Episcopal Press and News

(COCU 1974 Plenary Roundup)

Diocesan Press Service. November 8, 1974 [74328]

CINCINNATI, Ohio -- Nine U.S. religious bodies taking part in a movement toward full union through the Consultation on Church Union were asked here Nov. 8 to pledge themselves to work toward removal of any restrictions to the "receiving into full membership " baptized members of any of the other participating churches.

In the closing session of its 12th Plenary here, the Consultation adopted "An Affirmation Toward the Mutual Recognition of Members " which calls on its participating communions to "affirm that membership in a particular church is full participation in the whole People of God. "

Other actions during the five-day meeting included a renewed emphasis on building from the local and regional level up in the effort to achieve union, a continuing drive for elimination of racism in the churches, and a new concern for the role of women.

Consultation leaders said that while the action on membership is not greatly different to the present practices in most of the nine churches, it does mark the first time they have been asked to positively affirm that all who are baptized into any of the churches are members of "His universal Church" and therefore is a landmark in the ecumenical movement.

"The basis for working together in councils of churches is their common confession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, but statements by these bodies intentionally have left open the question of how they view one another as churches," according to the Rev. Dr. Gerald F. Moede, general secretary of the Consultation.

-The action here also signifies the first time that the churches taking part in the Consultation have been asked to make this affirmation to one another within COCU, Dr. Moede noted.

The proposal, and a series of supporting study questions relating to the implications of the step, now will go to each of the Consultation member churches for study and action.

United Methodist delegates were among only a few of the 90 voting delegates opposing the action. Bishop Jesse DeWitt of Sun Prairie, Wis., chairman of the delegation, said the opposition was based on the grounds that it did not go far enough and did not signify any lack of support for the basic purpose of the Consultation.

"It is our intention to take the Plenary action to responsible United Methodist agencies and to our General Conference in 1976 seeking to move forward in full commitment to the purpose that has brought COCU into being and the United Methodist Church as a participant member, " the United Methodist group said in a statement.

In other actions, the Consultation committed itself to a continuing struggle to eliminate racism in the churches, specifying that the "issue of concern" is white racism. Specifically, the delegates voted to oppose racism in Christian education, structures and institutions of the participating churches, local community experiments in unity and other COCU enterprises.

The Consultation also backed strategies of "compensatory action," which it said means "joint ministry now to overcome racism " and affirmed a principle of majorities and minorities working together in developing such strategies.

The Consultation's Commission on Institutional Racism was asked to urge the churches to study racial patterns and practices within their own structures as to employment in church-related institutions such as colleges and hospitals, investment practices and the use of institutional power and resources and report the results to COCU.

Participating denominations were urged to include Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans in all commissions and other activities. It was recommended that the Consultation convene meetings of denominational pension executives, theological educators, church extension staff, home mission staff, communications staff and overseas mission executives in order to develop proposals for joint ministry to overcome racism.

Turning to activities primarily at local and regional levels, the delegates urged congregations onward in two forms of COCU-initiated experimental ministries -- Interim Eucharistic Fellowships involving periodic gatherings at the Lord's table among Christians of different churches and races, and Generating Communities designed to provide possible "new model (s) of church union" at the local level.

The Consultation's task force on Interim Eucharistic Fellowships was urged to "redouble efforts to stimulate and inform prospective and present" fellowships. The recommendations urge that such groups be "broadly inclusive" in such categories as race, male and female, clergy and lay, and COCU and non-COCU churches.

In actions emphasizing the importance attached to "middle judicatories " and their. leaders, the Plenary called for a study of middle judicatory leadership and roles -- to be carried out either by a new COCU commission or under the mandate of an existing commission.

Middle judicatories are middle-level church units between national and local levels, and go under various names in different churches (such as conference, diocese, presbytery, region and province). The delegates committed themselves to "involving our leadership in the various regions in exploration of the meaning of oneness where our middle judicatories express the life of the church."

The new emphasis on the role of women calls for formation of a task force of women which is to draw together and release materials related to women and the church.

The unanimous vote setting up the task force came only a day after Prof. Paul L. Lehmann of Richmond, Va., in a major address, had said the churches should deal with racism before moving to sexism and other areas of injustice. The resolution pointed to "the interaction between racism, sexism and classism."

Dr. Cynthia Wedel, Alexandria, Va., said many women in the Plenary initially were angry at the remark, but from anger emerged discussion and then the resolution.

Other speakers at the Plenary included Dr. Moede, the Rev. Dr. John H. Satterwhite, associate general secretary of the Consultation, and the Rev. Dr. Paul A. Crow, Jr., former general secretary who now is president of the Council on Christian Unity of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Bishop Frederick D. Jordan, Hollywood, Calif., president of COCU, preached at an opening Eucharistic service and presided at the installation of Dr. Moede and Dr. Satterwhite as the secretariat. The two have been on the job at COCU headquarters in Princeton, N. J., since September.

Some 300 persons participated in the sessions, including observer/consultants from several non-COCU churches in the U.S. Sister Ann Patrick Ware, a staff member of the National Council of Churches, led morning Bible studies, assisted by several members of the Sisters of Loretto.

No definite decision was made as to time and place of the next Plenary, but January or February of 1976 was mentioned as one possibility.

( THANKS to Worley Rodehaver, editor of INTERCHANGE, Diocese of Southern Ohio, for sending this release and photograph for switchboarding.)