Overseas Bishops Address Council Meeting; Overseas Development Resolution Passed
Diocesan Press Service. September 23, 1975 [75325]
GREENWICH, Conn. -- What will be the direction of the Episcopal Church's overseas mission in the coming decade? How far have the overseas dioceses come on the road to autonomy? These and other questions were answered in a special presentation by four overseas bishops to the Executive Council, meeting here Sept. 16-18. The bishops' remarks were preparatory to the passage of a special Overseas Development Fund resolution, introduced by the Council's committee on national and world mission.
The Rt. Rev. Melchor Saucedo, Bishop of Western Mexico and chairman of the Coalition of Overseas Bishops, opened the presentation by outlining what the Overseas Coalition considered to be some basic realities: that without its overseas dioceses the Episcopal Church "cannot be, " and vice versa; that overseas jurisdictions cannot be dependent on the American Church "for ever and ever and ever"; and that interdependence is the key to a continuing, coequal relationship between the American dioceses and their overseas partners.
Bishop Saucedo said that the overseas bishops had come to the United States with "gifts from other parts of the world," and cited a passage from St. Paul's epistle to the Romans to illustrate what he saw the mission of today's church to be: "For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you -- that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith." (Rom. 1: 11-12.)
The Rt. Rev. Benito Cabanban, Bishop of the Central Philippines, traced the history of the Episcopal Church's relationship with its overseas dioceses. He noted that for over a century the overseas dioceses "have been on the receiving end of the benevolence, love, care and concern of the mother Church." While expressing the overseas dioceses' gratitude for this support, Bishop Cabanban said that this "one-way traffic" fostered unhealthy attitudes of paternalism in the American Church and dependency overseas. Such attitudes, he said, are inconsistent with the underlying principle of the Church: "that in Him we are united into the one Body, the Church of whom Jesus Christ is head. " Bishop Cabanban spoke of significant changes in recent years in domestic-overseas relationships. Paternalism and dependency, he said, were being replaced by concepts of self-determination, self-government and self-support. He cited several changes in the polity of overseas dioceses as examples:
# Overseas bishops, elected in the past by the House of Bishops, are now chosen by the dioceses in which they will serve, through the normal diocesan convention process.
# Budgets, in the past submitted individually by each overseas jurisdiction to the Executive Council, are now covered by a single block grant which is divided by the Coalition itself. Each diocese in turn determines how it will use its allotted portion.
# New forms of indigenous ministry, including the training of qualified persons for non-stipendiary ordained and unordained ministry, are being encourage and developed.
# Missionaries, in the past appointed by the Executive Council, are now invited by their host dioceses and are paid from the block grant.
Bishop Cabanban said that "tremendous changes for the better" are continuing to take place in the relationship between the Church in the U.S. and the Church overseas. He ended his remarks with the hope that "in God's own time, perhaps, overseas jurisdictions can say to the Executive Council, we are very grateful for everything you did for us. Now we are on our own. "
The Rt. Rev. George D. Browne, Bishop of Liberia, talked about the meaning of autonomy for the overseas dioceses. He prefaced his remarks with a "reminder" from the epistle to the Romans: "None of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living." (14: 7-9)
Bishop Browne said that the Church is "not our Church, but God's; not our mission, but God's. All that we own and are His. We are merely trustees." The bishop urged the Council to think of autonomy as "the freedom and ability to exercise equally and in the most effective way our obedience to 'mission' within the context of the Anglican Communion." This freedom, he said, finds its roots and expression in "our various cultural and economic realities. What we, the overseas dioceses, are working toward now is securing that ability to respond effectively to basic human needs."
Bishop Browne emphasized that the overseas bishops did not see autonomy as being dependent on financial self-support, but rather as being "deeply rooted in the divine commission. "True self-support, he said, occurs only after administrative and spiritual autonomy have been realized. Spiritual autonomy is particularly important, he said, "for we are only free when He has made us free."
Bishop Browne pointed out that autonomy also "breaks the chain of dependence . . . and opens new and exciting opportunities to strengthen ties of interdependence." Autonomy, he said, is a "catalyst" for internationalizing the Church's mission. He reminded the Council that to him and his colleagues in the Coalition, the Church in the U.S. was "just as much an 'overseas jurisdiction' as the Philippines are to you. " He said that autonomy will also create a fresh environment for stimulating stewardship and discovering "untapped leadership potentials."
The Overseas Development Fund, he said, would make such autonomy possible. "We are not begging, " the bishop concluded. "We are anxious to help as equal partners in the mission of the Church. "
The Rt. Rev. George E. Haynsworth, Bishop of Nicaragua and El Salvador, traced the history of the Overseas Development Fund and asked the Council to "let us walk the last mile with you, so that when we arrive at the end of our trip together we may sit down as equal partners and decide how we do mission and carry out our ministry in the world today together."
Bishop Haynsworth said that the idea for a development fund was first discussed among the overseas bishops five years ago as a possible means for supporting development projects to benefit their respective countries as well as to provide supplementary income for the support of diocesan programs.
He said that the United Thank Offering, after helping the Diocese of Costa Rica to reach financial autonomy, gave a subsequent $100, 000 grant to the Coalition for a feasability study. As a result of the study, he said, four overseas dioceses have submitted self-support plans which have been approved by the Coalition. Additional gifts to the fund from parishes and dioceses, totaling over $177,000, have helped three dioceses develop programs which will lead to financial autonomy.
Bishop Haynsworth noted that at the 1973 Louisville Convention the overseas bishops estimated that they would need $500, 000 a year for the next ten years to help their dioceses with proposed autonomy plans. The plan was submitted to the Executive Council at Louisville but was not supported, due to budgetary limitations.
Bishop Haynsworth said that development funds leading to autonomy were essential in three areas of overseas program: support for institutions, help for congregations to achieve self-support, and supplementary funds to cover diocesan administrative costs.
The bishop cited the current Cuttington College Fund drive as an example of institutional support, but reminded the Council that the Diocese of Liberia, after careful evaluation, had decided to close several other schools which were no longer performing an essential educational function. Such an evaluation pattern, he said, would be followed by all overseas dioceses in their use of development funds.
Bishop Haynsworth emphasized that the people of the overseas dioceses are far, from passive in their personal investment in the life of the Church. "Our people," he pointed out, "with the barest minimum of this world's resources, are not only giving and sharing, but they are actively participating in seeking valid solutions to world hunger problems. For them, as hopefully for us, it is recognized as a life and death issue."
"The point is, " he continued, "we are not just serving the poor, but rather with the poor as essential partners in the process, we are struggling to replace dependency with an effective ministry to the communities as nations of which they are citizens. Development funds are essential in this process."
An effective non-stipendiary ministry, he added, must still be supplemented and supported by a "well-educated ministry working full time in administration, supervision and training.: Such a ministry, he said, would also require development funds.
Bishop Haynsworth concluded with a vision of Overseas Coalition meetings in future years. In ten years, he said, "possibly more than half" of the current block grant to overseas dioceses would be freed for new programs to carry out the mission of the Church.
After the presentations, the Council unanimously supported the Overseas Development Fund resolution. The resolution calls for the Council's committees on development and national and world mission to provide a plan for expansion of the current fund by the December Council meeting. The plan will include a financial goal figure. The resolution also authorized $5, 000 from the Development Office budget to cover the committee's working expenses.