Overseas Bishops Unanimously Support the General Convention Special Program
Diocesan Press Service. November 1, 1968 [70-19]
NEW YORK, N. Y. -- Unanimous support for the General Convention Special Program of the Episcopal Church has been expressed by the overseas Bishops of the Church in a resolution passed during the annual meeting of the House of Bishops held at Augusta, Ga., October 20 to 24.
The General Convention Special Program, authorized at the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in 1967 at Seattle, has already made grants of more than one million dollars to assist minority organizations to develop programs combating the problems of poverty and race in the United States. The program has been authorized for a three-year period.
The resolution praised the Rt. Rev. John E. Hines, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, for his "vigorous leadership" and said "we rejoice in the involvement of our Church in one of the most crucial struggles facing the United States today."
A full text of the resolution follows:
"In view of the fact that there is widespread concern in the Church about the effect of the General Convention Special Program on the overseas mission budgets, we the overseas bishops of the Episcopal Church wish to make the following statement:
"We welcome the courage and vision involved in this program, under the vigorous leadership of our Presiding Bishop, and we rejoice in the involvement of our Church in one of the most crucial struggles facing the United States today. We see this involvement as a challenge to us to be equally concerned about, and involved in, the acute problems and struggles facing the countries in which we live.
"It is quite true that our Church's commitment to the General Convention Special Program has caused a great financial strain in many areas of our corporate life, including our overseas missionary outreach. We have been forced to re-examine our own priorities, and to make painful re-adjustments in our own budgets. Nonetheless, this has been a healthy exercise which in many cases has produced positive results, and we see it as an opportunity for us to take a direct part in this valuable program. At the same time we welcome this fresh challenge to the whole Church to widen its vision, and to increase substantially its financial commitment to the total mission of the Church (both at home and abroad)."