Page of Pentacles

Congregationalist Wiccan Association of BC 5196 Moscrop Street Burnaby, British Columbia V5G 2G4 www.cwabc.org

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.

#28 August 2007 c.e.

$12/yr, included with membership.

Membership Revoked

Clergy Member and licensed Minister inNanaimo Daniel van Koughnett’s membershipin CWA-BC was revoked on July 15th by aunanimous vote of the Board of Directors onthe grounds of “open and consistentdisagreement with the purposes of the Societyand conduct likely to bring our Society or ourreligion into disrepute”. (Bylaw 1.5)The Board also voted unanimously to acceptvan Koughnett’s resignation of 9 July from ourclergy and his repudiation of our ‘religiousrepresentative’ license. This letter of resignationwas submitted to his local Temple’s clergy, oneof whom is vice-Chair of the Board and whoforwarded it to the Chair of the Board.Although the process by which the letter wassubmitted was irregular the letter is completelyunambiguous. And in addition, after hesubmitted it and it was accepted by the Chairhe acknowledged the resignation in a letter tothe Chair.Accordingly, as of the 15th July he is nolonger a clergy member, a ”religiousrepresentative” licensed by Vital Statisticsthrough CWA to perform marriages or amember of CWA-BC.

Morality, defined as an activity of the soul, is an ongoing process of entering into one’s destiny and nature with responsibility, that is, with a response in life to the demands uncovered in moral reflection. Gradually during a lifetime, we discover what life demands of us and step by step we deepen our values. Moralism, on the other hand,is some fixed notion about what one’s nature requires. Essentially, moralism is a defence against morality. The safeguarding of a single, safe idea about one’s life and resistance against the subtlety and complexity of that life.Moralism protects a person from the unfolding of complexity.- Thomas Moore Dark Eros: The Imagination of Sadism Dark Eros: The Imagination of Sadism Dark Eros: The Imagination of Sadism Dark Eros: The Imagination of Sadism Dark Eros: The Imagination of Sadism (Putnam CT: Spring, 1990), p 108.

Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting will be inroom 1620 of Douglas College’ maincampus, 700 Royal Avenue (at 8th Street),in New Westminster, on Saturday the 11thof August from 2:00 to 5:00.

Proposed Annual General Meeting AgendaRegistration 2:00-2:30Call to Order 2:30Approval of ChairApproval of AgendaReports of OfficersNomination and election of Board of Directorsmembers (three are up for election to two-year terms,two are continuing)Decisions on status of North OkanaganProvisional Temple and South Okanagan ProvisionalTemple.Matters Arising from reports:a) various Board policies and procedures whichneed to be confirmed by the members:i) the Privacy Policy adopted on January 18th,

2ii) Requirement that all clergy and lay clergy get aCriminal Record Check by RCMP adopted March9th,iii) procedure for recording members movingbetween Temples adopted March 9th,iv) outline to be used as the basis for a clergydiscipline policy and procedures under bylaw 12.6 and10.1. adopted July 15th,v) proposed that Full Temples should be able tohave more than one clergy person carrying CWA’smarrying credential adopted July 15thvi) that priority should be given to having bothgenders represented in clergy adopted July 15thvii) that Full Temples should get 2 credentialholders and Provisional Temples should get oneadopted July 15thviii) that clergy who are mentoring a newcongregation be granted temporary marryingcredentials during the time that they are mentoringthem adopted July 15thix) that this special credential be granted subject tothe Board’s ratification adopted July 15thb) decision re extension of special provisions forcongregation development.c) adopting budgetAppointment of AuditorAdjournment

