Summary of Executive Council Meeting
Diocesan Press Service. February 7, 1974 [74031]
GREENWICH, Conn. -- The Executive Council of the Episcopal Church, meeting here February 5 -7, heard Presiding Bishop-Elect John Maury Allin give a limited preview of the shape and style of his administration which will begin with his installation in June.
Bishop Allin, presently the Bishop of Mississippi, said that he views the Presiding Bishop at the center of the Church, surrounded by a series of circles -- his deputies, the Executive Council, the Council staff, the General Convention with its commissions and committees and agencies, the Episcopal Church organized along diocesan and provincial lines, the Christian world, and the entire world.
He said that his view is that it is important that this " illustration of an organizational pattern " is a "community of circles " and not a triangle. "I do not like to talk levels, " he said. "I increasingly feel a word the church needs to get rid of is hierarchy."
Bishop Allin announced that he will make three significant changes in the Council staff at the New York City headquarters.
He said that he is replacing the Deputy for Jurisdictions, the Program Officer, and the Administrative Officer when he assumes office in June.
The Rt. Rev. Edmond Lee Browning will replace Mrs. David R. Hunter as Deputy for Jurisdictions, having responsibility for coordinating and administering a wide variety of programs and relationships which link the national church with its 114 jurisdictions in the U.S. and overseas.
Bishop Browning will come to his new post from Europe where he has been Bishop-in-Charge of the Convocation of American Churches (Episcopal) in Europe since 1971. He was Bishop of Okinawa from 1968 to 1971. Bishop Browning, 44, is a native of Corpus Christi, Tex.
Bishop Allin told the Council that he has asked the Rt. Rev. Milton L. Wood, Suffragan Bishop of the Diocese of Atlanta, to be Deputy for Administration, but that Bishop Wood has not yet decided whether to accept or not. If he accepts, he will replace the Rev. John F. Stevens, who has been Administrative Officer of the Council staff and Secretary of the Executive Council since 1971.
The third change in staff, he said, will be the Deputy for Program, and that appointment will be announced later. That person -- who may be a woman -- will replace the Rev. Robert C. Martin, who has been Program Officer since 1971.
Bishop Allin said that he is creating a new position, Deputy for Ministries, as an evidence of his concern for "renewal of ministry," both clerical and lay. He has invited the Rt. Rev. John Thomas Walker, Suffragan Bishop of the Diocese of Washington (D.C.), one of five Black bishops in U.S. dioceses, to take this post, but Bishop Walker has not yet reached a decision.
Continuing at the management level will be Oscar C. Carr, Jr., Deputy for Development; John C. Goodbody, Deputy for Communication; and Lindley M. Franklin, Jr., Treasurer and Deputy for Finance.
Bishop Allin said he does not plan to have an executive vice president but that the Deputy for Administration will serve as the chairman of the deputies. Bishop Roger Blanchard, Executive Vice President of the Council since July, 1970, will retire May 31.
Bishop John E. Hines, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church since his installation in early 1965, will retire on May 31, and Bishop Allin will be installed as the 23rd Presiding Bishop at 11:00 a. m. on June 11, at the Washington Cathedral, Washington, D. C.
Dr. Lindley M. Franklin, Jr., Treasurer, reported a dramatic turnabout in the Episcopal Church's national financial situation during the past three years. To date, he said, 71 of the 93 domestic dioceses have accepted their quotas for the national program for 1974, compared to 42 of the 92 dioceses in 1971. Eight of these dioceses in 1974 have oversubscribed their quotas for a total of $95,953, with 11 dioceses pledging less than the quotas.
Following the General Convention in 1970, when a triennial budget was set, there was a shortfall in the commitment budget of $2.5 million for 1971. In 1974, of the dioceses that have acted on the quotas, there is a shortfall of only $71,834. A final report will not be available until early March when the remaining 11 dioceses will have had their annual meetings.
The improved financial situation, according to Dr. Franklin, is due to a more equitable quota formula and to a data gathering process in preparation of the budget which resulted in a greater understanding of the church program and in the shaping of a program that dioceses could support.
The Council spent almost a full day discussing the direction it would like to see the Church go in the next decade and what resources would be necessary to get it there.
The General Convention, at its meeting in Louisville, Ky., last fall, directed the Council's Office of Development "to arrange visits and consultations with representatives of parishes, dioceses, the national church, and others, for the purpose of developing a strategy to release the human and financial resources of the church. "
A sub-committee was appointed to bring in a fuller report at the next Council meeting in June. The study is to be completed by February, 1975, for action and implementation by the Council.
