Crowther Appointed Director of Operation Connection

Diocesan Press Service. January 28, 1969 [74-2]

NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The Rt. Rev. John E. Hines, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church and co-chairman of Operation Connection, announced today the appointment of the Rt. Rev. C. Edward Crowther as Executive Director of Operation Connection, a unique interfaith association of the top leaders of most large American religious denominations working towards the solution of urban problems.

Bishop Crowther replaces the Rt. Rev. Paul Moore who has returned to his duties as Suffragan Bishop of Washington, D.C. (Episcopal).

Bishop Crowther was the Anglican Bishop of Kimberley and Kuruman when his militant opposition to the South African government's policy of apartheid resulted in his arrest and deportation in 1967. Since his return to the United States he has served as a Fellow at the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions in Santa Barbara, Calif. Bishop Crowther will retain his close association with the Center as a Consultant.

Bishop Crowther was born and educated in England. Trained as a lawyer, he taught Criminal and Constitutional Law at Oxford University, studied for the ministry at Oxford and was ordained to the priesthood in 1956. In 1958 he came to the United States, first to Oregon and then to UCLA as Senior Episcopal Chaplain.

While in Los Angeles, he became president of a large fair housing group and was active in other civil rights activities. He and his wife Margaret are naturalized American citizens. They have three children, ages 12, 10, and 8.

In welcoming him to his new post, Bishop Hines expressed his confidence that Bishop Crowther will continue to develop the interesting and experimental program of Operation Connection directed by Bishop Moore during its first six months. Operation Connection's aim is to bring the strength and potential resources of America's interfaith community to bear on the crises in our cities and nation.

" The moral impact of our religious community can make the concept of reconciliation a working formula combating the growing schism that threatens to polarize our communities with violence and hatred, " Bishop Hines said.

Bishop Crowther went to South Africa as Dean of St. Cyprian's Cathedral in Kimberley and was elected Bishop in 1965. He was visited many times by the special branch of the South African Police, incurring their wrath by his steadfast opposition to apartheid. When he was banned from the African reserves in his diocese, he defied the order and personally delivered truckloads of food to starving Africans who had been dispossessed of their homes.

After having visited Bishop Crowther in South Africa, the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy said in a speech before the U. S. Senate on October 31, 1967 that "in his years as Bishop, Edward Crowther has attempted to give succor and hope to the African population of South Africa. Fearlessly and tirelessly, he has worked to better their lives and also bring about some first steps toward understanding and cooperation between the races in South Africa."

In his recent book, Where Religion Gets Lost in the Church (Morehouse- Barlow, N.Y.), Bishop Crowther examines the current mood of the younger generation who feel alienated from the official church and are looking for new forms to realize their own religious interest and potential. He states, "the journey of faith which we are called to take will find the people of God marching, more often stumbling, towards the city. Our task is to prevent the city of men from becoming a spiritual desert. It is, in fact, to reunite the two great cities so long kept apart -- the city of men and the city of God. "

A new book dealing with his personal experiences in South Africa is now in preparation for Harcourt, Brace and World.

Bishop Crowther has lectured on campuses throughout the United States, has appeared extensively on national TV, and recently addressed the United Nations Committee on apartheid.

Operation Connection's goal is to help mobilize and release the resources of the community toward economic power for the poor, especially the Black poor. It goes about this by confronting the religious leaders of this interfaith coalition with the realities of racism, by developing a common mind as to the nature of the problem, and by implementation of the process through a specialized staff.