Summary of Actions of the Executive Council
Episcopal News Service. June 23, 1983 [83121]
DES MOINES, Iowa (DPS, June 23) -- The Executive Council of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church met here June 16-18.
The Council -- which sets policy and develops programs for the Church between the triennial meetings of the General Convention -- consists of 40 members: 20 elected by the Convention; 18 elected by the Church's nine internal provinces, and the Presiding Bishop, the Most Rev. John M. Allin, and the President of the House of Deputies, Dr. Charles R. Lawrence. The Rev. Canon James R. Gundrum is secretary.
Most resolutions for Council action come through six standing committees and occasionally a special committee or sub-committee.
The Council took the following actions:
- Approved a $14,000 grant from the Vincent Astor Fund for the diocese of New York's Church Refugee Center/Legal and Advocacy Service.
- Asked the office of Social and Specialized Ministries to compile and publish a list of agencies offering responsible information and assistance to victims of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and commended medical and pastoral work with the disease.
- Agreed that members would read and study the document "The Challenge of Peace" by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and urged all Episcopalians to do so along with similar reports from the General Convention and the House of Bishops.
- Amended criteria for Jubilee Center designation to include clusters of Episcopal congregations.
- Affirmed the designation of the first eight Jubilee Centers: St. Mark's Parish, Lewistown, Penna.; the Episcopal Pastoral Center, Denver,Co.; St. Paul's Parish, Saginaw, Mich.; Durham Ministries, Durham, N.,C.; Holy Cross Parish, Miami, Fla.; East St. Louis Metropolitan Ministry, East St. Louis, Ill.; Episcopal Ministries of Middle Tennessee, Urban and Regional Ministry Inc., Nashville, Tenn.; Urban Mission Training Program, Washington, D.C.
- Learned that Jubilee Center forms will be revised to clarify primacy of diocesan designation.
- Heard the Presiding Bishop report on the Christian Peace Conference in Uppsala, Sweden and on continuing conversations with Archbishop John Roach of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.
- Learned that Social Responsibility in Investment efforts enjoyed "a modicum of success" this past year in stockholder resolutions and that such efforts will continue to focus on South African affairs.
- Commended the Rev. Franklin Turner, on the occasion of his resignation, for his years of service as Black Ministries Officer.
- Learned that a Mission Opportunity Catalog approved by Council in February has been published and will be revised periodically.
- Learned that the Church is "about at the peak" of Venture in Mission collections and that $600,000 was available in undesignated funds for national projects and, overall, $154 million had been collected among all diocesan and national Venture campaigns on pledges of $175 million.
- Designated funds to the following projects from undesignated Venture funds: Northern Mexico, $190,000; Episcopal endowments of $60,000 each in Honduras, Panama, El Salvador, and Nicaragua; ARENSA, $50,000; Family Life Ministries, 29,000; Brazil, $10,000.
- Released $45,000 designated for Honduras and $11,700 designated for Costa Rica from Venture gifts.
- Modified prior resolutions on Sudan and scholarship projects to release funds and clarify purpose.
- Viewed a 28-minute color videotape "More than Money" prepared by the Episcopal Church Center Communication and Stewardship office, exploring the General Convention tithing resolution.
- Received the report of Treasurer Matthew Costigan indicating "excellent financial condition."
- Learned that the state of the finances enabled Church offices to lift an automatic 5% restriction that is a built-in protective device.
- Established trust funds from bequests honoring Agnes T. Muntz, Howard and Marcella Beers, and Leo G. McAfee.
- Established trust funds to conform with Venture gifts for Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Black clergy scholarships.
- Learned that bequests from Katherine I. Granlund, Lily M. Morrell Matilda R. Walsh and Josephine P. Taylor had been added to the General Endowment Fund.
- Learned that the Church had filed an amicus curiae brief in support of the appeal of the Rev. Messrs. Leo Frade and Joe Doss, seeking to overturn their convictions in Federal court in charges stemming from the 1979 Cuban boat lift, and learned that the Presiding Bishop continues to press for the two at the highest levels of government.
- Heard Treasurer Matthew Costigan report on administrators' workshops and support for pilot computer technology programs.
- Asked the Secretary, the Rev. James R. Gundrum, to explore the possibility of shifting the June 1984 Council meeting from the Mercy Center to the Church Divinity School of the Pacific -- both in the Diocese of California -- and to shift the dates back from June 7-9 to June 6-8 to avoid travel on the eve of Pentecost.
