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Cavender Heads Episcopal Church's Indian Work

Diocesan Press Service. September 8, 1975 [75303]

NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Dr. Chris C. Cavender of Minneapolis, Minn., is the executive secretary for the National Committee on Indian Work (NC IW) of the Episcopal Church. He has been given a leave of absence for one year from his duties as assistant professor of education and history at Macalester College, St. Paul, Minn., to assume his duties.

Born in the Upper Sioux community near Granite Falls, Minn., Sept. 3, 1940, he is a member of the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands of the Dakota Nation.

Dr. Cavender received his B.S. degree in English and history from St. Cloud State College, St. Cloud, Minn., in 1964. Both his M.A. degree and Ph.D. degree in educational administration were received from the University of Minnesota.

He said that the Dakota people in several communities performed songs and dances in his honor when he earned his Ph.D. degree in 1974.

After four years teaching high school English, he worked for six years as an administrative officer at the University of Minnesota before joining the faculty of Macalester College.

His wife, Edith June, is assistant principle at a high school in Chaska, Minn., and they have two daughters, Audry, age 12, and Angela, age 7.

Dr. Cavender said that he sees the role of the professional "to serve the people, not to tell them what to do. Specifically," he said, "the executive secretary and his staff will attempt as much as possible to carry out the wishes and desires of Indian people as represented by the NCIW."

Dr. Cavender said that one of his goals as head of the NCIW is to assist in developing existing Native Leadership programs, such as the Dakota Leadership Program, the Network Program in Alaska, the Navajo Episcopal Council in the southwest, and the Cook Christian Training School in Arizona.

Another goal, he said, is to help develop the Urban Indian Ministries Program of the Episcopal Church through the NC IW, such as the Urban Indian Ministries of the Twin Cities of Minnesota, and the Bay Area Ministries in California.

He said he is also interested in "utilizing the resources of the Episcopal Church in developing theological-education-by-extension projects, such as those now being developed at Cook School and at the theological seminary at the University of the South at Sewanee."

Dr. Cavender said that he will assist the NCIW in its attempt to become the Joint Commission on Indian Work of the General Convention.

He said that he also hopes "to marshal support for the Navajo Nation in their attempts to become a Navajo Diocese. "

During the next year, he said, he will help the NCIW to prepare for the 1976 General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Minnesota "to insure maximum Native input. "

Dr. Cavender said that as the new executive secretary of the NCIW, "in spite of the patronage, condescension, and racism in the Episcopal Church," he "is looking forward to a challenging and exciting year of progress in meeting spiritual needs of Native peoples."

In addition to the NCIW office at the Episcopal Church Center in New York City, Dr. Cavender maintains an office in Minneapolis, where he spends most of his time. The Minnesota office was opened on an experimental basis and the arrangement will be reviewed in early 1976. The Minneapolis office's address is: National Committee on Indian Work, 905 4th Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minn. 55404.