Message from the Chair
Diocesan Press Service. December 11, 1973 [73267]
The Rt. Rev. John E. Hines
Those of you who are newly-elected members of the Executive Council have been spared one of the idiosyncrasies of the incumbent President, namely a so-called "Message from the Chair" near the beginning of each Council meeting. It has been a kind of vehicle through which I could make a few observations, get a few things "off my chest," peer for a moment at the state of the Church, recognize people who have served the Church and this Council so faithfully -- and scatter around banal remarks that never would threaten eternity! Needless to say, time is running out on this "idiosyncrasy" -- as well as on the idiot whose "syncrasy" it is! And this is as it should be. But in the time or two that remain I would touch on one or two matters.
First, I am happy to greet veteran members of the Council whose term was not at hazard at the last General Convention. And I rejoice for the Council's sake that General Convention thought well enough of most of our members, up for re-election, to vote them a second chance! In this period of high political unrest even dedicated and competent Church people sometimes feel the back-lash of a "turn the rascals out" movement. Happily most of you escaped that -- a testimony to the balanced judgment of a majority of the voters at General Convention.
I formally welcome the new members of the Executive Council -- and wish for you the exciting and rewarding experience that membership on the Council generally turns out to be. Much will depend upon what you make of the opportunity you now have to represent your Church on this decision-making body which has very limited powers, but which possesses significant ability to influence the life and mission of the Episcopal Church.
You will make new friends here. And you will likely cement and expand friendships that have stood for several ye* . And you will have to declare yourself -- in one way or another. For this is a deliberative body which, on occasion, is also compelled to act in the Church's interest, as well as in the interest of the entire world. So you will have to "make up your mind" -- perhaps more often than you have ever done before in such a semi-public forum. And, sometimes, you will be afraid when you do this -- and uncertain -- and anxious -- because you may find yourself compelled to oppose one who has been a friend for years, and you do this amid certain "tremblings," wondering if the bond of understanding can endure the conflict of convictions. And it usually does!
Then, too, do not expect to spend three or six years in this group, dealing with the critical issues that lie at the heart of the Church's nature and mission -- and yourself remain unchanged! That is hardly likely at all! For you will become engaged with people whose experience differs widely from your own, and whose opinions are so disparate -- that you will wonder just how comprehensive the Church can afford to be -- and still remain a part of the Body of Christ. And if you are patient you will come to understand that this is indeed a significant part of the glory of the Church, her power unto reconciliation and judgment, and change -- and renewal.
So -- I hazard the guess that you will have the opportunity to have the worst drawn out of you -- and the best -- by your participation here in this Council. And which it will be will largely be determined by your obedience to the universal Christ -- as you are able to come to terms with the "exquisite burden" of the commitment to which we all are called but to which first He gave Himself without bitterness, and without self-concern.
So, I urge upon you -- newly come to the Executive Council -- be what you are, representative of the entire Church, and responsible to the entire Church. That is what your election by General Convention means. You will serve your parish, your diocese, your province and your region better by striving for a world-wide, universal overview of the meaning of Christ and mission in the world, and by testing those learnings against the wide spectrum of insights and experience represented here -- than by pressing the claims of localities, or regions, or partisan points-of-view -- just because, with the setting of the sun, you know that you will have to go home and face the Rev. Dr. Flintheart -- your home- town rector, and John Doe Episcopalian, in the pew of your home parish! I know most of you well enough to realize that you will not be either frightened, or frustrated by this. But I also know myself well enough not to let it go unsaid!
I note that this will be the last Executive Council meeting that the Director and Staff of the General Convention Special Program will serve in that particular capacity, and under that same title. To be sure, the Community Action and Human Development section will take up the portfolio of G.C.S.P. with concentration on non-Church Black community development projects for self-determination and liberation. But its resources are less than previous years, and the new structure aims at a high degree of cooperation and interaction between agencies for ethnic minority ministry. I take this opportunity to express my personal gratitude to Mr. Leon Modeste and to the highly trained professional staff which developed the General Convention Special Program and -- with it -- moved onto the scene of desperate human need among the powerless and the poor. They enlisted in this battle with the official approbation of General Convention, but amid a general ignorance, apathy and suspicion on the part of major segments of the Church. The program's thrust for liberation early brought into tension -- and occasionally open conflict -- the claims of Episcopal authority, and the claims of human needs regardless of diocesan boundaries. It often exposed the ever-present festering sore of racism in practically every area of the life of the Church and the life of this nation. It also challenged the long-time paternalism practiced by Whites against Blacks, and Chicanos, and Indians -- a paternalism that, with the best of intentions, blocked the way to self-determination, and denied human dignity. The program did not obliterate these evils. It hardly was able to make a dent in their persistent intractability. But it did raise the issue for Episcopalians, and others, to see, as it had not previously been seen. It did help some poor and despairing people to understand that somebody cared -- cared without wanting to exploit their misery. And it did light a brief candle in the gloom of the violent sixties.
