Blake Named to World Council Post
Diocesan Press Service. March 7, 1966 [41-4]
The Central Committee of the World Council of Churches meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, Feb. 8 - 17, elected the Rev. Eugene Carson Blake, stated clerk of the United Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A., general secretary of the international ecumenical organization.
Dr. Blake will succeed Dutch-born Dr. Willem A. Visser't Hooft who has held the post since the formation of the World Council in 1948. He will assume office some time during 1966 and continue in this post until the WCC's Fourth Assembly in 1968 when he must be re-elected.
Attending the meeting for the Episcopal Church were Dr. Peter Day, Ecumenical Officer, New York City and the Rev. James Kennedy, editor of Forward Movement Publications, Cincinnati, Ohio.
During its meeting, the Central Committee also spoke on two world trouble spots: Vietnam and Rhodesia. In urging all sides involved in the Vietnam fighting to take actions toward peace, the Central Committee outlined a ten-point program designed to bring the combatants to the conference table. These points included another cease-fire with an adequate "cooling off period" and an enlarged unit of the International Control Commission to ensure that cease-fire commitments are honored. The United States was asked to review its policy of "containment of communism," and communist nations supporting "wars of liberation" were asked to modify their policies.
In a resolution on Rhodesia all nations were called upon to sustain and intensify common measures of non-cooperation with the regime of Ian Smith "in order to ensure there is no future for the policy of UDI (Unilateral Declaration of Independence)." The resolution also stated that all parties in Rhodesia must accept the goals of majority rule and of racial cooperation.
In relief efforts the Central Committee authorized the World Council to coordinate its programs with those of Roman Catholic agencies for famine victims in India and Africa. The recommendation for joint relief efforts stemmed from a recent meeting of 30 representatives and staff consultants of the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches, Jan. 26 - 28. At the same time, the Council appealed to the WCC's member Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox and Old Catholic churches for $3 million for famine relief in India and $50,000 for victims of prolonged drought facing starvation in South, Central and East Africa. This appeal brought rapid responses with pledges totaling $156,800 received from several member churches almost immediately.
The Central Committee refused to accept the resignation of Dr. Franklin Clark Fry, Central Committee chairman and president of the Lutheran Church in America. Dr. Fry had submitted his resignation because he felt that two Americans should not hold what may be the chief positions of leadership in a world-wide organization (a reference to Dr. Blake's election as General Secretary). At the same time, the Central Committee proposed the appointment of a second vice-chairman from a continent other than North America and on Feb. 15 the Rev. J. Russell Chandran, principal of the United Theological College, Bangalore, India was named to the post.
At the meeting the Central Committee approved the appointment of four new staff members. The Rev. Philip Potter, a Methodist clergyman from the West Indies, was named to a five-year term as director of the Division of World Mission and Evangelism, succeeding the Rt. Rev. Lesslie Newbiggen, who resigned from the WCC staff to become Bishop of Madras of the Church of South India. Archpriest Vitaly Borovoy, representative of the Russian Orthodox Church to the WCC, was named for a three-year term to the position as associate director of the Secretariat on Faith and Order. He will be the first member of the Russian Orthodox Church on the WCC staff. Dr. Philip A. Johnson, an American Lutheran, was named associate executive secretary of the WCC's New York office; Dr. John Hold, a layman of the United Church of Christ (USA), was named assistant director of the Division of Inter-Church Aid, Refugee and World Service; and Dr. Joseph C. Weber, an American Methodist theologian was named for a three-year term as assistant director of the WCC'S Ecumenical Institute, Bossey, Switzerland.
In reports to the WCC, the Second Vatican Council and the progress in ecumenical relations were assessed. The report to the Committee indicated that there were still obstacles in the ecumenical way, despite progress in recent years. In approving the report the Council also suggested several steps which local congregations could take to strengthen the movement for unity. These included: prayers not only for unity generally but for specific neighboring churches of a different denomination; an ecumenical dimension in religious education material; early agreement on pulpit exchanges and, where not contrary to doctrine, intercommunion; the avoidance of proselytizing members of another church; welcome for ecumenical experiments on a local level and the recognition that God is praised in the "diversity of gifts which are preserved by the wide variety of church traditions" within the World Council.
Memberships of four churches of diverse countries and Christian traditions were approved by the Central Committee. The churches are the Orthodox Church of Czechoslovakia, the United Church of Zambia, the Malagasy (Madagascar) Lutheran Church and the Episcopal Church of Brazil. Acceptance of these four churches will become final in six months if no more than one-third of the member churches have registered objections. The admission of these churches will bring the total number of member churches of the WCC to 225, of which eight are associate members. (Associate members are churches with less than 10,000 members.)