I Hope Our New Presiding Bishop Will...
Diocesan Press Service. June 1, 1974 [74142]
"I hope our new Presiding Bishop will..."
How would you complete that sentence ?
People from many places put their hopes into words here as the U.S. Episcopal Church prepared to install the Rt. Rev. John Maury Allin as its twenty-third Presiding Bishop on June 10-11, 1974, at the Washington Cathedral, Washington, D. C.
Because many of these words illumine the nature as well as the state of the Church and some spotlight tasks all of us share, we invite you to read them, thoughtfully, over Bishop Allin's shoulder.
...enjoy good health. I know he is a strong, courageous, and talented man and will endeavor to lead us where the Holy Spirit guides.
Dupuy Bateman, Jr.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
...be quickly accepted by the whole Church as our chief pastor and spiritual leader. He is taking over at a time of comparative calm within the institution we call the Church. Yet under God, new movements led by the Holy Spirit are emerging within the body. These movements are for the most part visible in parish life. If the Church under Bishop Allin's leadership can reach down and gather together the people of God where they live, where they work, where they pray and worship, God's Kingdom will be furthered and God's work among His people will be made known.
The Rev. John H. Bonner, Jr.
Chattanooga, Tennessee
...keep before the Church the needs of the poor and the oppressed in this land and throughout the world. Only as we are willing to lose ourselves in mission will we attain unity among ourselves and other Christians and have a basis for our liturgical renewal, our spiritual development, and our financial sacrifices.
Bishop John M. Burgess
Massachusetts
...bring to bear on the whole Church the reconciling influence which has so characterized his ministry wherever he has served; stand fast in the policies which have led the Church to address the problems of the distressed; at a proper time, and soon, give Episcopalians the opportunity to strengthen the work of the Church in the world, especially overseas, through a major capital funds campaign which I believe Church people will he ready to support.
Arthur Ben Chitty
Sewanee, Tennessee
...be a collegial leader. These are not times for strong, individualist, go-it- alone leaders. We are now more aware than ever before that the Church is a very diversified body. Now we possess the means for a better communication within the body for better decision making, richer worship, wider service. If Jack Allin is sensitive to the multifaceted manifestations of God in these times, he can enable the life of the body to be enriched for fuller and more varied service to God, to our neighbors, and to each other.
Bishop Ned Cole
Central New York
...be a truly catholic bishop, holding and leading the whole Church in devotion to Christ and in efforts to express His life by service amongst ourselves and in the world to which we are sent; be what I think he is -- a man of prayer -- so that, in the Marshal McLuhan sense, "he is the message ;" speak out on matters of Christian faith. The Church has done this; Bishop Hines has. Speak to how the Christian faith applies to my life, in my solitariness where I work out my relationship to Jesus Christ and to the people of God.
Suffragan Bishop William J. Cox
Maryland
...give staff persons responsibility for administering programs of the General Convention and the Executive Council, subject to his and the Council's review, thereby enabling him to devote more of his attention to pastoral and leadership roles.
Charles M. Crump
Memphis, Tennessee
...remain prayerfully attentive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, above all distinguishing himself in his leadership through sound Bible foundation mixed with a living out of that glorious message amidst today's world. He is in an admirable position to lead us into the excitement and service to which God is calling his brethren.
Robert Davidson
Guerrant, Kentucky
...continue the decentralization of the government of the Church so that the Provinces (as they now exist or may be realigned) may have more responsibility in decision making for the work of the Church, and keep in New York only such decisions and policy making as must needs be done on a national level.
The Rev. Samuel C.W. Fleming
Charleston, South Carolina
...walk softly and carry a big crozier, so that the servant Church may never lose its sense of mission to the dispossessed, nor be so engrossed in the decentralization of its organization as to overlook the organism's centrality in Christ.
Frank P. Foster
Boston, Massachusetts
...be permitted to get his feet on the ground; listen to the whole Church; lead the Church, but not as the champion of any one group; develop programs and resources for Christian education, evangelism, stewardship, missions, and the mission of the Church to the world based on the fundamentals of the Christian faith; give some attention to advice like this, but more to what God the Holy Spirit tells him to do.
Suffragan Bishop W. Fred Gates
Tennessee
...become an international leader and take intelligent, forceful positions on important social, political, and economic matters. If he does this, then individual churchmen and churchwomen will be encouraged to help make the world a better place in which to live. Maldistribution of income, substandard living conditions, production of mankilling devices, and human cruelty by governments have moral and spiritual aspects which are proper for religious consideration.
George Gibbs
Los Angeles, California
...get involved in something controversial during his first month in office, to show the Church at large that he's going to do more than just "hold the line. "
Bishop William J. Gordon, Jr.
Alaska
...invigorate the Provinces by using them as intermediate stages of communication between his national headquarters and the several dioceses.
