Council on Ministry Issues Statement
Diocesan Press Service. September 23, 1974 [74243]
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The Council on Ministry of the Episcopal Church has issued a statement to assist "the Church to develop a supportive environment for the exercise of ministry -- both lay and ordained."
The statement calls on member agencies to address themselves "to the issues of racism and sexism . . . within their own programs and ministries " and to report back to the council "how they propose to confront these issues."
The Council on Ministry, composed of representatives of seven agencies of the church having to do with ministry, plus eight provincial representatives, was reorganized by the General Convention in 1973 in order "to coordinate the efforts and objectives with regard to ministry."
Bishop Robert R. Spears of Rochester, chairperson of the council, said the statement was in "response to the crucial issues illustrated by the service in Philadelphia on July 29th" in which four bishops attempted to ordain 11 women deacons to the priesthood, and "to which the House of Bishops responded in its special meeting in August," which ruled the ordinations invalid.
"While we hold no illusions," Bishop Spears said, "that our intended actions are anything more than the starting place in an immensely difficult task, we want to convey our conviction about the importance and dimensions of the task and our intention to make a beginning."
Member agencies of the Council on Ministry are: Board for Clergy Deployment, Board for Theological Education, Church Pension Fund, General Board of Examining Chaplains, House of Bishops Committee on Pastoral Development, Executive Council's Program Group on Lay Ministries, and Standing Commission on the Structure of the Church.
[Contact Archives for full text of the statement - Ed.]