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Opening prayer
 
The Timaru District Council has an opening prayer at the beginning of each
full Council meeting.
 
The prayer varies at each meeting as the local ministers' association
organises a roster of clergy to take turns offering the opening prayer -
we have clergy from all denominations, which makes it fair and adds
balance and variety for this brief part of the council meeting.
 
If no guest clergy can come the Mayor reads our standard prayer which is
as follows -
 
Almighty God
 
Look upon us as we seek to serve our citizens and our district.
 
Guide us in our decision making as we consider issues that will affect
this community.
 
Take from us all selfishness, deliver us from narrow mindedness, and grant
that we may together seek the ways of truth and righteousness, as we make
our decisions around this Council table.
 
Amen
 
Council has had an opening prayer for more than 25 years.
 
At one point Council discussed whether to continue with it or not, being
an increasingly secular society, but they made the decision to continue.
 
There has been no discussion on the Whanganui situation.
 
Regards
 
Joanne Brownie
Council Secretary
 
 
Direct dial  687 7491
Email            [email address]
Website     [1]www.timaru.govt.nz
 
Timaru District Council
2 King George Place
PO Box 522
Timaru 7940
 
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Alex Harris [[2]mailto:[OIA #178 email]]
Sent: Friday, 20 April 2012 4:26 p.m.
To: enquiry
Subject: Local Government Official Information and Meetings request: Does
the Timaru District Council open its meetings with a prayer?
 
     Dear Timaru District Council,
 
     As you may have read recently, the Whanganui District Council
     abolished its opening prayer after a complaint was made to the
     Human Rights Commission. I'm interested in learning how widespread
     this practice is, so I'd like to request the following information
     under the LGOIMA:
 
     * Does the Council open its meetings with a prayer? * If the answer
     to the above is "yes", then I'd like a copy of that prayer (or
     examples, if more than one is used), when the practice was first
     established, whether the council has considered abolishing it in
     the wake of the Whanganui decision, and any advice the council may
     hold on the prayer's compatibility with both the Human Rights Act
     1993 and Bill of Rights Act 1990.
 
     I would prefer to receive an electronic response. Queries about
     this request will be automatically forwarded to me by the
     fyi.org.nz website.
 
     Yours faithfully,
 
     Alex Harris
 
 
     -------------------------------------------------------------------
     Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be
     published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
     [3]http://fyi.org.nz/help/about#officers
 
     Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
     [OIA #178 email]
 
 
     Is [Timaru District Council request email] the wrong address for Local Government
     Official Information and Meetings requests to Timaru District
     Council?
 
     If so please contact us using this form:
     [4]http://fyi.org.nz/help/contact
 
 
     If you find FYI useful as an OIA officer, please ask your web
     manager to suggest us on your organisation's OIA page.
     -------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 

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References

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Alex
I guess it depends on who joins the ministers' association, and it would appear from our list that they are all of Christian denomination.

Council hasn't made a conscious decision to include or exclude any clergy of any denomination, we leave it to the ministers' roster coordinator to organise it all, which has perhaps avoided Council being criticised.

I haven't had to delve into who can join the roster so I can't say if our local ethnic minorities have been invited to join or not.

Not sure I'm much help to you Alex but maybe we are just lucky it hasn't been raised as an issue.

Joanne

-----Original Message-----
From: Alex Harris [mailto:[OIA #178 email]]
Sent: Monday, 23 April 2012 1:51 p.m.
To: Joanne Brownie
Subject: Re: FW: Local Government Official Information and Meetings request: Does the Timaru District Council open its meetings with a prayer?

Dear Joanne Brownie,

Thanks for your quick and full response. Just to clarify, when you
say that the council uses "clergy from all denominations" to gives
its prayer, that's _Christian_ denominations?

Yours sincerely,

Alex Harris
-----Original Message-----

Opening prayer
 
The Timaru District Council has an opening prayer at the beginning
of each
full Council meeting.
 
The prayer varies at each meeting as the local ministers'
association
organises a roster of clergy to take turns offering the opening
prayer -
we have clergy from all denominations, which makes it fair and
adds
balance and variety for this brief part of the council meeting.
 
If no guest clergy can come the Mayor reads our standard prayer
which is
as follows -
 
Almighty God
 
Look upon us as we seek to serve our citizens and our district.
 
Guide us in our decision making as we consider issues that will
affect
this community.
 
Take from us all selfishness, deliver us from narrow mindedness,
and grant
that we may together seek the ways of truth and righteousness, as
we make
our decisions around this Council table.
 
Amen
 
Council has had an opening prayer for more than 25 years.
 
At one point Council discussed whether to continue with it or not,
being
an increasingly secular society, but they made the decision to
continue.
 
There has been no discussion on the Whanganui situation.
 
Regards
 
Joanne Brownie
Council Secretary
 
 
Direct dial  687 7491
Email            [email address]
Website     [1]www.timaru.govt.nz
 
Timaru District Council
2 King George Place
PO Box 522
Timaru 7940
 
 
 
 

*************************************************************
CAUTION - This message, and any attachment, may contain privileged and
confidential information only for the use of the intended recipient.
If you are not the intended recipient of this message, you are hereby notified
that any use, dissemination, distribution or reproduction of this message is prohibited.
If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately.
This e-mail message has been scanned for Viruses and Content and cleared
by NetIQ MailMarshal
*************************************************************

hide quoted sections