- Affirmed the following companion diocese relationships: Between the Diocese of Alaska and the Diocese of Busan, Korea; among the Dioceses of Arizona, Mississippi, and Panama; between the Dioceses of Delaware and Haiti; among the Diocese of Missouri and the Dioceses of Jos, Kaduna and Kano, Nigeria; between the Dioceses of Texas and Western Mexico; between the Dioceses of Tennessee and Costa Rica.
- Affirmed the appointments of the following as Volunteers for Mission: Hugh W. W. Darnley Smith; the Very Rev. O.C. Edwards, the Rev. Dr. Alan Jones, Kirsten Laursen, Nancy Monelli, Margaret I. Short, Stephen F. Templeton, Barbara Ann Choate, Sheryl McGrath and Charles R. Bradshaw.
- Commended the following volunteers upon their return from the field: Gabrielle Beasley, Joyce Elise Carlson, John C. Hauser, Eric Naegel and David Shanks and learned that Shanks had broken his leg in service in Liberia and was recuperating at an Order of the Holy Cross monastery.
- Expressed appreciation for the appointment as missionaries of the Rev. Samuel Van Culin and the Rev. Donald L. Irish.
- Gave thanks for the following for completed missionary terms: the Rev. James David McCallum and the Rev. Herbert A. Vermilye.
- Approved expenditure of $17,000 from trust fund income in support of Latin American/Caribbean theological education projects.
- Agreed to a modification of the Constitution of the Anglican Council of North America and the Caribbean to clarify advisory role of Council.
- Appointed the Rt. Rev. Robert C. Witcher, Bishop of Long Island, to represent the Episcopal Church at the Partners in Mission consultation of the Church of the Province of the West Indies.
- Recommended that salaries of the Presiding Bishop's Fund Network Officer and assistant be funded through the General Church Program beginning next year.
- Received for confirmation resolutions and policy statements of the National Council of Churches dealing with China, Albania, and Central America.
- Learned that Bishop John M. Watanabe had been congratulated upon his election as Presiding Bishop of the Holy Catholic Church of Japan, a member Church of the Anglican Communion.
- Heard a report from fellow member John Carson on the recent board meeting of the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief.
- Commended Jeannie Willis on the occasion of her impending retirement for her work in mission support and as executive assistant in the unit.
- Commended Walter. H. Boyd, with a standing ovation, for his years of service as Press Officer of the Episcopal Church Center.
- Learned that the Rev. William D. Dearnaley had been named News Director of the Church Center and would be advertising for an assistant soon.
- Heard a report from Council member and Bishop of Iowa the Rt. Rev. Walter C. Righter in a diocesan-wide model communication program that is underway in the diocese.
- Learned that the committee is continuing explorations into proposals to involve the Church in cable and television-satellite broadcasting.
- Commended the executive, the Rt. Rev. Elliott L. Sorge, who is resigning to become Bishop of Easton, for his leadership in the unit.
- Learned that the procedures for ecclesiastical endorsement of college, hospital and institutional chaplains are being refined by staff officer the Rev. Mark Harris.
- Agreed that the committee should assist the conscientious objector registrar (Bobbie Bevill of the Youth Ministry Office) in reviewing policies and programs of the Church in this area to bring them into conformity with General Convention actions.
- Allocated up to $10,000 from the Constable Fund to assist with a Province IX meeting of diocesan Commissions on Ministry.
- Approved an interest-free loan of $21,000 from the Constable Fund to the Seabury Press for development and publication of Bible Stories for the Church Year as a companion volume to the recently published Prayer Book Guide to Christian Education, to be repaid through sales.
- Approved an allocation of up to $20,000 from the Constable Fund to support a conference on college ministries at Estes Park, Colo. next winter.
- Supported the Hispanic Vocations Week Nov. 27-Dec. 4.
- Learned that a Council for Women's Ministries has been formed, incorporating most of the groups now engaged in this work.
- Received information on publications and programs relating to the Next Step in Mission and Jubilee Ministries.
- Heard reports on Peace Ministries and public policy development, and viewed the videotape "To Make Peace," produced by the Communication Office and the Public Affairs Office for cable television transmission.
- Learned of ecumenical progress in Iowa through Bishop Walter C. Righter, a council member, Bishop Paul Werger of the Lutheran Church in America, and through a videotape produced by the diocese of Iowa.
- Received with applause a report on an Anglican pastoral visit to South African Bishop Desmond Tutu, in which Council member Pamela C. Chinnis took part.