Provincial Council / Board of Directors Meeting - July 15th, 2007

Officers Present: Debra Eilers, Sally Kimber,Samuel Wagar, Diane Morrison, Angela Gallant.Temple Representative Present: Anne Doré(Vancouver-Burnaby).1. PreliminaryThe meeting was held by teleconference, andcalled to order at 5:00 PM.2. MembershipThere was discussion of interactions with Danielvan Koughnett, a member and clergy, over the lastfew months. Mr. van Koughnett did not obtain acriminal record check from the R.C.M.P., as requiredby the Provincial Council, and discussed at the 2006Grand Council meeting.Motion: Moved Mr. Wagar, seconded Ms. Kimber,that Mr. van Koughnett’s resignation be acceptedpursuant to bylaw 1.4. Carried unanimously.Motion: Moved Mr. Wagar, seconded Ms. Kimber,that Mr. van Koughnett’s membership be revokedpursuant to bylaw 1.5. Carried unanimously.Bylaws - Excerpts“1.4 Any member may withdraw from the Societyby delivering to the Society a written resignation andlodging a copy of the same with the Scribe of theSociety.”“1.5 A member may have her or his membershiprevoked by a majority vote of the Council on thegrounds of;(a) open and consistent disagreement with thepurposes of the Society, or(b) conduct likely to bring our Society or our religioninto disrepute, or(c) non-payment of dues.These decisions can be appealed to the next GrandCouncil. A person whose membership is revokedcannot rejoin the Society for a period of a year and aday unless the revocation is overturned by the AGM.”Mr. van Koughnett resigned by an e-mail sent toMs. Kimber on July 9th, and forwarded to theProvincial Council, including the Scribe. A resignationis effective on receipt.Further information about this matter, including

3copies of the extensive correspondence, is availablefrom the Provincial Council. Please contact anymember of the Provincial Council if you havequestions.2. Reports from the officers. Review andaccepting the reports from the Officers. Decision torefer reports to the Annual General Meeting Eilers / Wagar – approved unanimously.3. Detail of voting at AGM – new members must join no later than 26 July (i.e., their information be inthe Secretary’s hands by then). Renewals should beno later than the day before the AGM – NOT ONTHE DAY. And the list that the Membership Directorpresents be the definitive list of valid members.4. Clergy review process and policy. A number of options were presented for discussion.Due to the difficulties around the latest group of clergy candidacy decisions, the Board agreed that theprocess is flawed. We felt, however, that the solutionwould require considerable discussion and debateamong our members and clergy and so we votedunanimously that: The Board recommends suspendingthe process of accepting new clergy candidates for ayear until a proper set of bylaw revisions can beprepared and accepted by the 2008 AGM. The Boardfurther recommended that unless the two potentialcandidates from Penticton begin the process beforethe AGM they will be covered by the moratorium.5. Clergy discipline policy suggestion:a. In order for action to take place a simplemajority vote by the board is needed.b. All suspensions will be either for a set period of time or until the matter has been resolved at thediscretion of the board.c. After two letters of warning without resolutionthe member would be put on suspension.d. Create categories of sanctiona. Letter of warning (abbreviated as LW)b. Automatic Suspension (abbreviated as AS)c. Automatic Revocation (abbreviated as AR)d. Automatic Revocation with no ability to reapply(abbreviated as (ARNR)e. Create list of reasons for action and suggestedsanction:a. Failure to perform clergy duties (LW)b. Complaints from membership (LW)c. Bringing the CWA or it’s representatives into illrepute (LW)d. Non compliance with a board directive orhindering the board (AS)e. Illegal activity (AR)f. Conviction of violent or sex related crime(ARNR)Proposed by Eilers / Wagar and adoptedunanimously that this outline be used as the basis fora clergy discipline policy and procedures under bylaw12.6 and 10.1.6. Clarification of the following terms (suggest wedo away with clergy-in training and ordained clergyas all clergy are ordained and we should not haveanyone looking as if they are an official of theorganization without board approval i.e. all lay clergyshould be clergy-in-training.)a. Clergyb. Lay Clergyc. Ordained Clergyd. Clergy-in-trainingThis clarification of terms was approvedunanimously.7. Find out what is going on with the lay clergy inPenticton and when we will get their letters and startthe voting process?There was discussion of the progress of the twopotential clergy candidates. They were given adeadline to begin the process as it currently stands bygetting their letters applying to begin it into theSecretary before the AGM or the proposedmoratorium would apply to them. The deadline wasagreed to unanimously.8. Discuss the ability of more than one marryingcredential per temple and how best to handle this.During the course of discussing this a number of decisions were voted on : a) proposed Morrisonseconded Gallant – that Full Temples should be ableto have more than one marrying credential(unanimous agreement) b) Morrison / Gallant thatpriority should be given to having both gendersrepresented in clergy (adopted), c) Kimber / Morrisonthat Full Temples should get 2 credential holders andProvisional Temples should get one (unanimousagreement), d) Wagar / Morrison that clergy who arementoring a new congregation be granted temporarymarrying credentials during the time that they arementoring them (Kimber, Gallant, Morrison yes,Wagar abstains, Eilers no), e) that this special