Church Urban Leaders Press White House
Episcopal News Service. January 25, 1979 [78016]
Washington, D. C. -- A White House briefing and a decision to work with members of the Church and City Conference in sponsoring Spring conferences on urban concerns were the highlights of the second annual meeting of the Urban Bishops Coalition of the Episcopal Church here Jan. 15-18.
On Jan. 17 bishops and ten members -- priests and laypersons -- of the Church and City Conference attended a White House meeting with senior government officials to discuss the Administration's budget and urban policies and the status of the SALT negotiations.
At the White House, the Rt. Rev. John Burt, Bishop of the Diocese of Ohio, read a statement saying that the bishops came to the meeting "with grave concern for the continuing deterioration of human priorities and needs across the nation."
The statement also scored the Administration's "gross distortion of priorities in pursuit of military extravagance" with increases in military spending budgeted at the expense of human services. "An enemy need not attack us from outside because we now destroy ourselves with these distorted priorities," the statement continued.
It also urged the government to respond positively to the invitation to partnership in economic development extended by the Ecumenical Coalition of the Mahoning Valley's plan to re-open a steel mill in Youngstown, Ohio.
The statement concluded with the bishops' hope for new initiatives by the Administration and said the bishops would be "watching and hoping for movement in directions we will be able to support."
Prior to their meeting at the White House, the bishops had met with some 50 urban clergy and laity from the Church and City Conference chaired by the Rev. Michael Kendall of St. James the Less, Scarsdale, N.Y. This group proposed the cooperative venture of planning, funding, and staffing as many as three regional meetings on the urban crisis. The meetings would draw together a variety of individuals and groups who might find common cause in an Episcopal Urban Caucus to represent the urban concern forcibly to the Church's triennial General Convention scheduled for next September in Denver, Colo. The Policy and Action committee of the Bishops' Coalition, chaired by Bishop Brooke Mosley, an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Pennsylvania, will work closely with the newly formed Policy Committee of the Church and City Conference, chaired by the Very Rev. Michael Allen, dean, Christ Cathedral, St. Louis, Mo. in planning the regional meetings.
A closer working relationship between the two organizations is also envisioned with regularly scheduled meetings of their respective steering committees.
During their own meeting the bishops shared the activities presently underway in their own dioceses; many new initiatives resulting from the learnings gained from the seven urban hearings which the Coalition held in early 1978. Mosley also reported on the activities of the Policy and Action Committee and its recommendations for action at local, diocesan and national levels.
In considering the possibilities inherent in its new relationship with Church and City and the avenues which its own policy group is exploring, such as urban training centers, public policy seminars, and an urban theology publication, the Coalition voted a $14,000 increase in its 1979 budget and directed Mosley to move immediately to hire sufficient staff to enable its activities. The Coalition will meet again just prior to the opening of General Convention next September.