Episcopal Press and News

Search the Episcopal Press and News

Year

All 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986 1985 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980 1979 1978 1977 1976 1975 1974 1973 1972 1971 1970 1969 1968 1967 1966 1965 1964 1963 1962

Enter search query

Presiding Bishop-Elect Previews His Administration

Diocesan Press Service. February 5, 1974 [74035]

GREENWICH, Conn. -- The Presiding Bishop-Elect of the Episcopal Church gave the Executive Council a limited preview of the shape and style of his administration, which will begin with his installation in June.

Presiding Bishop-Elect John M. Allin, presently the Bishop of Mississippi, shared with the Council what he called "a pilgrim's progress through limbo," since his election to the top pastoral and executive post by the General Convention in Louisville, Ky., on October 4, 1973.

Bishop Allin said that he views the Presiding Bishop at the center of the Church, surrounded by a series of circles -- deputies whom he will see often; the members of the Executive Council; the Council staff ; the General Convention with its joint commissions and committees and its agencies; the Episcopal Church, organized along diocesan and provincial lines; the Christian world; and the entire world.

He said he does not view this so much as an organizational design, but as an "illustration of an organizational pattern. " He said he sees this not as a triangle but as a "community of circles. "

" I do not like to talk levels, " he said. "I increasingly feel a word the church needs to get rid of is hierarchy. "

" I have discovered, " he said, "that there is no real clear definition of what a Presiding Bishop is or what the office is -- and maybe that's just as well. As I see it, one of his roles is to be the center of unity."

Bishop Allin said that the circle of deputies is a broken circle so that quite possibly the Presiding Bishop "could leave the center and never be missed. But his chair is still there. " The Presiding Bishop "can move out of the circle, and it operates," he said, "because he's not the all in all but his focal point is the center. " Also, he added, with a broken circle others can be invited to join the circle for particular discussions.

He said that many times since his election, with the confused image of who the Presiding Bishop is, he has wanted to say, "Will the real Jack Allin please stand up."

Bishop Allin said that he had decided to make a minimum number of changes in order to provide "a smooth transition." He said that he was not proposing "one more restructure," but that he is trying to build on the present foundation.

He said that he had decided that any changes he made in staff should only be very significant ones, and he was making only three changes.

He announced that he is appointing the Rt. Rev. Edmond Lee Browning to be Deputy for Jurisdictions, who will work directly with both overseas and U.S. dioceses of the Episcopal Church, coordinating and administering a wide variety of programs and relationships which link the national church with its 114 jurisdictions.

Bishop Browning will replace Mrs. David R. Hunter, who has held the position since September, 1972.

Bishop Browning has been Bishop-in-Charge of the Convocation of American (Episcopal) Churches in Europe since October, 1971. He was formerly Bishop of the Diocese of Okinawa, from 1968 until the Diocese of Okinawa became a part of the Nippon Seikokai (The Holy Catholic Church of Japan) in 1972.

Bishop Browning, 44, is a native of Corpus Christi, Tex., and received his B.A. and B. D. degrees from the University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn.

Bishop Allin also said 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 on the Council staff 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 probably will be a woman -- will replace the Rev. Robert C. Martin, who has been Program Officer on the Council staff since 1971

Bishop Allin said that he is creating a new position, Deputy for Ministries, be- cause of his concern for "renewal of ministry," both clerical and lay. He has invited the It. Rev. John Thomas Walker, Suffragan Bishop of the Diocese of Washington, one of five Black bishops in U.S. dioceses, to take this post, but Bishop Walker has not yet reached a decision.

Continuing in their positions 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 that he does not plan to have an executive vice president but that the Deputy for Administration will serve as the chairman of the deputies. The Rt. Rev. Roger Blanchard, Executive Vice President of the Council since July, 1970, will retire May 31.

Bishop Allin said that he is making these significant changes so that he would not be the only new person at the top management level. If no changes were made, he said, he would possibly be only a learner and not a leader.

Bishop Allin said that for him to indicate more about his plans and style at this point would be merely "guesswork and hopes.

"The Rt. Rev. 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.

(NOTE: A Photograph of Bishop Browning, who will become Deputy for Jurisdictions in June, is enclosed for the Diocesan Press list.)