Jesuit Named to National Council Post
Diocesan Press Service. August 3, 1966 [45-9]
The Rev. David J. Bowman, S. J., has been named assistant director in the National Council of Churches' Faith and Order Department, it has been announced by Dr. R. H. Edwin Espy, NCC, general secretary.
Fr. Bowman, whose appointment is effective Sept. 6, will become the first Roman Catholic clergyman ever to serve on the National Council's professional staff.
He comes to the Council from Loyola University in Chicago, where he has taught theology for the past year.
"The contribution of Fr. Bowman's services to the work of the National Council and its Faith and Order Departments is a concrete indicator of the Roman Catholic Church's commitment to the ecumenical movement," Dr. Espy said.
"This basic commitment is spelled out in the Decree on Ecumenism adopted by Vatican Council II. In making Fr. Bowman available to us, the Society of Jesus is laying another stone in the foundations of our common life which have been growing with astonishing speed in our time," he declared.
"Fr. Bowman will join our staff as an ecumenical worker with Protestants, Anglicans, Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics alike." said the Rev. William A. Norgren, executive director of the Faith and Order Department.
His duties will include lecturing, writing, conducting study projects in the area of faith and order and counseling groups on ecumenical activity and dialogue.