Structure Commission Organizes
Diocesan Press Service. February 1, 1974 [74025]
CHICAGO, Ill. -- The Episcopal Church's Standing Commission on the Structure of the Church has concluded a three-day organization meeting at Chicago, in which it elected officers, laid out a program of activity for the triennium, and organized study committees to consider various aspects of Church structure.
Paul M. Roca, Phoenix layman and chancellor of the Diocese of Arizona, was elected chairman of the Commission, and the Rt. Rev. Richard Millard, Suffragan Bishop of California, was chosen as vice-chairman. Charles M. Crump of Memphis, a former member of the Executive Council, was chosen as secretary, while the Rev. Robert R. Parks, rector of Trinity Parish, New York City, was elected assistant secretary. The four officers, together with Ross Sidney, a Des Moines layman and chancellor of the Diocese of Iowa, form the Steering Committee for the management of the Commission during the next three years.
The Commission was organized into four committees, each charged with the task of studying problems of Church structure in a particular area. The committees, with the areas of their concern, their officers and membership are as follows: Committee on Legislative Function: Bishop Millard, chairman, the Rev. Joseph A. Pelham, Rochester, secretary, George W. Brandt, New York layman, member; Committee on Executive Function: Dr. Parks, chairman, the Rev. George E. Bates, Pendleton, Ore., secretary, the Rt. Rev. H. Coleman McGehee, Jr., Bishop of Michigan, and John H. Farquharson, financial officer of the Diocese of Massachusetts, members; Committee on Judicial Function: Mr. Sidney, chairman, Mr. Roca, secretary; Committee on Provincial and Other Groupings: Mr. Crump, chairman, Mrs. Donald C. Barnum, Bethlehem, Pa., secretary, the Rt. Rev. William H. Folwell, Bishop of Central Florida, member.
At the conclusion of its organization meeting, the Commission voted to ask K. Wade Bennett, formerly of the Diocese of New York and now of the Diocese of Los Angeles, to continue as an unpaid consultant.