MSS Committee Holds First Meeting
Diocesan Press Service. September 13, 1974 [74230]
Salome Hansen, Editor, The Colorado Episcopalian
DENVER, Colo. -- History may be made in quiet ways.
That is the way it was when the new Mission Service and Strategy Committee (MSS) met for the first time July 26-28 in Denver.
Not that "mission" is an unfamiliar word to Episcopalians. It has been prominent in the vocabulary of the American Church ever since its founding. It is a word which has been defined and interpreted in various ways.
Only so short a time ago as the Seattle General Convention (1967) did the Church officially acknowledge that self-determination must replace the paternalism of much of its past mission effort.
Then at the Louisville General Convention (1973) the Church took another step. There it decreed that not only must self-determination become an integral part of mission to ethnic groups, but these minority organizations must officially be brought together. They must work with a free interchange of ideas and program.
And so Mission Service and Strategy began. It is structured to encourage close cooperation between five major organizations which have responsibilities toward ethnic groups: Community Action and Human Development (CAHD); Episcopal Asiamerican Strategy Task-force (EAST) ; Episcopal Commission for Black Ministries (ECBM); National Commission on Hispanic Affairs (NCHA) ; and National Committee on Indian Work (NCIW).
The Rt. Rev. Richard B. Martin, former Suffragan Bishop of Long Island, was appointed executive for Ministries by Presiding Bishop John M. Allin. Not only does Bishop Martin head MSS; he will become a resource person serving many agencies of the Church.
Fourteen men and women make up the staff for the five MSS organizations. From the group they elect a coordinator to serve a one-year term.
Maria Cueto, NCHA coordinator, was the one chosen for this first year. A native of Arizona and graduate of its state university, she has been a staff member for two years.
As MSS coordinator she presided at the Denver sessions, attended by some 50 committee members.
"We are not looking for big decisions at this first meeting," Maria explained. "Rather we are hoping to learn how to understand and support each other. Lack of communication, lack of organization, ethnic and cultural differences -- these are some of the problems which have kept us apart in the past."
George Guernsey, program group chairman of Executive Council, reviewed MSS organization.
"I commend you for the job you did in Louisville when you brought this thing together. Now we need to work well within our own groups and with the whole Church."
Bishop Martin set an expectant mood for the two-day meet.
"Let's see ourselves as we really are," he said. "To me you are a beautiful picture, with the beautiful differences in your faces, your skin color of red, black or brown.
"But it seems to be skin color which frightens people," he continued. "We have been afraid of each other. We are the minorities. But in many areas the minorities have now become the majority. It is a beautiful thing we have done in getting ourselves under one umbrella and into this room. But now we are accountable.
"From the beginning we must get our relationships right on the inside. And we must be able to speak out of authority.
"I pray that all of us can work together; that we may leave this meeting with our hearts beating in one tune."
Reports from the five-member organizations and discussion of mutual problems made up much of the program.
CAHD (Community Action and Human Development) ministers to Black poor and powerless who are, for the most part, outside the Church. In style it is an outgrowth of the six-year General Convention Special Program. Like its predecessor, it is committed to the principle of self-determination.
Howard Quander of the CAHD staff explained organization and the use of the $650,000 grant budget and $34,000 operating fund which together comprise 5 percent of the 1974 General Church Program budget.
Seven of CAHD's ten-member commission are elected by Executive Council from the Black and poor community; two members are from Executive Council itself, and the Presiding Bishop is chairman. Funding is subject to consultation with the diocese in which the money will be used.
"We can make two types of grants," Mr. Quander explained. "We can set up emergency funds to be used while a regular grant is being arranged with us or another agency. Usually grants are made on a one-year basis. Some have 'matching fund' clauses. Many grants made by CAHD have helped stimulate help from other sources. "
EAST (Episcopal Asiamerican Strategy Task-force) activities and plans were reported by its chairman, the Rev. Winston Ching.
"We coined the word EAST to describe what we are all about," he explained. "We were funded at Louisville, and held our first meeting in June. Our primary purpose is to serve as a resource group to the Church, dioceses, and individual congregations."
EAST hopes to serve several specific groups of people: older immigrants, native-born Americans who are finding new pride in Asian heritage, and the new wave of Asians who now make up one-third of those coming into the country.
"We have many differences among us," Father Ching pointed out. "Traditionally, some of us are mortal enemies. But we believe EAST can become a humanizing factor. And we hope to bring to the Church those beautiful forms of spirituality which have long been meaningful to Asians."
" The Episcopal Church has been working overseas among our people for more than 100 years, but without much impact. Many Asians are now coming here. We hope to find new ways of relating to them."
