibault


TRANSPORTATION AND ACCOMMODATIONS FOR VISITORS Mrs. John S. Howes, Chairman Mrs. Elwyn B. Lynde Mrs. Paul Jones Joseph B. MacAllister I. Bradford Thomas


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