Study Committee Opens Discussion on Ministry to the Military
Diocesan Press Service. December 23, 1974 [74359]
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The House of Bishops, in a resolution presented to them at the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Louisville, Ky., stated: "The effectiveness of the Church's ministry is enhanced by a continual re-assessment of the structures through which it is carried out, to insure that these structures do in fact facilitate the personal and corporate ministry of these who are called by Christ to His service ... ."
Since there has been such a change in the structure of the military in the aftermath of the Vietnam War and the advent of the all-volunteer force, the Bishops voted to request a study of the ways in which the Episcopal Church can fulfill its responsibility to the ministry to the military. They recommended that the Executive Council, along with the Advisory Committee on the Armed Forces authorize a study committee.
The organizational meeting of that 25-member Study Committee was held at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., on December 5, 1974, beginning with a celebration of the Holy Communion in the War Memorial Chapel. The Rt. Rev. John T. Walker, Suffragan of the Diocese of Washington and chairman of the Study Committee, was assisted at the altar by the Rt. Rev. Clarence E. Hobgood, the Presiding Bishop's Suffragan for the Armed Forces. Prayers for this special ministry were offered, along with intercessions for guidance for the members of the Committee.
Bishop Walker convened the meeting, asking the Bishop for the Armed Forces to make an opening statement. Bishop Hobgood talked of the historical perspective that is present in such a study of this ministry, pointing out that Episcopal priests joined the American soldier in the field long before the Declaration of Independence was made. In fact, the first official appointment of a chaplain to the military was made on the 29th of July, 1775. The Church has never failed to provide a full quota of clergymen for ministry to Americans in uniform.
Committee members discussed the form and manner of procedure, along with the issues involved in the Church's ministry to individuals and families separated from normal parish life. Future meetings will be involved with further aspects of the study.
Those members attending were : Bishop John T. Walker, Suffragan Bishop of Washington; Bishop Clarence E. Hobgood, Suffragan Bishop for the Armed Forces; the Rev. Roy W. Cole, III, Woonsocket, R.I.; the Rev. Theodore H. Evans, Jr., Episcopal chaplain at Harvard, Stockbridge, Mass.; the Rev. Charles L. Hoffman, Woods Hole, Mass.; the Rev. Dr. William A. Johnson, canon theologian, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City; Chaplain, Capt. Tom J. Knorr, Lackland AFB, Tex.; the Very Rev. Francis B. Sayre, Jr., National Cathedral, Washington, D.C.; the Rev. P. Kingsley Smith, Towson, Md.; the Rev. Rovan V. Wernsdorfer, American Friends Service Committee, Baltimore, Md.; Air Force Chaplain, LTC. Alston R. Chace, Bolling AFB, D.C.; Army Chaplain Maj. Jack R. Huntley, Office of Chief of Chaplains, U.S. Army, Washington, D.C.; Navy, CDR. Murray H. Voth, CHC, USN, US Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md.;
Also, Mrs. George S. Brown, Fort Myer, Va.; Mrs. Robert H. Howe; Ms. Susan Miller, New York City; Ms. Nancy S. Montgomery, Director of Information, National Cathedral, Washington, D.C.; W. Edward Morgan, Tucson, Ariz.; Byron Rushing, president, Museum of Afro-American History, Boston, Mass.; Jack Smith, co-director of Vietnam Era Veterans National Resource Project, National Council of Churches, New York City; and Stuart Symington, Jr., St. Louis, Mo.
Others who could not be present are : Bishop George M. Alexander of Upper South Carolina; Bishop Christoph Keller, Jr., of Arkansas ; the Rev. Robert R. Parks, New York City; Oscar C. Carr, executive for development of Executive Council, New York City; and the Hon. Charles M. Mathias, Jr., U.S. Senator, Maryland.
John C. Goodbody, executive for communication of the Executive Council, was also present.