Mr. Modeste and his staff did not escape scott-free. They made their mistakes, and paid for their audacious experiments with bruises absorbed in both White and Black communities. They were hard put to maintain their credibility with the Black community while operating under the aegis of a largely White- dominated Church. But they maintained the integrity of the program against the assault of reactionary forces that would have reduced it to a social service band-aid station! And it may be that they "builded far better than they knew."
I owe Mr. Modeste, and those who worked with him, very, very much. So does the Episcopal Church. Whether the shortcomings, and whatever the future, the General Convention Program under Leon Modeste can credit itself with being "a moment in the conscience of men." A psychiatrist once described the Church "as a hypochondriac widow living behind closed blinds with the memories of her dead husband." I suppose the Church often seems to be doing just that. But she need not! For as long as even a fragment of the General Convention Special Program remains, the Church will be able to see herself anew as "an institutional organism t hat lives in the world, and whose aim is to spend herself in mission." To this Mr. Modeste, and the G.C.S.P. staff, have made an unforgettable contribution.
This seems to be "good-bye" time for others who have also served the Episcopal Church through the Executive Council. On the last day of this month the last remaining "husband-wife" combination will leave the Executive Council staff via the retirement exit. They are the Doctors Rodenmayer, Bob and Betsy. It has not been traditional administrative practice to encourage any "husband- wife" combination to be a part of staff at one and the same time. There is no rule, or regulation, against it either. But the interesting and tenuous possibility that the husband might end up "boss" of the wife, or more luckily the wife "boss" of the husband -- and both at loggerheads to the detriment of the work of the Church, carried its own inherent restraint. But what Church could pass up the opportunity to enlist the combined talents and priceless dedication of two such superbly trained, and winsomely oriented, people as the Rodenmayers -- even though they be married each to the other! And they have more than justified the affirmative judgment exercised in their favor. We shall watch the Rodenmayers retire with mingled sadness and abiding gratitude. For here are two gifted people, who never let anything -- anything at all -- stand in the way of their transparent giving of themselves for Christ and His Church. And what a halo their own unselfconscious example hangs over the time-honored institution of marriage for any and every one to see -- and seeing -- to take heart!
A few days ago Mrs. Joe Lockwood -- Margaret to most of you -- completed twenty-five years of service with the Executive Council. For the past nine years she has been the efficient, thoughtful, intelligent, firm but fair secretary to the Presiding Bishop. That the Presiding Bishop has survived the past nine years without more personal and ecclesiastical disasters for the Episcopal Church than some sources already have recorded, is, in no small measure, due to Mrs. Lockwood's competence and compassion.
I am indebted to Mr. Warren Turner, Presiding Bishop Lichtenberger's Executive Assistant, for the good fortune of having Margaret Lockwood as my secretary. When I came to the Episcopal Church Center, Warren Turner came to me and said, "Whatever else a Presiding Bishop needs, he needs the best secretary in the world. And I now have her! But if Margaret Lockwood will consent, and if you will ask her, I will step aside in your favor!" I did! And Warren did! And Margaret did! And the Scriptures were re-written, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man give up the best secretary in the world to another!"
I have had fantastic good fortune befall me during these past nine years. None has been greater than to benefit from the courteous, self-less services of Margaret Lockwood, peerless secretary, and rare human being. Because countless men and women, particularly bishops, throughout this Church have been the beneficiaries of her ministry, I know this Council will want to felicitate her on her twenty-five years, and speed her along on the next twenty-five.
In a lighter vein, I have taken note that Mr. Nixon has given his Vice-Presidential papers to the nation -- value $500,000 -- and has taken a sizable tax reduction on his Federal Income Tax return. I also note that Governor Wallace intends to do the same thing with gubernatorial papers of the Governor of Alabama -- valuing his at ten cents per page. That got wheels turning in the shadowy recesses of a P.B.'s mind. I have addressed this Council -- and other groups -- endlessly during the past nine years. The cumulative mass of paper must run into thousands of pages. Governors are a dime a dozen. Of Vice Presidents -- since 1789 -- this country has now had forty! But of Presiding Bishops of the Episcopal Church -- in the same two-century period -- this country has had a bare twenty-one -- one P.B. having served twice -- a technicality. If Vice Presidential papers of relatively numerous Vice Presidents are worth a half million -- what of the papers of much rarer Presiding Bishops? So -- on that cheerful note I close one more "Message from the Chair."