Episcopal Press and News

Search the Episcopal Press and News

Year

All 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986 1985 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980 1979 1978 1977 1976 1975 1974 1973 1972 1971 1970 1969 1968 1967 1966 1965 1964 1963 1962

Enter search query

Ad Hoc Inter-Provincial Team on World Hunger Meets in St. Louis

Diocesan Press Service. January 10, 1975 [75008]

Steve Brehe, Editor, INTERIM, Diocese of Missouri

ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- A sense of urgency permeated the Episcopal Inter-Provincial Team on World Hunger conference at the Sheraton Airport Inn in St. Louis on Dec. 29-31.

The ad hoc team of 13 church leaders was appointed by Presiding Bishop John M. Allin to be responsible for the implementation of planning, conducting and evaluating regional, diocesan and parish programs to combat the domestic and world hunger crises.

The Rev. Don Griswold, coordinator of the Episcopal World Hunger Task Force, described the sense of urgency: " Forty-four thousand kids are dying this morning while we are meeting. The statistics are overwhelming. "

He also said there was a feeling among the team members that the church "must get itself going" in the face of troubled economic times.

The Team, appointed by the Presiding Bishop, chose the Rev. Norman Faramelli of the Boston Industrial Mission to be chairman. They then set the dates for two meetings to begin the training of provincial teams that will in turn train teams of enablers in the dioceses.

The first session will be March 4-8 in Denver and the second one will be March 16-20 in an Eastern city to be announced. Representatives from every Province in the Episcopal Church will be invited.

At the St. Louis meeting the team made plans to implement the world hunger program adopted by the Executive Council in December, 1974. That program included these recommendations :

* That the Presiding Bishop request every parish to appoint a task force on hunger;

* That an ad hoc inter-provincial team plan and conduct training for enablers for each diocese to support parish task forces in their work;

* That the inter-provincial team support implementation of these programs and gather data for evaluation; and

* That recommendations for the future be made by the inter-provincial team together with the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief and the Committee on Social Ministry and Concerns, through the Committee on National and World Mission, to the Executive Council in September, 1975.

The ultimate purpose of the program will be to enable people at the grass-roots, parish level, said Mrs. Margaret H. Andersen of the communication office of the national church. "We have to help people understand and deal with a very complex problem."

The changing of attitudes is one of the goals of the project. Father Faramelli told the conference that relief work must be more than assistance with pity and compassion. "It must be seen in terms of justice," he said.

Provincial members of the Team are : I, The Rev. Norman Faramelli, chairman, Cambridge, Mass.; II, Ms. Ruth Gilbert, Red Bank, N.J.; III, The Rev. J. Fletcher Lowe, Richmond, Va.; IV, The Very Rev. Allen L. Bartlett, Jr., Louisville, Ky.; V, Mrs. Joie Upton, Wheaton, Ill.; VI, The Rev. Richard E. Hayes, Laramie, Wyo.; VII, The Rev. William Powell, Stillwater, Okla.; VIII, Ms. Marybeth Downs, Palo Alto, Calif.; and IX, The Rev. Ricardo Potter, New York, N.Y. Two other members -- Ms. Virginia Ram, Los Angeles, Calif., and Ms. Joan Bordman, Newark, Calif. -- are from Province VIII.

George T. Guernsey III, St. Louis, represents the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, and Bishop Edmond L. Browning, executive for mission, represents the staff.

In addition, resource persons present at the St. Louis meeting were: Steven Brooks, Food Research and Action Center, New York, and Philip Wheaton, Latin American Working Group, Washington, D.C.

Members of the staff from New York City who were participants included: The Rev. Don Griswold, Mrs. Ruth Cheney, Ms. Margaret Powell, the Rev. David Perry, Mrs. Margaret H. Andersen, Mrs. Marion Bingley, and the Rev. Everett Francis.

( NOTE TO EDITORS: DPS release # 74352, "Executive Council Adopts World Hunger Recommendations," dated Dec. 12, 1974, gives background information on the Team and the Council's adopted program on world hunger.)