Viewpoints Passes 500th Broadcast
Diocesan Press Service. February 6, 1968 [62-1]
"Thank you - George Meany, Eleanor Roosevelt, Senator John F. Kennedy, Jackie Robinson, Senator Barry Goldwater, Margaret Meade, Burl Ives, Archbishop Ramsey - for being with us and giving us your viewpoint."
The above persons have been among the many guests to appear on VIEWPOINT, a radio series produced by the Episcopal Church which recently celebrated its 500th broadcast. One guest later became President of the United States. One was a presidential candidate. All have contributed much to our society and all have, at one time or another, sat opposite the program's moderator, the Rev. Dana F. Kennedy, and had an opportunity to give their viewpoints on society, on their work and on the place of faith in daily life.
More recently Senator Robert F. Kennedy (D., N. Y.) and Senator Charles Percy (R., Ill,) have joined the list of guests on the program. Senator Kennedy, who was interviewed in his New York apartment during the week of Jan. 22, and Senator Percy, interviewed the same week in his Washington, D. C. office, will be heard during March.
These two men dealt with current national and international problems - housing, the crisis in American cities, Vietnam, the world population crisis and the Church's role in helping to meet these problems.
Talking about the leadership given by the church in recognizing and beginning to solve social ills, Senator Kennedy stated:
"We've talked about them (social problems) a great deal but I don't think that we've done a great deal. I think that we have to do more in Congress and we have to do more in Washington, but the groups that play a very minor role, it seems to me, when their obligations are great, are the organized churches within our country.... I think that they could provide the kind of leadership that is so necessary during this period of time. I don't excuse myself or excuse the fact that we in Congress haven't done enough. As I said in the beginning, I don't think we have, but maybe we could. An active involvement by churches and clergymen would bring about our doing what we should....
Talking of what elements in society are working for the dream of bringing all people to a position of dignity and decency, Senator Percy said:
".... I suppose you would expect me to say, the clergy. And I will say the clergy. Because they've been in the forefront of the civil rights movement for many, many years. But I am happy to say that the business community has assumed a tremendous amount of leadership now.... Our political leadership, I think, is measuring up with some degree of courage to this issue. Even though open occupancy and fair housing is opposed by most Americans, I think that many political leaders recognize now they are not just supposed to be in office to carry out what's popular. They many times have to try to convince people that in the long run what is unpopular today is a necessity of tomorrow. I do think the church has been courageous. Many have risked their lives. "
Fr. Kennedy originated the program ten years ago, while executive secretary of the Executive Council's Division of Radio and Television, in order to provide a way in which the church could listen to the world and enter into dialogue with it. Although he is now rector of Christ and Holy Trinity Church in Westport, Conn., a parish of over 750 families, he has continued to act as moderator.
Over the ten year history of the program, Fr. Kennedy has talked with people on many topics - sleep and dreaming, prisons, capital punishment, the Mafia, computers, medicine, narcotics addiction, alcoholism, the law and current religious trends and events.
The series, which won the Freedom Foundation award in 1960, is heard over 300 stations in the United States, the Armed Forces Radio Network, and Radio Free Europe.
Fr. Kennedy has interviewed most of his guests in the studio at the Episcopal Church Center during the past five years, but there have been some notable exceptions. Senator Goldwater was interviewed in a third floor closet of the Overseas Press Club in New York, and Margaret Meade in her "attic" office at the Museum of Natural History amidst her own "memorabilia" and museum overflow.
As the series begins its second 500 broadcasts, it continues to bring to its listening audience the opinions of men and women in all walks of life.
Note to the Editor: Viewpoint is available free of charge for public service broadcasting by local stations. For information on how to get it on the air in your community, write to the Division of Radio-Television, Executive Council, 815 Second Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10017.