"Ecumenical Bulletin" Keeps Issues Before Church
Episcopal News Service. March 24, 1977 [77108]
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- "People are interested in ecumenical issues. Whatever side of the issue they may be on, people are interested in ecumenical issues," comments William A. Norgren, assistant ecumenical officer of Executive Council.
People's interest is shown by the success of the Ecumenical Bulletin, a publication of Executive Council now in its fourth year. The Bulletin is aimed at people who are interested and working in the ecumenical movement. Its circulation is now 1,350, including free copies to bishops, diocesan ecumenical officers, and some others. Most are subscribers.
The publication is written with diocesan ecumenical officers and committees in mind, people who are giving increasing leadership in the Episcopal Church to the ecumenical movement, Mr. Norgren said.
"The trend toward leadership in the diocese makes real sense," he said. "The local church is the people of the congregations gathered around the bishop as the sign and focus of unity, and it is the communion between the local churches gathered around their bishops which makes up the universal church. Why shouldn't the diocese be giving leadership in the ecumenical movement?"
Episcopal Diocesan Ecumenical Officers (EDEO) formed a new national association in 1974. They have had annual'meetings in Charleston, San Diego, Memphis, and Pittsburgh. The Ecumenical Bulletin is the principal means of communication between the dioceses on ecumenism, Mr. Norgren said.
At the 1977 annual meeting the diocesan ecumenical officers approved and proposed to the dioceses a triennial project of "search and study" to lead up to the 1979 General Convention. Through the officers' group the dioceses can take part in a church-wide reassessment of the Episcopal Church's ecumenical posture and goals. Also taking part are the General Convention's Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations and the Executive Council. The Ecumenical Bulletin will be the main organ of communication for the work of "search and study" now beginning, Mr. Norgren said.
Subscriptions are available at $5.00 a year (or $3. 80 for group subscriptions of 5 or more) from The Seabury Press, 815 Second Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10017. For a sample copy, write to the Ecumenical Office, 815 Second Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017.