Bishop Putnam Selected To Head Navajo Area Mission
Episcopal News Service. October 12, 1978 [78289]
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Suffragan Bishop Frederick W. Putnam, Jr., of Oklahoma has been appointed provisional bishop of an experimental ethnic diocese among the Navajo, effective Jan. 1, 1979, according to an announcement to the Episcopal Church House of Bishops meeting here Oct. 2-6. Final approval must come from his diocesan convention.
Bishop Putnam expects to take a year's leave of absence to take up the new work on the Navajo reservation that covers parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. Territory has been ceded by the Dioceses of Arizona and Utah to set up the Navajoland Area Mission.
Oklahoma proposes to pay half Bishop Putnam's salary and allowances as its contribution to this missionary program, according to Diocesan Bishop Gerald N. McAllister. He said that if the Convention approves the recommendation, this will be an appropriate way for the entire diocese "to share in a meaningful way in this work and not hurt our financial situation."
Bishop Putnam said the Navajo, numbering 140,000, is the largest Indian nation in the U.S. The number of Episcopalians among them is uncertain because of communication problems -- distance and poor roads -- and tribal habits such as name changes over the years.
There are 17 congregations in the Navajo area but most of the clergy are white. There is one Navajo priest and two deacons -- one man and one woman.
Bishop Putnam, 61, said it was a rare chance to begin a new work at a time when many of his contemporaries were beginning to think of their retirement.He said that one of his chief functions will be to help develop native leadership and to see if the concept of an ethnic diocese will work for the Navajo people. It has not been tried in the U. S. Episcopal Church, he said.
A native of Red Wing, Minn., Bishop Putnam was educated at the University of Minnesota and Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, Evanston, Ill. The latter institution awarded him the honorary D. D. degree in 1963.
Prior to his election as Suffragan Bishop of Oklahoma in 1963, Bishop Putnam served parishes in Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois.
A photographer of note, he has been active in movements for church renewal, such as Associated Parishes, as well as a leader in ecumenical projects and community affairs. For the past year he has been a member of the Episcopal Church's National Committee on Indian Work.
Bishop Putnam is married to the former Helen Kathryn Prouse, and they have three sons.