The Very Rev. Charles A. Higgins
Little Rock, Arkansas
...help the Church to see that to serve Christ at any point in history requires a life of tension and ambiguity. It is not the "swing of the pendulum" we need today, as some say, but the willingness to live between two poles of truth exemplified in holding fast to both reason and experience, contemplation and action, and relevance and the archaic.
The Very Rev. Urban T. Holmes
Sewanee, Tennessee
...just be himself. He has the ability to bring us closer to each other and to God. His good sense of humor can keep his and our outlook cheerful and loving.
William Ikard
El Paso, Texas
...continue his style of consultation with a broad range of people and then make his own firm decisions and move strongly to implement them; offer the Church his precisely defined goals for the next decade; move quickly to bind the Executive Council into a cohesive and mutually supportive unit as the previous Council was; use his God-given warmth and sense of humor to keep us all from taking ourselves too seriously; lead the Church to a new awareness of the spiritual dimension of its work.
Mrs. John S. Jackson, Jr.
Lake Oswego, Oregon
...fulfill what appears to be his clear mandate to clean house at 815 of all those who in the good name of civil rights have financed and participated in the civil wrongs of reverse racism; never permit his Southern origin to be exploited into a "Crow Jim'! position; with leadership as courageous as in his helping rebuild burned churches in Mississippi, seek to recover the nearly one-quarter of a million Episcopalians who have left the Church in the past decade. The Rev. Lester Kinsolving
Vienna, Virginia
...as a reconciler, surprise those to whom reconciliation means avoiding conflict, glorifying tradition, and relying on an old-style evangelism to save the world. I suspect that he will. Mrs. Walker Lewis
Baltimore, Maryland
...remember always that he was ordained a priest before he was consecrated a bishop, and that he remains a priest and pastor in speaking God's word to this Church and to the world in which our members carry out individual and corporate ministries in various ways. I hope this will always be done in humility and charity, but nevertheless with the bravery and personal integrity which have characterized the deeds and words of Bishop Allin's predecessors in this office.
Philip A. Masquelette
Houston, Texas
...burn the candle at one end only, or at least at one end at a time. Otherwise he will burn himself out prematurely, cast more light than we can stand, and drip wax all over the place.
Bishop George Masuda
North Dakota
...have the patience and love to listen to what the whole Church is saying, on many issues -- and, in the power of the Holy Spirit, have the courage and vision to challenge us to do the Gospel in the Lord's Name and for the world He loves so much.
Bishop James W. Montgomery
Chicago
...receive the strong backing of all sectors of the Church's life as he seeks to assert leadership in a most complicated moment of history ; spend a great deal of time in his first moments listening to the voices of churchmen he has not known in his previous experience, before he blocks out his major areas of emphasis ; stand strong in the great tradition of his predecessor, that the Church exists to serve those outside herself, especially the dispossessed, and to be an instrument of change toward a just and peaceful society and toward a Church which exemplifies justice by being purified of racism and sexism; be responsive to the hunger for a deeper spirituality across the Church across the land, and help us all to respond imaginatively to this need.
Bishop Paul Moore, Jr.
New York
...continue to be his lovable self, radiating religion, responsibility, and reconciliation to a sorely troubled Church and nation.
Dr. Clifford P. Morehouse
Sarasota, Florida
...give the highest priority to the imperative of evangelism. The Church's long dereliction in this area is shameful, and the gifted leadership of Bishop Allin could well set us on a new course.
The Rev. C. Brinkley Morton
Memphis, Tennessee
...be highly visible to the entire Church as an interested communicator! My specific hopes are that he will be listening to the "Church" as well as to his own staff ; that he will accept communications and public relations counsel as necessary at the creation and concept of ideas and new directions; that he will make use of the specialized Church media in maintaining this high visibility; that his leadership, his ideas, and his specific actions will be shared with the Church through these media.
Hiram W. Neuwoehner
St. Louis, Missouri
...take positive action to insure the ordination of women to the priesthood with all possible speed. I hope that John, our new Presiding Bishop who has stated that "we must not leave our women in limbo " but "must find a way to resolve" this matter of ordination of women, will recognize and accept the fact that there is only one way to resolve the matter. So long as the Church keeps baptizing women into the body of Christ and the Holy Spirit keeps calling certain of them to the special ministry of priest, there can be only one resolution: ordain them.
The Rev. Jeannette Piccard
Minneapolis, Minnesota
...be content with an ambiguous role in the years ahead. Since John XXIII, no religious leader in Christendom has enjoyed the opportunity of a clear and great mission. The whole world enters a time of judgment from which no leader, however gifted, can rescue it. May John Allin be given the gift of a steady hand and a staunch heart through a stormy time. Above all may he hold high the faith in the Lord of all history, so that all of us may continue to love, serve, and adore Him, whatever else happens.
