SECTION 1. The Standing Committee of this Diocese shall consist of six (6) members elected from the lay and clerical orders, who shall be Priests entitled to vote in the Convention and Lay Persons having the qualifications of Lay Delegates to the Convention, no one of which members shall suffer the disabilities of minority under the civil law. The Committee shall organize by choosing from its own body a President and a Secretary. The President shall be a Priest. He or she may call a meeting at his or her discretion and shall do so on the request of two or more members. The Bishop may summon a meeting of the Committee. The Secretary shall preserve a record of all the proceedings of the Committee and an abstract of same shall be presented on behalf of the Committee to each annual meeting of the Convention.
SECTION 2. The initial Diocesan Convention shall elect members of the Standing Committee as follows:
(a) A lay person from the Acadiana Convocation and a Priest from the Lake Charles Convocation for a term of one (1) year;
(b) A priest from the Monroe Convocation and a lay person from the Shreveport Convocation for a term of two (2) years;
(c) A Priest from the Alexandria Convocation for a term of three (3) years.
At each annual meeting of the Convention thereafter, each retiring member of the Committee shall be succeeded for a three (3) year term by a new member to be elected from the opposite order, but who shall be domiciled in the same Convocation as the retiring member.
SECTION 2(a). The Diocesan Convention of 1984 shall elect a Priest at large to the Standing Committee to serve for a term of two (2) years, commencing at the adjournment of the 1984 Annual Convention. Thereafter, the retiring at large member shall be succeeded for a three (3) year term by a new member to be elected at large by the Annual Convention from the opposite order.
SECTION 3. Four (4) members shall constitute a quorum provided two (2) members of each order be present. The Standing Committee shall have power to fill vacancies in its own body, occasioned by death, resignation or otherwise, provided that any vacancy shall be filled for the remainder of the term thereof and only by a member of the same order and from the same Convocation as the member duly elected to that office prior to its becoming vacant, except that the at large member must be filled by a member of the same order but from any Convocation. All proper expenses of the Standing Committee shall be paid by the Treasurer of the Diocese.