Bishop Howe Receives Honorary Degree at General Seminary
Diocesan Press Service. October 30, 1974 [74295]
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The Rt. Rev. John W.A. Howe, Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council, received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity of the General Theological Seminary at a special convocation held in the Chapel of the Good Shepherd on Wednesday, October 30. The convocation culminated a series of special activities for this "Day of Recollection."
The Rev. Alan W. Jones, ECTENE professor of Ascetical Theology, conducted a quiet morning for the Seminary Community during which he delivered three meditations on the Priest as Pastor, Preacher and Lover. The morning ended with the Holy Eucharist celebrated by the Dean, the Very Rev. Roland Foster.
At 2:30 p.m. Dr. Langdon Gilkey delivered a lecture on "Upheaval of the Spirit: the Role of Theology in Massive Social Change." Dr. Gilkey since 1963 has been professor of Theology at Chicago Divinity School and is well-respected as theologian and educator. Two of his books, Maker of Heaven and Earth and Naming the Whirlwind, are standard sources for the theology courses taught at the General Seminary. A reception was held in the Deanery following the lecture and the day ended with Festal Evensong and the Convocation in the Chapel beginning at 6:00 p.m.
Bishop Howe prior to his appointment as Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council held the post of Anglican Executive Officer, a post previously held by a former Dean of the General Seminary, the Rt. Rev. Stephen F. Bayne, Jr., who died earlier this year.
The Anglican Council is an advisory board of 60, composed of bishops, clergy and lay people from the various churches which compose the Anglican Communion. The Council was established as a result of action taken at the Lambeth Conference of 1968 to supply a continuity of consultation and guidance on policy which the Anglican Communion had previously lacked. The Council last met in 1973. The theme of the meeting was "Partners in Mission." The current chairman, Mrs. Harold C. Kelleran, received the honorary degree of the Seminary in 1973.