13 Projects Receive Foundation Grants
Episcopal News Service. May 12, 1983 [83086]
NEW YORK (DPS, May 12) -- Thirteen grants totaling $104,500 were authorized for programs throughout the Church by the board of The Episcopal Church Foundation at their annual meeting in New York City this week. The projects range in scope from support for emergency shelter for the homeless and food for the hungry to training for lay ministry and participation in an ecumenical effort for urban ministry.
A grant of $7,500 to the House of Bishops' Committee on Pastoral Development will help that body complete its study of the process for electing bishops in the Episcopal Church. The survey has conducted research on eight recent episcopal elections and aims at providing guidance to dioceses engaged in future elections. This is the second Foundation grant to this project.
The Institute for Servant Leadership at Candler School of Theology, Emory University in Atlanta, will offer a five-day series of seminars and workshops for business and church leaders to strengthen the spiritual dimension in their lives, starting in December 1983, with help from a $10,000 grant. The project will be directed by the Rt. Rev. Bennett J. Sims after his retirement as Bishop of Atlanta.
The 11 dioceses in the Ninth Province (Mexico, Central America, northern South America and the Dominican Republic), as well as three other neighboring and autonomous dioceses, intend to become an independent province in the Anglican Communion, rather than continuing as part of the Episcopal Church. A $14,500 grant will help the steering committee fund meetings and procedures to bring this about.
In June 1982, torrential rains and a flash flood carried away the dam at the Episcopal Camp and Conference Center in Ivoryton, Conn., wiping out opportunities for swimming and boating by summer campers and year-round participants at retreats. A $10,000 grant will help rebuild the dam and refill the empty lake.
With the help of a $5,000 grant, the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif., is planning a program of graduate level instruction in management for the executive officers of religious institutions that provide significant public service. The project will assemble a faculty from business administration, education and welfare management to teach management and the direction of religious studies.
A grant of $5,000, the second instance of Foundation support, will provide continued funding for the Lay Academy of the Diocese of California in San Francisco, which concentrates on practical, contextual training in partnership with congregations. The Academy emphasizes the ministry of the laity and through course offerings improves the skills needed to perform these ministries.
The Recovered Alcoholic Clergy Association aims to provide mutual self-help and fellowship, as well as pastoral concern for and assistance to clergy and their families. A $2,000 grant will help the organization publish booklets and maintain its crisis hotline.
The HOSPITALITY Program of the Diocese of Massachusetts, organized by a canon on the cathedral staff, provides board and lodging to the families of patients at Boston hospitals from out of town. With help from a $5,000 grant, contact persons in congregations enlist host families willing to help with this project, which is seeking a broader ecumenical base.
A $15,000 grant, the second of its kind, to the Urban Ministries Alliance of San Francisco will help fund an Episcopal intern's participation in this ecumenical program that provides academic as well as practical training for urban ministry.
The Yorkville Emergency Alliance in New York City received a second $5,000 grant for its program of coordinating volunteer efforts to combat the effects of federal budget cuts in such areas as feeding programs for the elderly, job training for disadvantaged youth, and drug-use prevention projects.
Apostles' House in Newark, N.J., has launched an emergency short-term shelter for homeless families with the help of a $10,000 grant. Those served will be the victims of fire, people who have lost their financial resources, or are transients in a strange city.
A second grant, for $10,500, will help fund for a second year the efforts of Indian Enterprise to bring economic self-sufficiency to the Indian people on the White Earth reservation in Minnesota through the creation of jobs. The project is coordinated by the diocese's Episcopal Community Services, Inc.
Preventative, restorative, and maturative pastoral care will be made possible for all clergy in the Diocese of the Rio Grande by a $5,000 grant to the newly organized Office of Pastoral Development, which also aims to provide support and educational opportunities for clergy in this second largest diocese in the Church.
In addition to grants, The Episcopal Church Foundation makes loans for parish and mission building programs and awards fellowships to recent seminary graduates for doctoral study. The Foundation is a national independent organization of lay men and women who support significant projects not included in regular church budgets.