Page of Pentacles

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C.C.C.C.C.W.W.W.W.W.A.A.A.A.A.B. C.B. C.B. C.B. C.B. C.

#4-August 2005 c.e.

It’s a mouthful! But it’s not as complicated as itsounds. What does it mean?

Congregationalist

– a congregation is anassembly of people who meet for religiousinstruction and worship, a religious community,and a group of people who meet together forworship in a particular area. A“Congregationalist” is someone who supportsand participates in these activities.

Wiccan

– Wicca, also known as Witchcraft, is “areligion influenced by pre-Christian beliefs andpractices of western Europe that affirms theexistence of supernatural power (as magic) andof both male and female deities who inhere innature, and that emphasizes ritual observance of seasonal and life cycles”.

Someone who isWiccan is a practitioner of the faith of Wicca.

Association

– an association (which Merriam-Webster cross-references with “society”) is avoluntary group of individuals who work together and may periodically meet for commonends, such as similar beliefs; “an enduring andcooperating social group”

; a “broad grouping of people having common traditions, institutions,and collective activities and interests”

; or a partof a community ”that is a unit distinguishable byparticular aims or standards of living orconduct.”

Essentially, the CWA-BC is an organization of affiliated, mostly autonomous worship groups,who practice the faith of Wicca. It is a legallyincorporated Wiccan church. We are arecognized non-profit society in the province of British Columbia with clergy who are licensed toperform legal marriages.This is a relatively new and often controversialconcept, both among the general public and inthe Pagan community. Traditionally Wicca ispractised among secretive groups called “covens”or alone by “solitary practitioners”. Both thegeneral public and the Neo-pagan andmetaphysical communities are often inclined tosay, “A church of Witches?! What?”So why have these open, public Wiccancongregations? Why incorporate as a legalchurch? There are many good reasons. Here area few:

•

To provide a place for solitary Wiccansand Pagans to come together to celebrateimportant holidays in a larger group of like-minded individuals

•

To create a public, easy to find nexus forlocal Pagan communities

•

To give people new to, or curious aboutWicca, a place to come, check things out,and ask questions, while allowing moreclosed groups such as covens to maintain

What is the Congregationalist Wiccan Association of BC?

By Sable (Diane Morrison)

their privacy. It can also serve suchcovens as a place to find, meet, andscreen potential new members.

•

To give Wiccans and Pagans the samerights possessed by more mainstreamreligions, including the right to legalmarriages in a faith of one’s choosing, theright to legal assembly to practice theirfaith, and legally-protected access toclergy of their faith for rites of passage orin times of crisis.So what qualifies the clergy of the CWA asclergy?Well, legally, our clergy meet the ordinationrequirements as detailed in our bylaws; one of which is that we must be traditionally InitiatedWitches of at least Second Degree. Thatrequirement alone qualifies us as Priestesses andPriests by any traditional Wiccan or Neo-paganstandard. The other requirements are:

•

Clergy must be voting members in goodstanding (requiring payment of a $25.00annual fee, attendance at a minimum of three events over the year, agreement inwriting with our ethics statement, andactive membership for one full year.)

•

Clergy must undergo a (minimum) yearand a day long training program withanother legally-recognized and ordainedclergyperson in the CWA (this periodmight also include formal Initiation, if thecandidate is not already Initiated.)

•

Clergy must be officially ordained byanother ordained clergyperson.

•

Clergy must be recognized by the CWA’sBoard of Directors.

