Mutual Responsibility Committee Named
Diocesan Press Service. March 6, 1964 [XIX-3]
A 17-member Committee on "Mutual Responsibility and Interdependence in the Body of Christ" was established at the February meeting of the National Council of the Episcopal Church. Its aim will be to put specific recommendations for implementation of the unprecedented inter-Anglican document before General Convention when it meets Oct. 12-23 in St. Louis, Mo.
Chairing the committee, which will meet initially on March 4 and 5 in Chicago, will be the Rt. Rev. Thomas H. Wright of Wilmington, N. C., Bishop of East Carolina.
The "mutual responsibility" document, calling for "the death of much that is familiar about (the Anglican Communion) now, " already has been unanimously adopted by the House of Bishops and National Council. When proposed by the Anglican Communion leaders at the Anglican Congress in Toronto last August, it received overwhelming favorable response.
In brief, the document endorses:
1) A meeting of the archbishops and metropolitans every two years.
2) The appointment of regional officers in Africa, the British Isles, India, Pakistan and the Middle East, the South Pacific, and Southeast Asia, working under the Executive Officer of the Anglican Communion (at present, the Rt. Rev. Stephen F. Bayne, Jr.).
3) Frequent meetings of the Advisory Council of Missionary Strategy to collect and distribute information on resources and needs.
4) A substantial increase--$15 million over the next five years--in present contributions to meet existing and pressing needs in the "younger churches" over and above current budgets.
5) A "new way of thinking and acting," based on the equality and independence of each national church--the old and young together--and their unity and interdependence in mission.
Committee members, besides Bishop Wright, who will draw up specifics for American church implementation of the document are:
The Rt. Rev. Harvey D. Butterfield of Burlington, Vt., Bishop of Vermont
Bruce Fayerweather of Midland, Mich.
Mrs. John H. Foster, San Antonio, Texas
Fred Hargesheimer, White Bear Lake, Minn.
The Rt. Rev. Russell S. Hubbard, Spokane, Wash., Bishop of Spokane
The Rt. Rev. Everett H. Jones, San Antonio, Texas, Bishop of West Texas
The Honorable Thurgood Marshall, New York City
Prime F. Osborn, Jacksonville, Fla.
The Rev. Canon C. Howard Perry, Sacramento, Calif.
The Rev. Allan L. Ramsay, Detroit, Mich.
Mrs. Harold A. Sorg, Berkeley, Calif.
The Rev. E. William Strausser, Jr., Burlington, Iowa
The Rt. Rev. A. Ervine Swift, Santurce, Puerto Rico, Bishop of Puerto Rico
Mrs. Theodore O. Wedel, New York City
The Rt. Rev. Stephen F. Bayne, Jr., London, England.
The Rev. Canon Charles M. Guilbert, New York City
Consultants to committee members will be John W. Reinhardt, Director of the National Council's Promotion Department; Miss Carman St. John Wolff, Director of the Council's Department of Christian Education; and Dr. Lindley M. Franklin, Council Treasurer.