The Council's action did not commit it to a fund raising campaign, but rather to a study of the Episcopal Church's mission in the future and what human and financial resources will be necessary to accomplish this.
Presiding Bishop John E. Hines announced the appointment of Mrs. Howard O. Bingley to he the executive director of the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief. She has been acting director of the Fund for two years. The Fund provides relief in disasters, rehabilitation, refugee services, and long range development programs.
The Council heard of the appointment by Presiding Bishop John E. Hines of the Rev. Earl A. Neil, Oakland, Calif., to be associate director for Community Action and Human Development (CAHD), one of five agencies in the newly established Mission Service and Strategy, which coordinates the Episcopal Church's program and grant concerns for racial and ethnic minorities. CAHD, which replaces the General Convention Special Program (GCSP), makes decisions on all community oriented grant applications from the Black community. The other four agencies in MSS deal with Indian work, Hispanic affairs, Black Episcopalians, and Asian American Episcopalians.
The Council adopted a resolution on Project Equality, as follows:
"Resolved, that the Executive Council agrees to participate in the interfaith program, Project Equality, and directs appropriate corporate officials to enter into a service agreement by which Project Equality would assist the purchasing staff of the Council to incorporate procedures which would promote equal employment opportunity programs within those businesses from whom the Council purchases goods and services; and be it further
"Resolved, that a sum of $5,000.00 be allocated for the above purpose from Account Number 17005-0002.
"Resolved, that staff work with the national Project Equality Office to encourage the utilization of Project Equality by General Convention agencies, and dioceses, parishes and church-related organizations. "
The Council adopted a resolution urging the Senate of the United States Congress to pass a bill to continue the funding authority for U.S. participation in the World Bank's International Development Association, which is vital to the economic welfare of millions of people in the poorest of developing countries. This bill was recently defeated in the House of Representatives. The Council's resolution is as follows:
"RESOLVED, That this Executive Council supports the Administration's request for $1.5 billion for the enlarged development loan pool of the World Bank International Development Association; and be it further
"RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be forwarded to the President and the leadership of the United States Congress. "
The Council's Committee on Social Responsibility in Investments was authorized to support shareholder resolutions as follows:
* With Exxon Corporation by the American Baptist Home Missions Societies, asking for disclosure of data on energy sources and policy.
* With General Electric by the American Friends Service Committee and Clergy and Laity Concerned, asking for non-competitive and non-classified information on the company's energy sources, supply and policy.
* With other corporations in which the Church holds voting shares of stock on essentially similar matters.
The Council approved an immediate salary increase of 5.5 percent for all exempt staff of the Council, retroactive to January 1, 1974, except staff who have negotiated new positions since that date, and except staff whose salaries exceed $25,000 per annum, who will receive an adjustment of 3 percent. The Council also retained Hay Associates to recommend a complete salary and wage administration plan for the Executive Council staff and appropriate personnel practices, to be presented to the Council in June.
The Program Group on Youth and College Ministries reported to the Council on its revised program, necessitated by a 60 percent cut in the funding of its program for 1974 by the General Convention last fall. Leaders of the seven regional allocating committees have been terminated and their help is being sought to advise on specific program proposals for the future. Several program plans were announced, as follows:
* The forming of two or three youth teams within a diocese or a group of dioceses which will work for two or three years to help develop youth ministry models.
* A training program in youth ministry for prospective clergy in seminaries.
* The reactivation of the Youth Ministry Consultation, a three-day conference in the fall of 1974.
* The creation of an advisory committee on university and college ministries, composed of students, chaplains and faculty, to help the Program Group to be responsive in this area of ministry.
The Council heard a report from its Program Group on Lay Ministries on the work of three task forces under its direction:
* Clergy/Lay Relations, which is planning a consultation sponsored by the Board for Theological Education.
* Lay Theological Education, which has found that there "is serious disagreement within the Church over the proper role of lay and ordained ministry, and the relationship between the two. " The Program Group is considering a consultation on this subject.
* Women, which is attempting to establish Women's Advocacy Groups in a few pilot dioceses. These groups will make a survey of the status of women in the church and develop affirmative action programs in these dioceses. The Program Group indicated that it "was particularly concerned that the Church which refused to ordain women to the priesthood by action of the General Convention " had supported a stockholder resolution against General Electric asking the corporation "to cease discriminating against women "in employment practices.
