Presiding Bishop's Fund Holds First Development Consultation
Diocesan Press Service. December 15, 1975 [75450]
GREENWICH, Conn. -- The Board of Directors of the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, citing the need for more reflection to assist the Church in articulating a stance regarding its involvement in development, held the first of a series of development consultations here December 14-15. Approximately forty people attended, including selected Church Center staff, members of the Fund's Board, and several guest speakers.
The purpose of the consultation was to consider the various meanings of development, to examine models presently supported by the Church, and to consider future directions. In his opening remarks, Presiding Bishop John M. Allin said, "We are tackling -- under one word -- a major task. " The Presiding Bishop emphasized that much could be learned and accomplished at the consultation, and that the participants had a responsibility to share their findings with the rest of the Church.
After informal small-group discussions of the definitions of development, the consultation heard an address on "Classic Interpretations of Development" by Dr. Milton S. Rosner, professor of social planning at Ohio State University. Dr. Rosner defined development as "a deliberate strategy to accelerate economic and social growth objectives." He said that development planning is the "formulation of a rational program of achievement of development objectives."
Dr. Rosner said that the major dilemma for non-governmental agencies such as the Church is "to find a handle, a point of entry" into the development process, since most development projects are in the public, or governmental, sector. Dr. Rosner added that it is important for private agencies such as the Church to formulate feasible long and short range plans, since past experience has too often shown only short-term results from well-intentioned but poorly thought-out programs. He also emphasized the importance of involving local people, whose lives will be directly affected by a development program, in its planning.
Dr. Rosner noted a shift in recent years from "top down" planning to "planning from below," and said that local government operation with national government planning was the most productive development process. The churches' role, he said, must likewise be a cooperative one, in keeping with national development objectives. In a second address later in the consultation, Dr. Rosner illustrated his points with examples of a development project in the Anglican Diocese of Zululand.
The Rev. Norman Faramelli, director of the Boston Industrial Mission, spoke of the United States' role in development. Dr. Faramelli said that at the end of World War II the U.S. found itself unprepared to be a world leader. America, he said, saw its foreign aid as accomplishing three objectives: helping America itself, helping the poor in underdeveloped countries, and fighting Communism.
Dr. Faramelli said that a "theology of development" was needed, in which the giver and recipient of aid were seen as co-equal partners. He listed the "three e's " of development as: "equity," or social justice, emphasizing the needs of the "bottom 40 percent" of the world's population; "environment," an understanding of a country's natural resource limitations; and "economy," an emphasis on future growth through expansion of the means of production.
Dr. Faramelli said that three things were required to accomplish the "three e's ": an aid program designed around the real needs of the recipient rather than the donor, skills in research and development conducive to the area of application, and trade liberalization.
The Rev. Luis Serrano of the Missionary Diocese of El Salvador discussed the success of Project CREDHO as a development model. Fr. Serrano said that one of El Salvador's major economic problems was an imbalance between heavy production and exportation of cash crops such as coffee, cotton and sugar cane, and the cultivation of essential food grains at a bare subsistence level. Project CREDHO, staffed by 13 paid personnel and 23 volunteers, is working to upgrade living standards in El Salvador through programs in physical and mental health, preventative medicine, creative medicine, vocational aptitude training, agricultural education, and legal aid. Project CREDHO, supported by the Presiding Bishop's Fund and several other voluntary agencies, is run exclusively through the Episcopal Church. Fr. Serrano pointed out that the Episcopal Church, through CREDHO, is also at work in Nicaragua and Colombia and will soon launch a program in Mexico.
The Rt. Rev. Jose Antonio Ramos, Bishop of Costa Rica, spoke to the consultation about the Church's role in development. Bishop Ramos said that the whole Church must confront the essential question, "How can we be a missionary Church in a situation characterized by poverty and oppression?" The Christmas season, he said, reminds Christians of their reason for being, that the Church "exists not for its own self-service, but for the world."
Bishop Ramos defined development as "the struggle of the world community of people for the creation of a world order, nationally and internationally, of peace, and a state of social justice." The Church, he added, can make its most distinctive contribution in development by "providing a definition of a human goal and the human means of achieving it." The Church, he said, must have a "vision" of world order, and must work to make that vision a reality. Development in the context of "vision," he said, is a "spiritual goal. "
Bishop Ramos cited examples in the life of Christ and said that " in the gospel the existence of rich and poor along side each other is a denial of the presence of the Kingdom." He said that Christians must examine development in terms of their own lives and attitudes and that wealth and poverty were both dehumanizing conditions.
Bishop Ramos equated "liberation" with "redemption" -- "redeeming the state of sin in which we find ourselves in the present economic order." The Church, he said, must play a prophetic role in realizing the dynamics of the current world economic situation and must work toward an ultimate goal of justice. He said that the Church was uniquely suited to its role because it is, with the exception of the United Nations, the only other "world community. " Bishop Ramos noted that, unlike the United Nations, the Church includes "both the rich and the poor, the oppressed and the oppressors." The Church, he said, "has a responsibility which no one else has, because of its presence on a world-wide scale."
Plans were made for a follow-up consultation to be held in early April.