News Briefs
Diocesan Press Service. May 6, 1964 [XXI-10]
CHURCH AGENCIES NEED CONSTANT SELF-EVALUATION
"Much will be required of Church agencies if they are indeed to offer a truly healing ministry to troubled people..." states a new report, Program Perspectives in Facts and Figures, a Survey of 62 Episcopal Church-related Agencies Serving Children, Youth and Families, from the Division of Health and Welfare Services, National Council.
This Division provides consultative services to agencies related to the Episcopal Church; recruits and gives scholarships for social work and acts as a liaison with national health and welfare organizations.
With the tempo of change today, continuous evaluation is necessary if each Church agency is to grasp the impact of changes on the need for their services.
"Throughout the nation today and especially in the growing metropolitan areas, efforts are being made to achieve better coordination of existing programs and better planning and coordination for the variety of new services which are being established. Federal, state and city governments are playing an increasing role as new projects for housing, delinquency prevention, mental health (and others) get under way, financed to a large extent by public funds," says the report.
Discussing the role of Church-related agencies to the community, the report states that considerable board and staff time should be given to participating in diocesan and community social planning operations. This work will give the agency valid data on which to base judgements as to the appropriateness of their own services and of their participation in joint public-voluntary ventures. These agencies also have a responsibility to give moral support to local, state and federal welfare programs, for the large majority of those requiring the help of social agencies must depend on expanded and strengthened public programs.
Forty agencies already receive some public funds, with two agencies obtaining at least 60 percent of their income from .such sources. United Funds oi Community Chest appeals are a source of funds for 26 Church agencies, with 2 agencies receiving 60 percent or more of their income from these sources. One agency operates a "group residence for little girls between the ages of 5 and 12 as a cooperative effort with the State Board of Child Welfare. As the report states, "Public and private agencies are indeed partners and need increasingly to define and clarify roles and relationships."
The report also discussed such other topics as who receives services, personnel policy and relationship to the Episcopal Church.
TWO EPISCOPALIANS INVITED TO ECUMENICAL CONFERENCE
The Rev. Carmino Joseph de Catanzaro, Ph.D., professor of Old Testament Literature and Languages at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, Evanston, Ill., was one of two Episcopal priests from the United States invited to participate in an ecumenical conference sponsored by the International League for Apostolic Faith and Order April 6-10, at the Benedictine Priory in Chevetogne, Belgium.
The Rev. William H. Dunphy, Ph.D., S. T. D., of Versailles, Kentucky, is the other Anglican theologian from this country. The conference on "Collegiality and Primacy" was attended by eight Anglican (the other six from England), three Orthodox, three Old Catholic, three Protestant, and 15 Roman Catholic clergy.