Bishops Meet in South Carolina
Diocesan Press Service. November 1, 1962 [IV-1a]
One hundred and forty Bishops of the Episcopal Church gathered in Columbia, S.C., for the 1962 annual meeting of the House of Bishops. Sessions were held in the Trinity Church parish hall Oct. 27 to Nov. 1.
The Most Rev. Arthur Michael Ramsey, D.D., Archbishop of Canterbury, accepted Presiding Bishop Lichtenberger's invitation to conduct a Quiet Day and informally address the House.
In addition to executive business sessions, the Bishops heard the Rev. William G. Pollard, Ph.D., executive director of the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies, present a report on "The Christian Attitude Toward War and Peace", a study which was requested by the 1961 General Convention.
Two Bishops were elected during the House sessions. They are the Rev, Cedric Earl Mills, rector of St. James Church, Baltimore, Md., to be Bishop of the Virgin Islands; and the Rev. Edward Guadan Longid, rector of Mission of St. Mary the Virgin, Sagada, Mountain Province, to be Suffragan Bishop of the Philippines.
Anglican executive officer, the Rt. Rev. Stephen F. Bayne, Jr., warned the House that Western segments of the Communion must allow the dioceses of the Council of the Church of South Asia to assume a greater degree of autonomy. He said one of the Church's chief responsibilities is to avoid giving the appearance of supporting "ecclesiastical colonialism" in its ties to South East Asia churches.
On the final day, the Bishops asked for improved racial relations, condemned total war and issued a call for Christian unity through prayer.