World Relief and Interchurch Aid
Diocesan Press Service. March 15, 1973 [73077]
Year End Report - 1972
Again in 1972 the many forms of assistance to the hungry and desperate made possible by contributors to the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief spanned the globe, though the emphasis for the year proved to be an aid to the victims of natural disasters. The Fund received a total of $720,558.21, representing an upswing of 21 ½ per cent over the previous year. Fifty-seven dioceses gave more in 1972 than they had the year before.
Beginning with immediate response to the tragic consequences of the burst dam in Buffalo Creek, West Virginia, the Fund met with calls for aid right up to the eve of Christmas with the devastating earthquake in Managua, Nicaragua. Other major recipients of emergency funds as a result of natural disasters were the Missionary Diocese of Haiti, the Dominican Republic and The Philippines. Also, Rapid City in the Diocese of South Dakota, 19 dioceses ravaged by Tropical Storm Agnes, Korea, Polynesia, and Papua/New Guinea. Those dioceses which suffered most severely were Bethlehem (Wilkes Barre), Central New York (Elmira) and Central Pennsylvania (Harrisburg).
Wars and political unrest continued throughout the year to generate refugees and victims of hardship in many parts of the world. Thanks to the help of thousands of Episcopalians the Presiding Bishop's Fund was able to provide help in Bangladesh, Vietnam, the Southern Sudan, Burundi in Central Africa, Latin America, and in the Middle East where there still remain almost a million Palestinians dislocated because of the failure to find a political solution to problems in that part of the world.
The Episcopal Church, in cooperation with Church World Service, was able to resettle 20 of the 1,000 Asians admitted to the United States following their expulsion from Uganda. Our office continued its program of resettling refugees, especially from Yugoslavia, and from other parts of the world as well -- Rumania, Egypt, Iraq and some from Cuba, Because the flights to Miami were discontinued during the year and there has been little activity in bringing Cubans from Spain where they are gathered in ever increasing numbers. The Episcopal Church resettled a total of 1, 116 persons in 1972.
Again, a grant was made to the ministry to draft age immigrants of the Canadian Council of Churches. This program has the support of the Anglican Primate of All Canada and of the World Council of Churches. The Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief also provided basic support for the Planned Parenthood Program of Church World Service, funded two family planning projects in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and helped several educational and social projects of the Orthodox Church in Europe and the Middle East.
Since its inception, the work of the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief has been ecumenically based and has been a fully participating and supporting member of Church World Service, the relief arm of the National Council of Churches, and the Commission on Interchurch Aid, Refugee and World Service of the World Council of Churches. In 1972 the Presiding Bishop's Fund contributed approximately $450,000 to the basic support, ongoing programs and emergency responses of these agencies.
Through the Food for Peace Program of the U.S. Government it is possible for Church World Service to obtain government surplus commodities and free ocean passage to mount a $12.5 million program in 92 countries around the world.
Early in 1972 the Presiding Bishop appointed a committee to study the work of the Presiding Bishop's Fund and to make recommendations. The report has been received and reviewed by the Committee on World Relief and Interchurch Aid of the Executive Council, and will be presented to the Council for action in May, 1973.
The major recommendations of the report are:
* that the Fund be directed by a newly created Board of Directors with the Presiding Bishop as chairman;
* that ecumenical involvement be stressed and participation in the One Great Hour of Sharing further highlighted:
* that new funding be sought for increased involvement in development programs;
* that volunteer service be promoted;
* that diocesan committees be encouraged, and
* that interpretation and communication be strengthened.
Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee to Review the Presiding Bishop's Fund was the Rt. Rev. Frederick J. Warnecke, and the membership included: The Rt. Rev. Stephen F. Bayne, the Rt. Rev. Roger Blanchard, the Rev. Dr. Almon R. Pepper and the Rev. William B. Gray.
The Presiding Bishop, the Rt. Rev. John E. Hines, is the chairman of the Committee on World Relief and Interchurch Aid and the other members of the committee are: Mrs. Seaton Bailey, Georgia; the Rt. Rev. Roger Blanchard, New York; Dr. Peter Day, New York; Mrs. Richard Emery, New York; Dr. Lindley M. Franklin, New York; the Rev. William B. Gray, New York; Mr. George T. Guernsey, III, Missouri; the Hon. Emmett Harmon, Liberia; Mrs. Carman Hunter, New York; the Rev. Rustin R. Kimsey, Oregon; the Rev. Canon Almon R. Pepper, New York; Mrs. J. Brooks Robinson, Montana; Mrs. Wynne M. Silbernagel, Ohio; the Rt. Rev. Gray Temple, South Carolina; Mrs. Robert Webb, Connecticut; the Rev. John H.M. Yamazaki, California, and Mrs. Howard Bingley, Acting Secretary for World Relief and Interchurch Aid.