The Rev. Dr. William G. Pollard
Oak Ridge, Tennessee
...say his prayers and read his Bible every day.
The Rev. Dr. H. Boone Porter, Jr.
Kansas City, Missouri
...reaffirm and stand for our Church's commitment to Mission both in the United States and beyond its frontiers to "the ends of the earth," encompassing in his words and action more particularly the poor, the wretched, and the suffering ones of this world. At a time of a crisis of confidence in the leaders of our nations, of great economic and social distress in which, more than anyone else, those hurting are the dispossessed and under-privileged, our Church leaders must stand up as symbols and signs of strength and integrity, justice and hope, witnessing to that loving, liberating, suffering-servant Christ in whose name they are called to serve.
Bishop J. Antonio Ramos
Costa Rica
...simply retain those qualities that led us to elect him: integrity, compassion, humility, humor, and deep spirituality.
Bishop G. Paul Reeves
Georgia
...realize how powerful he is and use that enormous power for the "little ones " of the earth. He must speak up in the name of God and protest all forms of prejudice, hunger, war, and the exploitation of this fragile earth. As our leader he is not at liberty to stick with safe and manageable subjects while the world convulses with violence and despair. If the unity of the Church depends upon our disengagement in the slightest degree from the hard issues of social justice and world peace, then it is a Church whose unity is spurious to begin with. The Church's oneness lies in a faithful obedience to the Jesus of love and mercy, not in a tacit agreement to keep everyone on board while we wait for a conflict-free consensus before we speak and act.
It is increasingly clear that many Episcopalians are in a state of nervous exhaustion from the rapidity of changes in the Episcopal Church and the head-on confrontation with the radical demands of discipleship. I hope the new Presiding Bishop will be a good pastor and remain sensitive to our needs for compassion. A prophetic Presiding Bishop has the hardest task of all: to love and cherish people as individuals while at the same time leading them in making the Gospel penetrate and shape our culture. I hope John Allin knows how desperately the Church needs such a Presiding Bishop.
The Rev. Dr. George F. Regas
Pasadena, California
...be a man of prayer; respect the traditions of the Church; help the many groups he works with to be in practical contact and to discern with them the emerging model of the Body of Christ.
The Rt. Rev. Benedict Reid, OSB
Three Rivers, Michigan
...be his own man and yet walk on the trail of his illustrious predecessors; be a lover of humanity so that nothing human would be alien to him -- a man who recognizes not his own gifts but the gifts of others, with the capacity to interpret and inspire -- the kind of leader who listens to feelings more than words, who can incarnate the anguish and hope of those struggling for liberation and development -- a man of compassion -- a man of decision -- a man who can share thorns as well as wine. The Church does not need leaders to tell it what to do; it has grown beyond paternalistic leadership, but it does urgently need leaders to symbolize its values, to clarify choices and help sift priorities. Above all the Church needs leaders who trust and love the Lord, men who will keep hope alive. No truly great man ever seeks high office; it is the high office that calls him. In the high office to which John Allin has been called, he needs our love, support, and prayers.
Bishop Francisco Reus-Froylan
Puerto Rico
...try to make the institutional church serve the Church in its true meaning as the Body of Christ. Institutional churches have for too long been modelled after the pattern of management in industrial organizations. Our sense of "efficiency " or "productivity " follows too closely the lines of business and government. Bishop Allin could take the lead to establish a new pattern for the institutional church, one more responsive both to human beings as God made them and to the Holy Spirit sent to nurture the Body of Christ.
Curtis Roosevelt
New York, New York
...by the grace of God, be able to serve this Church with the vision of an Apostle, the faith of a Saint, and the humility of a Pastor.
Bishop Melchor Saucedo
Western Mexico
...listen to all the voices of the Church;
...forward the ministry of the Church by encouraging high standards for selecting and education people for ordination, more continuing education and other refreshment opportunities for clergy, and continuing education for the laity, and by pressing for the ordination to the priesthood of the women of the Church who are being called by God to serve Him in this way;
...forward the mission of the Church in places far and near, especially helping us to understand that we must unite against the injustice, poverty, racism, poor housing, suffering, and hopelessness that afflict the deprived;
...press us toward continuing ecumenical dialogue;
...show us the real strength of the unity of our diversity;
...help us to grow by our involvement in the new and the old, the tried and the experimental, and the use of tools given us by new discoveries and other disciplines;
...use to the full the talents of the total laos, for the work of the Church.
Mrs. Wynne M. Silbernagel
Columbus, Ohio
...both speak and listen to all of us PECUSAN sorts and conditions; be the friend and leader of us all without feeling especially bound or beholden to any.
