Navajo Episcopal Council Holds First Meeting
Diocesan Press Service. June 28, 1974 [74183]
FARMINGTON, N. M. -- The first official meeting of the Navajo Episcopal Council (NEC) was held June 1 at San Juan Mission. The mission is situated in the Diocese of the Rio Grande and near Farmington, N.M.
The Navajo Episcopal Council was established in response to a resolution adopted by the House of Bishops in the fall of 1973. The first meeting that actually established the council, gave it a name and set guidelines, was held at San Juan in mid-March.
Attending the June meeting were 15 Navajos representing missions in the three dioceses of the Rio Grande, Utah and Arizona. Also attending were mission staff members; Howard Meredith, National Committee on Indian Work (NCIW); the Rt. Rev. Richard M. Trelease, Bishop of the Diocese of the Rio Grande, and the Rt. Rev. Otis Charles, Bishop of the Diocese of Utah.
Wilbert Tsosie, a Navajo of Farmington, spoke to the group at the opening of the meeting. He spoke in Navajo without an interpreter. It took much of the day-long meeting for Bishops Trelease and Charles to determine what Tsosie had said in his opening address. Neither of the Bishops speak or understand the Navajo language.
Tsosie had spoken of a Coalition of various Indian groups being formed. He said the Coalition wanted to open up dialogue with the city fathers of Farmington in response to slaying of three Navajos. Stories of the needless slaying of Navajos had been prominent in the national news for weeks.
Trelease later reported that Tsosie wanted NEC to be informed of Indian reactions to the slayings.
In Farmington three anglo teenagers are being held as suspects in the killings. Bishop Trelease credited the Episcopal priests in the area for preventing more violence. The three murdered men were buried by Episcopal priests.
Also during the meeting the decision was reached that one representative from each diocese and one bishop would constitute a quorum of the NEC at future meetings. A representative unable to attend could name an alternate, as could a bishop. If the Bishop in charge were unable to attend he could appoint one of the other two bishops to preside at the meeting.
A representative from the Navajo missions would not be elected for a specified period of time. He could be elected for one meeting or for four years; it would be the decision of each individual congregation.
The group agreed to accept the $39,500 offered them by the NCIW for a Training Leadership Program. A plan to employ a coordinator for the NEC program was discussed.
The next meeting will be held in Fort Defiance, Arizona, July 19-20. The Navajo people prefer that meetings be held on Indian land. During this meeting there will be an election of Chairman, alternate Chairman and Secretary-Treasurer.
At the meeting delegates will also consider various grants from the National Church and discuss the alcoholism program now being carried on by the Navajo tribe.
At a third meeting to be held at San Juan Mission delegates will prepare a full budget for 1975 to be presented to NCIW and the National Church.
Expenses for the Council are provided by $500 from each of the three dioceses and $150 from each of the Navajo area missions.