Oscar Carr Leaves Church Center Staff
Episcopal News Service. January 20, 1977 [77016]
NEW YORK, N. Y. -- Oscar C. Carr, Jr., has resigned his post of Executive for Development/Stewardship on the national Episcopal Church Center staff, effective January 31, in order to accept the position of President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Council on Philanthropy. He will succeed Dr. W. Homer Turner who is retiring after a long and distinguished career in corporate and foundation contribution activities.
The New York City-based Council has been the national forum for both donor and donee organizations in the philanthropic field for the past 22 years.
Manning M. Pattillo, Jr., chairman of the board of trustees of the National Council, commented: "Oscar Carr is an extraordinarily able administrator and a suitable successor to Bill Turner. There is every reason to expect that the Council, with Oscar's leadership, will become an ever stronger organization in the years ahead and will play a more and more important role in the broad field of voluntary support in the United States."
"Opportunities for significant advances in the voluntary sector have never been greater," Mr. Carr said. "I am delighted to be joining the National Council on Philanthropy and I look forward to working with the Council's very broad constituency."
Mr. Carr came to his post on the Episcopal Church Center staff in 1971 as the first Executive for Development/Stewardship after the General Convention of 1970 established that office.
He initiated a series of workshops throughout the United States as an aid to local church members seeking more effective stewardship techniques, and he launched the Income Development Program, a means of securing non-budget income for some national programs of the Church. He also spearheaded a $3.1 million drive for Cuttington College, the Episcopal Church-related liberal arts college in Suacoco, Liberia, West Africa.
Prior to the 1973 General Convention, Mr. Carr had managerial responsibility for the diocesan visits that carried church members 463,635 miles across the country in gathering grass roots data in preparation of the national program and budget. This national effort resulted in the Episcopal Church completely subscribing in 1974 to its national budget for the first time in history.
Mr. Carr has edited several books on stewardship and has also overseen the development of innovative stewardship materials for the Episcopal Church.
A native of Mississippi, Mr. Carr graduated with distinction from the United States Naval Academy in 1945, and served a tour of duty as a regular Navy officer. He has had a varied civic and business career in Mississippi and in New York, and is the president of Carr Planting Co., Inc., of Clarksdale, Miss. Berkeley Divinity School at Yale awarded him a Doctorate in Canon Law and Cuttington College bestowed on him the Doctor of Humane Letters degree.
In his local parish -- St. George's, Clarksdale -- he was a member of the vestry, a teacher and lay reader with special permission to preach sermons of his own composition. In the Diocese of Mississippi he has been a member of the Standing Committee, the Diocesan Council, president of the diocesan layman's organization and chairman of a successful diocesan capital funds drive. In New York City he is a vestryman of the Church of the Heavenly Rest.
Mr. Carr was an elected deputy from the Diocese of Mississippi to the General Convention in 1967, 1969, and 1970. At the 1970 meeting he chaired the strategic Agenda Committee and he has been on the Advisory Committee to the Convention's House of Deputies President.
The Convention in 1970 elected him to membership on the Executive Council from which he resigned in 1971 in order to become Executive for Development/Stewardship on the staff.
The Rt. Rev. John M. Allin, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, in accepting Mr. Carr's resignation, said, "As Presiding Bishop I have very keen appreciation for the dedication, energy and imagination you have offered to the work and mission of the Church in your capacity as Executive for Development and Stewardship. Your willingness to continue your work as a member of the Church Center staff much longer than you originally intended when you accepted the position is also appreciated. I am personally grateful for the opportunity we have had to share life and work here in the Church Center."
The Rt. Rev. John B. Coburn, Bishop of Massachusetts, who, as President of the House of Deputies and chairman of the Executive Council committee on development, worked closely with Mr. Carr, said he had "mixed feelings" about his resignation.
"Oscar Carr undertook a new assignment in the life of the Church and with his typical pioneering spirit carried it with flourish and efficiency. He has pointed the way to a new frontier in church development. He has done this with good spirit -- sometimes under very difficult situations -- and with verve and grace.
"At the same time," Bishop Coburn said, "I believe he has completed this chapter in his own ministry and is ready to proceed to the next call for service."
Stewardship responsibilities, including workshops and educational materials, will be continued by the Rev. Richard J. Anderson, Associate Officer for Stewardship, while the major development aspects of the office during the next three years will be under the Rt. Rev. Richard Millard, recently appointed coordinator of the Venture in Mission program.