Bishop Stokes to Head Joint Commission on Renewal
Diocesan Press Service. June 5, 1968 [66-13]
The Rt. Rev. Anson Phelps Stokes, Jr., Bishop of Massachusetts, has replaced the Rt. Rev. J. Brooke Mosley, Bishop of Delaware, as chairman of the Joint Commission on Renewal appointed by the Presiding Bishop following General Convention in 1967.
The joint commission is an outgrowth of the Committee on Renewal created earlier by the House of Bishops "to help re-think, re-structure and renew the Church for life in the world today.
Bishop Mosley resigned as chairman at the same time that he resigned his post as Bishop of Delaware to accept an appointment with Executive Council as Deputy for Overseas Relations.
A special Diocesan Convention will be held on June 28 to elect his successor.
In its report to General Convention the Committee on Renewal stated:
"Like every other institution, the Church is deeply involved in change. It has given birth to many innovations of importance to the world. But it has also been alarmed by any threat to its status and security. At its worst the Church today is either painfully apathetic or aggressively resist ant to change. At its best it knows that something radical is required, if it is to be relevant to the exciting challenges of our time, and is sometimes able to go to the root of the problem. There is an urgent need, therefore, for a new theological analysis, clarification and appreciation."