ECM Continues Pledge to Work Within Church
Episcopal News Service. February 10, 1978 [78032]
Alice Vinik
Chicago, Ill. -- The National Council of the Evangelical and Catholic Mission met January 24-25 at the Church of the Ascension, Chicago, and continued its pledge to work within the structure of the Episcopal Church.
The National Council of ECM is composed of bishops, priests and laity from all of the provinces of the Episcopal Church who uphold the teaching and practice of the Episcopal Church as revealed in scripture, maintained by tradition and received by the Anglican Communion. The group pledges itself to work within the Episcopal Church. The purpose of the meeting was to elect officers, receive reports from the task forces on Communications, Events, Finances, Education, Pastoral, Theology, Liturgy, Spirituality, and to make plans for the future.
The Council endorsed the House of Bishops Statement of Principle which was formulated at Port St. Lucie, Fla., last October, and recommended that it be made a canon at the next General Convention. It also endorsed the House of Bishops statement on the subject of human sexuality as far as it went but commissioned the theology task force to study it in depth. The ECM articulates theology as found in the Scriptures; it does not make it.
The Council also recommended that the Proposed Book of Common Prayer be passed by the General Convention and that the 1928 Book of Common Prayer be an authorized alternative for a period of time to be determined by the Convention. It also recommended that the Standing Liturgical Committee of the Convention be notified of the areas in the Proposed Book which need improvement such as the Catechism, Psalter, Collects, Ordinal, etc.
Several Congresses will be planned during the year which will address pertinent questions coming out of the Church on culture. The Rt. Rev. Robert E. Terwilliger identified the issue today as one which centers around Jesus. He said that it is a Christological question about the authority of Jesus, Jesus is Lord. He also expressed the need for educating the Church on matters of The Church, sacraments and ministry.
The Rt. Rev. Stanley Atkins, Diocese of Eau Claire, is the chairman of ECM. Mrs. Frances Swinford is vice chairman, the Rev. Canon Charles Osborn, secretary, and Mrs. Charlotte Acquivava, treasurer. Other members elected to the council were the Rt. Rev. Donald Davies, the Rt. Rev. Charles Gaskell, the Rt. Rev. Addison Hosea, the Rev. John Purnell, the Rev. Boone Sadler, Jr., the Rev. William Wantland, the Rev. Edwin Norris, Mrs. Dorothy Spaulding, and Mrs. Alice Vinik. The Rev. John Holleman is chairman of the Education Task Force.