EAST's small budget ($50,000) will not permit grants to Asian groups, he explained. Requests for funds must come directly from individual dioceses, and must indicate diocesan involvement and investment in work with Asians.
ECBM (Episcopal Commission for Black Ministries) is also a group which completed its organization at the Louisville Convention. Bishop Harold L. Wright is chairman, and the Rev. Franklin Turner is executive coordinator.
Both ECBM and CAHD work among the Black, but CAHD is committed to the needs of the poor and powerless, and ECBM was organized specifically to develop and strengthen the ministry of Black Episcopal parishes and missions.
"Work with Blacks is not new in the Episcopal Church," explained Franklin Turner.
"However, between the years 1967 and 1973 there was no Black officer on the Executive Council to promote and develop work with Black Episcopalians.
"Bishop John M. Burgess of Massachusetts, the Union of Black Episcopalians, and others, proposed a plan to Executive Council in 1973. Later that year the Louisville Convention was asked to establish a so-called ' Black Desk' to serve needs of Black churchmen. "
It was an action which acknowledged the needs of Black people inside as well as outside the Church.
Bishop Wright called "the erosion of Black clergy" a most serious problem. At this time there are only 14 Black seminarians in school.
ECBM has a $250,000 over-all budget. Of this, $150,000 is designated for use of programs originating in Black congregations.
NCHA (National Commission on Hispanic Affairs) was created at the Houston Convention in 1970, and empowered to serve people of Hispanic origin. its first chairman was the Rev. Jorge Juan Rivera, who served until October, 1973.
Maria, Cueto, coordinator for the Denver meet, is the present Hispanic officer. Nelson W. Canals is the associate, and made the report.
"Hispanic people come from many countries and have a variety of languages and backgrounds," he pointed out. "In NCHA we are learning to go beyond our differences and find a common ground. All minority groups share numbers of problems."
NCHA is primarily a program rather than a funding agency, but it does make some grants. The group works to provide and strengthen resources and skills needed in programs related to Church or community.
"We hope to train more clergy among our own people," said Mr. Canals. "Many Hispanos are migrant workers. Education is a major problem, for both children and adults. We are working on immigration laws. We want to see our people become more than slave laborers."
NCIW (National Committee on Indian Work) was established in February of 1969. Its original members were Indians representing five regional conferences, along with five bishops from areas heavily populated with native Americans.
Today this is an all-Indian-Eskimo committee, one member of whom is the Rt. Rev. Harold Jones, Suffragan of South Dakota. He is the first American Indian Bishop and was present in Denver.
Fayetta McKnight, NCIW coordinator, made the report, explaining the committee's two major goals: leadership training for both lay leaders and native American clergy, and community development projects.
Of the $376,000 budget, $120,000 goes for urban or reservation work and $160,000 to develop indigenous ministries. The remaining supports efforts of boards and regional elected members.
"This year we have spent a great deal of money to help our people protect their lands and natural resources and obtain better health and medical care," Miss McKnight explained.
Major training efforts include the Dakota Leadership Program which has been in charge of the Rev. David Cochran, now the newly-consecrated Bishop of Alaska, and one being organized for the Navajo Council.
This new Council involves the entire Navajo Reservation area and the three dioceses within which its boundaries lie -- Arizona, Rio Grande and Utah. Tommy Jackson of Window Rock is the Council's coordinator.
Workshop sessions emphasized the necessity for continued cooperation in the five- member MSS group. Almost every problem listed by one organization was common to all.
In spite of the diversity of this group, trust relationships were well developed by the time the weekend was over.
Communication was considered a major problem and unity was called " more valuable than money. "
Bishop Martin closed the session with a celebration of the Eucharist and the story of the Good Samaritan.
" The story proves that neighborliness is not geographical but spiritual," he said.
" That 'certain man' Jesus talks about is you. It is I. We go down the road. We fall among thieves of ambition, distress, over-confidence, sloth. These are the things that steal us.
" The man rescued by the Good Samaritan, the one who could be any one of us, struck out on that road alone, which we are apt to do. Often it is foolish to travel a road alone. Often God rescues us from our own stupidity.
" The Good Samaritan was a man whom we might have expected to say ' I couldn't care less' when he found the wayfarer lying by the road. The 'Church Person', whom we would have expected to act, didn't! Maybe he was on an errand for his Bishop. Or perhaps he was going to a church conference. Anyway, he passed by.
"But the Samaritan took the man to an inn-keeper. He said, 'take care of this man for me. I'll pay you.'
" That inn-keeper was the real hero of the story. He took the man in, cared for him, and didn't even ask the Samaritan to show him his credit card!
" To be a Good Neighbor, all of us must develop two great qualities," concluded Bishop Martin. "We must have discernment and we must have awareness."
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