A Message
from
Lorna Bowman, President
A special
thank you to everyone who made our annual meeting in Chicago last
November such a success. With the REA we celebrated the 100th anniversary
of the Religious Education Association at our joint meeting. Together
we found ourselves truly Embracing the Past and Envisioning the Future.
On the Saturday
evening, APRRE and REA held their respective annual meetings. The
decision to go ahead with the reorganization upon which we had voted
by mail was affirmed at both meetings. Many APRRE members present
were also REA members. At the annual meetings we discussed how we
will move into the future with our new joint association in January
2005. In the social hour that followed one could sense the excitement
and good energy about the decisions we have made and the directions
in which we are moving.
For this time
of transition, both the APRRE Executive Committee and the REA Board
realized that it will be necessary to strike a joint nominations committee
for the election of officers in anticipation of our November 2004
meeting in Denver. As President of both, APRRE and REA I was empowered,
with other officers, to strike such a committee. This will enable
us to elect new officers for the joint association at that time.
In the past,
APRRE has chosen a Vice-President two years before an annual meeting
to become President-Elect the year prior to the meeting. We did not
do so this year. Rather, the joint nominations committee, consisting
of representative officers of both APRRE and REA, will consult and
then put a name or names before both the APRRE membership (and the
REA Board) for the President-Elect as of November 2004 of the reorganized
association. An e-mail ballot of the APRRE membership will be taken.
Additionally
we will also strike a committee to write the bylaws for the new association.
Thanks to the work of the REA-APRRE reorganization committee, much
of the work for this task has been completed in the carefully crafted
implementation plan. The bylaws, too, will be completed by a committee
with representatives of both associations.