| Letter to Dr. Daniel Honore, President, Northeastern Conference - Jan. 26, 2018 |
| Dear Dr. Daniel Honore: |
| I hope you remember me. I requested to join a church in Northeastern Conference and the church board rejected my request. In doing this they violated the proper procedure described in the Church Manual in three different places and refused to talk to me about it. I appealed to the Northeastern Conference in November 2016 and asked Pastor Joseph, the Ministerial Director, to recommend that the local Pastor speak to me about their errors in procedure. On September 14, 2017 you rendered a final decision that the conference will not get involved. |
| Since you said your decision was final, I appealed to higher levels in the church but have there has not been a decision that I can bring to you. However, all things are possible with God and I believe He wants His church to learn from their mistakes. |
| A friend informed me that you will be visiting Bethel SDA Church, on Fulton Street, Brooklyn, on Saturday, January 27, 2018 for an important meeting for members at 5:00 pm. I can't attend the meeting but I am asking if you can spare a few minutes to talk to me. There were some things in your decision that indicate you made your decision without knowing the details of the case and were confused about what I was asking the Northeastern conference to do. |
| Below is a chart with information about the progress of my appeal to show you that I am trying to follow the church manual, page 60, which says, "While there are, in the modern world, occasions for seeking decrees of civil courts, Christians should prefer settlement within the authority of the church . . ." and page 59 says, "Every effort should be made to settle differences among members . . ." and I feel that non-members should be given opportunity to talk about differences also, however, former members are given a right which non-members do not have, the right of former members is found on page 67 which says, "While it is the right of the church to administer discipline, this does not set aside the rights of members to seek fairness." So I am exercising my right to seek fairness within the church. |
| Appeal to person |
Position in the Church |
Date: First Contact |
# of letters |
Response |
| Pierre Omeler |
Exec, Secretary
Atlantic Union Conf |
Sept. 15, 2017 |
20 letters |
Still waiting for his reply |
| |
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
| Carolyn Forrest |
Dir. Human Relations
North American Div. |
Oct. 17, 2017 |
17 letters |
Still waiting for her reply |
| |
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
| Gerson Santos |
Associate Secretary
General Conference |
Nov. 7, 2017 |
2 letters |
His reply: "I cannot help you" |
| |
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
| Claude Richli |
Associate Secretary
General Conference |
Nov. 10, 2017 |
2 letters |
His reply: "Not my area" |
| |
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
| Karen Porter |
Associate Secretary
General Conference |
Nov. 12, 2017 |
21 letters |
Still waiting for her reply |
| |
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
| John Thomas |
Associate Secretary
General Conference |
Dec. 4, 2017 |
3 letters |
He referred case to Alex Bryant |
| |
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
| Alex Bryant |
Executive Secretary
North American Div. |
Dec. 7, 2017 |
20 letters |
Still waiting for him to reply |
| |
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
| Gary Krause |
Associate Secretary
General Conference |
Jan. 3, 2018 |
2 letters |
Reply: "I can't help you" |
| |
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
|
Hensley
Moorooven
|
Associate Secretary
General Conference
{Secy. of Unity in Mission
Oversight Committee} |
Jan. 7, 2018 |
10 letters |
Reply: "How can I help you?" |
| Hensley Moorooven is currently considering my appeal and his third reply to me was on January 18th where he asked for more time to review the information I sent to him. Since he is Secretary of the Unity in Mission Oversight Committee I am asking him to consider non-compliance by the Northeastern Conference as part of my appeal of your decision. |
| I intend to visit Bethel Church tomorrow in the hopes that I can introduce myself to you and get a few minutes of your time. I know you said that you would not respond, but you may be interested in what I am saying to the people on the above list, so I hope you will reconsider and respond with a time that we can talk. |
In God We Trust
Mario Pietravalle, Jr. |
| |
| Decision by Dr. Honore - Sept. 14, 2017 |
From: Daniel Honore [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2017 5:27 PM
To: Mario Pietravalle
Subject: Re: To Dr. Honore, Northeastern Conference (# 4) - Oswald Euell has not responded in two months, so I am coming to you
Dear Mr. Pietravalle:
I am in receipt of your electronic correspondence. I must inform you that in the Northeastern Conference, we follow the guidelines established by the Seventh-day Adventist Church Manual. The acceptance or non-acceptance of members into a congregation is decision solely placed at the discretion of the local church. The conference does not, nor does it have authority to dictate to a church who it should or not accept into membership. This is one area the local church is granted full autonomy in decision making.
If you are unsatisfied with the decision made by the Mount Moriah Church it is an issue to be taken up directly with that church and its pastor. Otherwise you are free to seek membership in any of nearly 200 Adventists congregation in the metropolitan New York.
As far as calling the New York State Department of Discrimination, that is your option. Due to separation of church and state issues I don't believe the state is in a position to tell the church how to decide membership issues.
I wish you the best in your endeavors and must redirect your inquiry to the local church. I will not be responding to any further messages dealing with membership as that must be handled through the proper channel which is the local congregation.
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