News Brief
Episcopal News Service. August 16, 1979 [79259]
John G. Denton of Australia will become chairman of the Anglican Consultative Council on Jan. 1, 1980, succeeding Mrs. Marion Kelleran of Alexandria, Va. Mr. Denton is General Secretary of the General Synod of the Church of England in Australia. After working in the personnel department of Mobil Oil (Australia), he served successively as administrative secretary of the Diocese of Central Tanganyika from 1954 to 1964, director of information and public relations of the Diocese of Sydney, and then as diocesan registrar and part-time General Secretary of the Australian General Synod. In 1977 he assumed full-time duties in that post. He was awarded an OBE in 1977.
Dr. Charles R. Lawrence II of New York, President of the House of Deputies of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, will be the Blandy lecturer, Oct. 22-23, at the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest. He will present three lectures on "Episcopalians Face the Eighties: Projections from the 66th General Convention of the Episcopal Church. " That Convention will be held in Denver, Sept. 8-20. Dr. Lawrence is Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, where he taught for almost 30 years.
St. John's Military School of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Kansas will be the setting for a Warner Brothers movie, tentatively entitled "Brave Young Men. " The film will center on the escapades of boys in a military academy where the commandant is a retired, partly senile military man. Local persons will be recruited to play many parts in the film. The campuses of Marymount College and Kansas Wesleyan will also be used for some scenes. Filming is expected to start in mid-September and last 10 weeks.
The South African Council of Churches has adopted a resolution which sanctions possible campaigns of "civil disobedience" to the government's policy of compulsory racial segregation. The carefully-worded resolution supports persons who break certain race laws, which were called "morally so objectionable that we cannot obey them with a clear conscience." Most of South Africa's major churches, including the Anglican Church, are represented in the Council or cooperate with it, with the notable exceptions being the three white, Afrikaans-speaking Dutch Reformed Churches, which support apartheid.
A meeting of the Primates of the Anglican Communion will be held in England -- the exact place has not been announced -- from Nov. 26 to Dec. 1. In this context, Primate means the principal archbishop, bishop or primate of each of the 26 autonomous provinces of the Anglican Communion. The meeting has no legislative powers but rather is an opportunity to hear and to learn from the experience of others and for discussing ideas and responsibilities. Archbishop Donald Coggan of Canterbury will preside. The Rt. Rev. John M. Allin, Presiding Bishop, will represent the Episcopal Church.
The Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest library recently received the collection of the National Town and Country Church Institute after the closing of the Roanridge conference center near Kansas City, Mo. The 215 volumes and assorted magazines -- all of which have been catalogued -- pertain to agriculture, rural society and the Church in small communities.
The Rt. Rev. John Howe, Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council, recently visited the Anglican Church in Uganda and personally conveyed to them a message of "complete solidarity" and "continuing prayers" from the Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Canada in May. Bishop Howe personally thanked the Church there for its "faith, determination and courage during the years of oppression and violence. " He also discussed with them aid to the country and Church of Uganda.