CARLA WV

Charleston Area Religious Leaders Association

 

 

CARLA WV is intended to be a group that is inclusive of all clergy and religious leaders* from all faiths, religions, and denominations in the Charleston, WV, area.

 

Interested clergy and religious leaders* are encouraged to read through our items of consensus and to join us in our meetings if they are interested.

 

* Note: By “religious leader” we mean those who function in a role similar to what the protestant Christian tradition calls  a “pastor” or “ordained clergy.” We are trying to find an inclusive term that can be used to refer to specifically trained congregational leaders across many different faith traditions. See consensus notes below.

 

The ad-hoc steering committee has been meeting since Nov. 2003 to develop a framework for meetings that would be inclusive and respectful of the diversity of traditions in our area.

 

“One community, many faiths.”

 

 

 

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Brief History

In the Fall of 2003, Rev. Sky Kershner, the Executive Director of the Kanawha Pastoral Counseling Center (www.kpcc.com), started to ask Charleston clergy if they would be interested in trying to start some sort of interfaith clergy association. A group of interested clergy met on November 11, 2003 at the office of the Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation (www.tgkvf.org). (The GKVF had provided some seed money through a grant written by Rev. Kershner, designed to explore the possibility of developing regular Charleston clergy gatherings.)

 

Those in attendance were:

 

Rev Sky Kershner

Rev Dean Thompson

Rev Monty Brown

Fr Karl Ruttan

Fr Olof Scott

Fr Ed Sadie

Rabbi Victor Urecki

Rev Rose Edington

Fr Bill Thomas

Rev Reggie Rowell

Rabbi Helen BarYaacov

Rev John Davis

 

Becky Cain and Kim Barber from GKVF were also present.

 

The group decided to committee itself to monthly meetings for the purpose of getting to know one another, developing trust, and explore ways the group could develop a framework for meetings that would be open to clergy and religious leader in the Charleston area.

 

The group developed items of consensus (below) and began to develop a plan to include the larger body of religious leaders in the Charleston area.

 

The group’s first public event is the “September Interfaith Witness,” to be held at the Clay Center on Thursday Sept 9, 2004. This event is intended to be positive interfaith response to the events of 9-11-2001. The theme for the event is “For you I receive, to you I give, together we share, from this we live.”

 

 

CARLA: Charleston Area Religious Leaders Association

Items of Consensus as of Feb 22, 2004

 

Consensus around our membership:

Persons who are spiritual leaders, who are called or appointed to serve congregation or organizations within the Charleston area.

 

[For reference-- WV Secretary of State defines those authorized to perform a weddings as: “certified” as shown by a “certificate or ordination papers from a church or religious organization of which you are in regular communion” or with “a letter signed by two members of a church or religious organization of which you are in regular communion”]

 

Consensus around our goals for meeting

  1. To know each other better: our names, our faces, our stories
  2. To develop friendships
  3. To be an example to the community of collegiality and trust and mutual respect, and mutual support
  4. To get to know each other’s traditions
  5. To be a forum for conversation for theological, moral, and intellectual topics (“iron sharpens iron”)
  6. To seek the welfare of the city

 

Consensus around our logistics

We will have morning meetings from 9-10:15 rotating the days between Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays

  1. We will start with a small gathering, and expand the group latter, once goals and parameters are clearer
  2. We will have some structure to the gatherings, to include an ice breaker, a sharing of a person’s personal journey, a sharing from a tradition, a time for sharing concerns or struggles

 

Consensus around our norms, how we are together

  1. We expect that we will not agree on all matters. We do agree to work together for the common good.
  2. We agree to share "air time," to help everyone get a fair hearing, to seek first to understand, and then to be understood.
  3. We encourage each person will speak for him or her self, and not for others, or for the group.
  4. If someone is offended, he or she will say so, and say why, and say it directly to the person
  5. We will not walk out or stop coming out of anger. If anyone is offended or hurt or angered in a meeting, he or she will talk about it and will return to the next meeting before deciding to stop altogether.
  6. We respect the privacy of the members of our gathering. Members may ask the group for extra measures of confidentiality around specific items.

 

 

 

 

 

CHARLESTON AREA RELIGIOUS LEADERS

AD-HOC STEERING COMMITTEE

Nov 2003 – Aug 2004

 

 

Name

Congregation

 

Day Phone

 

 

 

 

Bar-Yaccov, Rabbi Helen

Temple Israel

 

342-5852

Broady, Rev Braxton

Ebenizer Baptist

 

346-8374

Brown, Rev Monty

St. Mark’s UM

 

343-2115

Daoudi, Imam Jamal

Islamic Center

 

541-4999

Davis, Rev John

Kan United Presby

 

342-6558

Dunn, Rev Paul

1st Baptist Church

 

344-4754

Edington, Rev Rose

Unitarian Universalist

 

345-5042

Hill, Rev L. Allen

Liberty Missionary Baptist

 

344-8661

Hoover, Rev Mel

Unitarian Universalist

 

345-5042

Jennings, Rev Perry

Berea 7th Day Adventist

 

746-7779

Kershner, Rev Sky

KPCC

 

346-9689

Rowell, Rev Reggie

Christ Church UM

 

342-0192

Ruttan, Fr Karl

St. John’s Episcopal

 

346-0359

Sadie, Fr Ed

Sacred Heart

 

342-8175

Scott, Fr Olof

St. George

 

346-0106

Sparks, Rev Dennis

WV Coun of Churches

 

344-3141

Thomas, Fr Bill

St. Matthews Episcopal

 

343-3837

Thompson, Rev Dean

1st Presbyterian Church

 

343-8961

Urecki, Rabbi Victor

B’nai Jacob

 

346-4722

Watts, Rev Matthew

Grace Bible Church

 

342-3249

Yeager, Sr Ginny.

St. Francis Hospital

 

347-6708

 

 



















































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As of Sept 2005

Those in attendance at CARLA meetings have included

Rev Monty Brown
Fr Karl Ruttan
Rev Eileen Dumire
Fr Olof Scott
Fr Ed Sadie
Rabbi Victor Urecki
Rev Braxton Broady
Rev Sky Kershner
Rev Rose Edington
Rev Mel Hover
Fr Bill Thomas
Rev L Allen Hill
Imam Jamal Daoudi
Rev Randy Flanagan
Rev Perry Jennings
Rabbi Helen Bar Yaacov
Rev Dennis Sparks
Rev John Davis
Rev Frank Mansell
Rev Doug Minerly
Rev Ron Schlaht
Rev Mathew Watts
Bishop Bill Grove
Sr Rose Ann Hefner
Rev Bob Newman
Rev Dean Thompson
Rev Mark Lampley
Rev Reggie Rowell
Fr Wayne Rollins
Rev Barry Moll
Rev AD Ellison
Rev Liddy Holter
Fr Fred Shehan
Rev Bob Newman
Rev Joyce Wilkinson
Rev Lynne Wood
Rev Dick Neeley