•

Clergy must be elected from among thequalified people within a givencongregation.In summary, our clergy have to be InitiatedWitches qualified to teach Wicca, who haveproven their dedication to the CWA and itsprinciples, undergone a year of training, receivedordination, and recognition from the Board of Directors, and won the loyalty and trust of theircongregation.It sounds like a lot of work! And it is. But forthose so called by the Goddess, it is a small priceto pay.The CWA is the fastest growing legallyincorporated Pagan religious body in Canada, justas Wicca is the fastest growing religion in NorthAmerica. With two Temples (run by ordainedclergy, which are in

Vancouver

Burnaby

, and

Abbotsford

) and four Congregations (run by“lay clergy,” who are people undergoing theclergy training program, which are in the

North

and

South

Okanagan

Valley

areas,

VancouverIsland

, and

Surrey

) we show no signs of stopping any time soon. I encourage you tocome and check us out and see if we might be foryou!

www.cwabc.org

Source: Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.The other definitions are paraphrased from theirwebsite as well.

Merriam-Webster Online

Church Organization

By Sam WagarThe CWA is an organization run by its membersthrough elected bodies. It is not a unitary bodywith everything run top-down from one centre,nor is it run through membership meetings or bythe clergy. Since it’s an unusual structure for aWiccan body, and not like the larger Christiandenominations that many of our members willhave encountered in the past, people might beconfused about how it works.To begin with it takes a year of involvement with

CWA, including attending at least three publicrituals, as well as agreeing in writing with ourstatements of beliefs and ethics and paying amembership fee to become a member. In areaswhere there are congregations members belongto whichever local congregation they wish.Members in good standing cannot be refusedmembership in the local congregation that theyapply to. Nobody can be a member of more thanone congregation. All members are members of the church as a whole and of the national church.For the province as a whole, the CWA has annualgeneral meetings each August at which all of themembers present or represented by proxy canvote. AGMs are the ultimate authority of theorganization and they can change bylaws,authorize the establishment of Temples ordissolve congregations, elect the Board of Directors, or do anything that the organization asa whole is legally permitted to do. BecauseCWA-BC is a provincially incorporated non-profit Society it is governed by the laws of BritishColumbia as to what it can or cannot do.The AGM is the only province-wide decision-making meeting of the members, other thanSpecial General Meetings that might be called todeal with a particular emergency.The AGM elects a Provincial Council / Board of Directors, to run the organization betweenAGMs. This Board is the administrative decision-making body of CWA – it keeps the records,organizes the finances, admits and expelsmembers in areas where there are no Temples orcongregations, publishes the newsletter, appliesto BC Vital Statistics to grant “religiousrepresentative’ credentials for the performance of marriages and so on.In areas where there are congregations orTemples the members of the congregation orTemple will elect a local Council to run theadministrative affairs of the congregation.Congregations are those groups of members andnonmembers of the CWA who are working underthe sponsorship of a nonresident ordained clergymember and appointed lay clergy towardqualifying as Temples. Provisional Temples arethose congregations with at least one residentordained clergy person. Full Temples are thoseTemples with five members and an ordainedclergy member, which are also Branches of theSociety under the

Society Act

of BC. As a rule of thumb it will take two years for congregations tobecome Temples.Temples will hold AGMs and elect these boardsand congregational boards will be appointed bythe lay clergy and approved by the supervisingclergy person. Temples are self-governing,subject only to the bylaws of the church as awhole and entitled to a nonvoting representativeon Provincial Council.In the intervals between local AGMs, the localboards will run the administrative parts: findingand renting space, finances, local membership andattendance at rituals, long-range planning. TheAGM is the only decision-making meeting of themembers at the local level.There is a “separation of the money and theprayers” with some overlap. Clergy members canbe elected to the Provincial Council orcongregational or Temple Councils but they don’thave to be. The administrative end of the churchis separate from religious instruction and trainingof clergy, performance of ritual and other duties(chaplaincy, marriage, funerals and other rites of passage). Clergy are not employees of thecongregations and are not subject to theirdirection. The members of the Temples can electone clergy member from among the residentordained clergy members to be licensed toperform marriages in their Temple, and there areseveral members of Provincial Council that aremembers of the Ordination Committee thatsupervises the training of clergy and authorizesordination.All of these matters are set out in detail in ourconstitution and bylaws, which are available onrequest from the Secretary, Sam Wagar.