The Governing Board of the National Council of Churches at a Glance
Diocesan Press Service. October 24, 1973 [73233]
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- In a four-day business session ending here October 15, the Governing Board of the National Council of Churches:
ELECTED Ms. Claire Randall, Associate Director of Church Women United, to succeed Dr. R.H. Edwin Espy as General Secretary of the National Council of Churches. HONORED Dr. Espy, who will retire from the post December 31, with a testimonial dinner attended by 250 church leaders including past presidents of the Council.
GREETED with a standing ovation the first woman to be designated as executive head of the nation's largest church federation.
GAVE Ms. Randall 110 votes, as the official candidate of the Board's own Search Committee (United Methodist Bishop Paul Washburn, of Chicago, Chairman), and the Reverend Albert M. Pennybacker, a Disciples minister of Shaker Heights, Ohio, 61 votes. Mr. Pennybacker's candidacy was presented from the floor.
SPENT better than half their time in five separate section meetings, discussing and recommending a host of proposals for ecumenical program, later acting on them in plenary session.
ENDORSED among the section proposals a recommendation that Council staff representatives meet for dialogue with an independent Task Force on Gay People In The Church.
ENCOURAGED NCC member churches to make available some $500,000 for bail bonds and legal defense for 200 American Indians under indictment for protest activities at Wounded Knee, S. Dak. last spring.
MANDATED the NCC Division of Overseas Ministries to develop goals and strategies for a broad gauge, collaborative program for Latin American social progress. AUTHORIZED a research project on the role of women in the church.
APPROVED a proposed series of six regional workshops on racism, to be held under auspices of the NCC Division of Education and Ministry next year, agreeing to devote time at the Board's next meeting in February for a workshop of its own.
CALLED FOR enlargement of the NCC Task Force on Evangelism to include a strong representation from member and non-member church bodies. . . Action on section proposals aside, the Board weighed a number of resolutions, and accordingly CALLED ON the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. to "effect an immediate cessation" of arms shipments to both sides in the current Arab-Israeli war to help bring about its speedy end. URGED Washington to "restore full diplomatic relations with the Cuban Government . . . as rapidly as possible."
ISSUED a statement of support for the striking workers at the Farah (Clothing) Mfg. Co. in El Paso, Tex.
DEPLORED world-wide violation of human rights, currently evidenced by suppression of dissent in the Soviet Union and mass imprisonment and execution of Chilean opponents of the present regime in Chile.
PRESSED FOR international agreements to halt all nuclear testing, including underground tests, by the U.S.A., the U.S.S.R. and all other nations.
ENDORSED the 1974 World Population Year promoted by the United Nations.
WELCOMED the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in the U.S.A. as a communion in affiliation with (not with full voting membership in) the National Council of Churches.
ADOPTED an operating budget for 1974 of $13,294,580 -- down approximately one million dollars from the current year's budget.
WILL MEET NEXT in Los Angeles, California, February 25-28, 1974.
(NOTE TO EDITORS: Full texts of the following resolutions are available on request: Senate Resolution 67 on Suspension of Nuclear Testing; Violation of Human Rights in Chile and the USSR; World Population Year; Restoration of Normal Relations With Cuba; Farah Strike; and Concerning the Middle East.)