The Program Group on Evangelism reported to the Council that the Rev. Robert C. Martin, Program Officer of the Council staff, will conduct a survey of what evangelism resources are available and at work within the Church. The Program Group plans a consultation on evangelism in Chicago on May 5 -7, composed of 12 persons broadly representative of major thrusts in evangelism in the Church. The purpose will be to determine the broad scope of resources and needs, and to co-opt additional expertise for the future work of the Program Group.
The Rev. John S. Spong, Richmond, Va., reporting for the Program Group, said that some definitions of evangelism are mutually exclusive. "Many evangelistic efforts, " he said, "are long on enthusiasm but short on scholarship." He said that the Council programs on Christian education and evangelism must work together. Education "involves nurture, growth, disciplined study and effective theology, to deepen life and commitment and to prepare all Christians for the task of living and sharing our faith, " he said. Christian evangelism, on the other hand, he said, "is the external activity of the Church, an activity of confronting non-committed persons and secular cultures with the gospel, requiring response and hopefully commitment. " "No person who is not significantly educated in the Christian faith," he said, "can be an effective evangelist."
The Council adopted a resolution requesting the Program Group on Education to reconsider its decision not to participate in the ecumenical Joint Educational Development (JED) educational systems project, which is developing four systems to aid parishes in their educational programs.
The Rev. John S. Spong, Richmond, Va., who introduced the resolution, said that the Episcopal Church's Seabury Series of educational material has become "increasingly dated and no other material is under consideration. " Besides, he said, denominational material is "anachronistic " and too expensive to produce. Supplementary material, he said, dealing with particular Episcopal concerns could be produced, such as audio-visual aids. He said that the JED systems are taking into consideration needs and concerns of Blacks and women, which most other curriculum materials have neglected. "The Episcopal Church has a contribution to make to the JED systems," he said, "such as the theology and catholicity of the Church and liturgical sensitivity."
The Council had decided at its December, 1973 meeting not to participate in that particular JED project.
The Rev. William Powell, Stillwater, Okla., chairman of the Program Group on Education, said that following the decision in December "priorities of time and money were otherwise committed" and if the Council were to reverse its decision, it would require a great deal of additional funding.
The Program Group on Education reported to the Council that a religious education resource notebook will be distributed to all congregations in May. The notebook will include articles to assist parishes in planning local religious education ministries.
The Program Group also announced the appointment of regional religious education coordinators for 1974 to act as consultants to the national office and to serve as regional coordinators for planning, implementing and communicating Christian education concerns.
It also reported that a committee has been appointed to evaluate some of the available Christian education materials as an aid to local educators.
The Council heard an ecumenical presentation by Dr. Jorge Lara-Braud, executive director of the Commission on Faith and Order of the National Council of Churches, in which he said that the Commission has "made commitments to all our constituents that we shall not activate any kind of program that does not have a discernible foundation of biblical faith and theological religion. "
"It was out of my experience as a theological professor," Dr. Lara-Braud said, "that I became convinced that unless we are able to build into the issues of the day the most basic affirmations of the Christian faith, we are simply no more than tinkling cymbals. "
He said that he believes the Church's most important responsibility for 1973-75 is "so to conduct ourselves that primarily the laity of this country will be able to go back to the sources of Christian faith; that men and women will be able once again to discover the very affirmations of the gospel to be found in the loving and reconciling community. "
He said there are a great many "marvelous theological statements, but they seldom trickle down to the congregation." Theology, he said, must "be brought down to the level of the pew, to inspire the laity of our respective churches " so that it becomes "one of the most basic privileges and responsibilities that anyone can possibly have. "
"St. Anselm of Canterbury's definition of theology," he said, "is a monumental statement: it is ' faith in search of understanding.' I have a dream for the Faith and Order Commission, and that dream is that we will bring theology out into the marketplace and that the laity will ' do ' theology along with us in the seminaries. "
Dr. Lara-Braud cited four projects now underway, which, he said, may give answers on which future emphases can be based:
* Newark, N.J., where a group is addressing itself to the role of faith in a creative conflict;
* Atlanta, Ga., where a group is "considering what it means to take seriously that freedom with which Christ has made us free, to see that the scourge of racism can be extirpated by the reconciling Lord ";
* San Francisco - Bay Area, where a group is considering the phenomenon of the counter culture and the fascination with the occult;
* Kansas City, Mo., where a group is working on "the implications of living in a disillusioned society. "