Council Withdraws Missionaries from Guyana
Diocesan Press Service. February 7, 1969 [74-4]
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The Executive Council of the Episcopal Church has decided to withdraw two missionaries who have been serving in the Rupununi area of the Diocese of Guyana, Guyana.
The missionaries are the Rev. and Mrs. Richards W. Beekman who have been serving in the interior of Guyana since October, 1968. The Rev. Mr. Beekman has served five villages as a priest and schoolmaster, and Mrs. Beekman has been a nurse.
Their work has been primarily concerned with a ministry to the Macushi, an aboriginal tribe of Amerindians.
In announcing withdrawal of the missionary team, the Rt. Rev. J. Brooke Mosley, Deputy for Overseas Relations of the Episcopal Church, explained that the American Church had concluded it is unable to provide the services necessary to maintain an adequate ministry in the Rupununi area.
He cited a lack of teachers, lack of local financial support, an unfavorable political situation and inability to recruit other necessary personnel to carry on the work.
"When we began this work," he said, "we recognized it was a calculated risk. Experience now shows without any doubt that to continue this work would be poor stewardship of our money and our manpower."
The missionary team of the Rev. and Mrs. Beekman had been working under the direction of the Most Rev. Alan John Knight, Archbishop of the West Indies and Bishop of Guyana.
In a letter to the Archbishop, Bishop Mosley stated:
"This has not been an easy decision to make, as you would well surmise, and we have made it with greatest reluctance."