Bylaws

Una Voce Steubenville, Regina Caeli Chapter Constitution & Bylaws

Article I: Name

This chapter of Una Voce shall be known as “Una Voce Steubenville, Regina Caeli Chapter,” and shall be referred to as ‘chapter’ throughout these By-Laws. It is a member of Una Voce America.

Article 2: Statement of Purpose

The chapter has the following aims that shall direct its activities:

1. To work as a lay movement within the Church for an organic restoration of the liturgy in conformity with its nature and with the Latin tradition
2. To ensure that the traditional Roman Mass as codified in the Missale Romanum edited by Pope John XXIII is maintained — both in practice and in law — as one of the forms of eucharistic celebration which are recognized and honored in universal liturgical life
3. To obtain freedom of use for all other Roman liturgical books enshrining “previous liturgical and disciplinary forms of the Latin tradition” (cf. Ecclesia Dei, n. 5)
4. To safeguard and promote the use of Latin, Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony in the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church
5. To encourage, wherever it would benefit the faithful, the establishment of non-territorial parishes and/or chaplaincies in which only the liturgical books used in 1962 are employed
6. To serve the Church by helping the members of the movement and, through their apostolate, all the Christifideles better to understand, and more fruitfully to participate in, the Catholic liturgy as a sacred action.

Article 3 – Membership

1. All candidate names must be read on the floor and approved by vote of the majority of members at a regular meeting.
2. 2.Each member must be a practicing Catholic that agrees to our Chapter’s Statement of Purpose and shall pay annual dues of $36 no later than the January meeting.
3. 3.All new members shall pay pro-rated dues no later than the third meeting following approval of membership.
4. 4.Dues shall be waived for clergy members.

Article 4 – Elections

1. The annual election of officers shall take place at the December meeting.
2. The election of officers shall be by closed ballot. A majority of all votes cast shall be necessary to elect an officer. Prior to each election, the Chairman shall appoint a teller to count the votes.
3. Vacancies in elective offices shall be filled, by election, at the next regular meeting succeeding the meeting at which the vacancy was created.
4. Each officer elected must fill the office to which he or she is chosen at the first meeting of the calendar year.

Article 5 – Officers

1. Only members who are in good standing, i.e., paid their annual dues, shall be eligible to hold office. No member shall hold more than one office at the same time.
2. The elective officers shall be as follows: Chairman, Vice Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer.
3. The officers shall perform the duties required of them by the By-Laws of this chapter. If any officer is absent without good cause for three meetings the membership will have the right to call for elections of said office.
4. When suspending a member, the Treasurer shall immediately send to the suspended member a notice of suspension, including the date and the reason.
5. The Secretary shall file all minutes and reports in a book and they shall be preserved as a part of the records of this chapter.
6. The Chairman, at his discretion, shall form all committees and appoint all committee chairmen thereof.

Article 6 – Meetings

1. Regular meetings of the chapter shall be held once a month, with time and place to be determined at the previous meeting. Before a meeting can begin, a quorum must exist. Thirty-three percent (33%) of the membership constitutes a quorum. The Chairman shall decide if a quorum exists.
2. All meetings of the chapter shall be presided over by the Chairman.
3. The following shall form part of the order of business and procedure at the regular meetings of the chapter:

* Call meeting to order
* Opening prayer
* Roll call of officers
* Introduce visitors and new members
* Minutes read and approved
* Communications read
* Report of Committees
* Old business
* New business
* Good of the chapter
* Closing prayer

4. Special meetings shall be convened either by vote of the chapter at a preceding regular meeting or by direction of the Chairman. Each special meeting must have a stated purpose, and no other business shall be transacted at any such meeting.
5. The following shall be the order of business and procedure at special meetings:

* Call meeting to order
* Opening prayer
* Special order of business
* Closing prayer

6. It shall be the duty of all officers to attend each meeting of the chapter. In case of the inability of any officer to attend a meeting, due notice shall be given to the Chairman and arrangements made to have all necessary books and papers in the possession of such officer at the meeting.
7. In the absence or inability of the Chairman, the Vice Chairman shall preside and shall execute all of the duties of the Chairman.

Article 7 – Funds

1. All monies obtained from any source, by or through any person or persons, acting for or in the name of the chapter or under its direction or authority, shall be considered chapter funds and shall be forthwith delivered to the Chairman, who will report at the close of each meeting the amounts so received and from what source and shall deliver the same to the Treasurer and take a receipt.
2. The Treasurer shall deposit all monies received in a bank to the credit of the chapter. Disbursements from this fund shall be made only by check signed by the Chairman and Treasurer.
3. No money shall be paid or transferred from the Treasury of this chapter, (except such monies as the chapter is called upon to regularly pay for its current expenses) unless by two-thirds vote of the members present and voting at a regular meeting.

Article 8 – Miscellaneous

These bylaws may be amended by a two-thirds vote of the members present and voting at a regular meeting held subsequent to a regular meeting at which notice in writing providing for such amendment shall have been given and regularly read.