Church Center Announces Departures
Episcopal News Service. November 10, 1988 [88246]
NEW YORK (DPS, Nov. 10) -- Two familiar names to Episcopalians, nationally -- the Rev. Dr. Thomas H. Carson, Jr., Executive for Stewardship, and the Rev. Charles A. Cesaretti, the Presiding Bishop's Deputy for Anglican Affairs -- have, in the last weeks, announced their departures from the Church Center staff in New York.
Carson, who is now on sabbatical from his Church Center post, has announced his retirement in the spring. A well-known authority throughout the Anglican Communion on the theology of stewardship, he has served as Stewardship Executive since 1979, the first person to hold that post.
Born in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, Carson holds a B.A. degree from the University of New Mexico and an M.Div. degree from the University of the South -- where he was awarded an honorary D.D. Degree in 1979. His ordinations to the diaconate and priesthood, and his first congregations, were in Tennessee. He later served parishes in South Carolina -- most notably, as rector of Christ Church, Greenville, a large parish that literally doubled in size during Carson's tenure.
During Carson's years in Tennessee and South Carolina, he was active in work on the diocesan as well as the parish level. In both Tennessee and Upper South Carolina, he was a member of the Bishop and Council and of the diocesan departments of mission. In Upper South Carolina, he served as president of the Standing Committee for three terms. He also worked in the Department of Finance, was a member of the Commission on Ministry, and chairman of the Committee on Constitution and Canons.
During his sabbatical leave, Carson has continued to work in the field of stewardship, consulting in various parts of the Anglican Communion on the theology of stewardship and the development of stewardship initiatives within parishes and dioceses. His retirement plans include spending time with his family -- his wife, Jane, and his children and grandchildren.
Cesaretti, who will leave the Church Center at the end of December to search out new directions for his ministry, has been a familiar figure at the Center -- and in the Church nationally and internationally -- for more than 12 years.
Before he became the Presiding Bishop's Deputy for Anglican Relations, Cesaretti served as the Church's first National Hunger Officer...and, later, as Public Issues Officer. His Public Issues post took him to Iran, Southern Africa, Europe, and Central America, as he helped Church leaders develop and disseminate policy.
As Deputy for Anglican Relations, Cesaretti has worked with the member churches of the Anglican Communion and with agencies of the Anglican Consultative Council, as the Communion moves toward developing coordinated policies and programs throughout the world. Many of the concerns of his office culminated at the 1988 Lambeth Conference, which he attended with the Presiding Bishop.
Cesaretti, who was born in Bordentown, New Jersey, earned degrees at Rutgers University (B.A.), The Philadelphia Divinity School(S.T.B), and Princeton Seminary (Th.M.). After his ordination to the priesthood in 1965, he served parishes in Plainfield, Linden, and Westfield, New Jersey, before joining the staff of the Episcopal Church Center in 1976. He lives in South Orange, New Jersey.
In posts that have, in recent years, required much travel, Cesaretti, nevertheless, has found time for a number of involvements. He has chaired the Anglican Peace & Justice Network, has served as an accredited observer on peace and justice issues for the World Council of Churches, and is author, editor, or contributor of a number of books and papers exploring these issues as well as the issues of nuclear war and hunger.
Cesaretti, whom the Presiding Bishop has described as "...steady companion on the way, counselor, friend, deputy, nurturing presence...," will leave behind a legacy of intelligent concern, acute discernment of issues, and world vision.