The Rev. Dr. Carroll Simcox
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
...insist that the Church examine carefully both the procedures by which a Presiding Bishop is selected and the nature of the tasks assigned to him by the Church. To focus this kind of attention on the crucial responsibility which is associated with the Office of Presiding Bishop would mean that all of us would be required to articulate more precisely our sense of mission and purpose and -- as a result of sharing our differing convictions -- to be strengthened for the work of ministry.
Bishop Robert R. Spears, Jr.
Rochester
...free the creative powers within our Church to speak boldly to the concerns of the last third of the 20th century -- to speak by our deeds to the victims of human need, to speak by our words to the intellectual despair of the secular mind, to speak by the love in our common life to the emptiness of the modern world. I hope he will call the Church to a radical restatement of our Christian faith, our liturgical practice, and our social action so that we may be prepared to win the 21st century to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
The Rev. John S. Spong
Richmond, Virginia
...take note of the fact that many bishops and priests of the American Church, in spite of canon and in disregard of legislation at Louisville, are depriving their people of any opportunity whatever to worship according to the Book of Common Prayer; use his influence as chief pastor of their Church to insure that every parish has access to Prayer Book worship every week.
Prof. Walter Sullivan
Nashville, Tennessee
...work creatively with change, continuing the bold initiatives of John Hines;
...take a courageous position in reshaping theological education, in pressing the evolution of the clergy placement process, and in ending life tenure for priests and bishops -- making them, in this at least, all equivalent to the Presiding Bishop!
Bishop Frederick J. Warnecke
Bethlehem (Retired)
...attempt to bring the Church back to a measure of reality and realize that no sacramental action in Holy Orders can transform any female into an old man, that is, a priest;
...endeavor to halt efforts toward a new Prayer Book and urge honest striving to revise, without changing basic theology, our present 1928 Prayer Book;
...act to halt any mission of the Church to abstract society, and instead lead the Church in gaining individual men and women for our Lord and for His Kingdom.
The Rev. Canon Joseph Wittkofski
Charleroi, Pennsylvania
...have sufficient grace of God to withstand the pressures of the assignment, both physical and spiritual, and thereby be able to remain the faithful steward of His Holy Mysteries whom we know Jack Allin to be.
Bishop John Vander Horst
Tennessee
...lead the Church in recognition and acceptance of the diversity in unity which is the key difference between a club (for like-minded people) and a Church (for all faithful people). I hope he will encourage large visions and lay initiatives, ascetics and activists, Marys and Marthas. In particular, I hope he will develop ways by which Christians with professional skills -- economists, sociologists, bioethicists, and so on -- may apply their talents through the Church to the problems of society.
Dr. Charity Waymouth
Bar Harbor, Maine
...through his actions and words, find ways to lead the Episcopal Church out of carping and petty polarities and into a renewed sense of the purpose, joy, and hope which come with "the glorious liberty of the Children of God."
Mrs. Theodore O. Wedel
Alexandria, Virginia
...be himself: pastorally oriented, and successful in leading the Church without undue delay to a right solution to Prayer Book revision and the ordination of women priests.
Bishop Edward R. Welles
West Missouri (Retired)
I am not sure I can answer entirely in a hopeful way. I have some hope for the Church and for the work of those persons engaged in building up the Body of Christ. At this particular time, I have less hope for the institutional body known as the Episcopal Church, especially as I observe the function of that organism on the national level. Should anyone question my right to make that observation, let me say I have been and continue to be a part of that organism.
I question the trend of starting programs -- risking some money and/or people in new ways of ministry -- and, thankfully (because after all, those programs are experimental) funding those programs to fail three years afterwards. Where is the integrity in such action? I view with alarm the trend toward a housekeeping Church. Yes, we did pass a nearly balanced budget. Yes, there is merit in not spending money which does not exist. But it is a temptation that leads to the victory of the world, to fund only those programs which produce pleasing results. I wonder if we are in danger of hiding our light under a bowl?
I pray that John Allin will be strengthened by the Holy Spirit, and that he will be endowed with grace to be a dynamic Chief Pastor. I hope that he will not be tempted to be only an administrator. I hope that John Allin will be the leader of a people who go from the strength of their faith into the world and let their light shine.
Gretchen Zimmerman
Seattle, Washington
. .. keep in mind that many fellow Christians are reflecting with him on the above hopes which it has been my privilege to gather; tape Bishop Masuda's statement to his shaving mirror.
Isabel Baumgartner
Kingsport, Tennessee
(NOTE TO EDITORS: This piece is entirely too long for most of you to use in its entirety. If you wish to use any of it, you might select quotations from persons in your diocese or whom you know as a national leader. Also, if you wish, you might solicit quotes from persons in your own diocese as a substitute or supplement to these quotes.)