Episcopal Urban Caucus Planned
Episcopal News Service. December 28, 1979 [79404]
INDIANAPOLIS -- The organizing assembly for an Episcopal Urban Caucus will meet here Feb. 13-16, 1980, to "organize for action" in response to the challenges of urban mission.
The new group -- sponsored by the Urban Bishops Coalition and the Church and City Conference -- will include bishops, priests, and laity of the Episcopal Church who will join together in establishing a national agenda, in developing a theological reflection process, and in setting up a structure to carry out its action plans.
The leaders of the Coalition and the Conference -- Bishop John T. Walker of Washington and the Rev. Michael S. Kendall of Waterbury, Conn. -- have said of the proposed group: "We envision an Episcopal Urban Caucus, including bishops, priests, and laity which can throughout the decade ahead provide material and spiritual support for those already engaged in urban mission, continue to confront the whole church with the urgency of this mission, and create a base within the Episcopal Church from which we can join hands with other religious and community agencies to address the plight of our cities and their people."
Walker and Kendall have indicated that priority issues for the agenda are "survival of urban parishes, more effective use of diocesan and national resources to support urban mission, increased advocacy and political action on social policy concerns...."
Some of the policy concerns which they suggest are "the death penalty, nuclear disarmament, capital flow from urban areas, racism, sexism, housing for low-income people and the displacement of low-income people, suburban/urban cooperation, jobs, energy, inflation, and hunger."
The Urban Bishops Coalition was organized during the 1976 General Convention in Minneapolis as an outgrowth of some concerns felt and expressed by the Church and City Conference. Since that time the Coalition has conducted hearings across the country and abroad "to listen to the people who live in the midst of urban degeneration and decay." What they heard was presented in a booklet, To Hear and To Heed.