Deaf Ministries Use Missionary Offering
Episcopal News Service. November 26, 1980 [80428]
New York -- The board of directors of the Episcopal Conference of the Deaf, consisting of the five officers and the executive secretary, met Nov. 10-14, at the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Conn. The Conference advisory committee, whose members include bishops, priests, and lay people, met with the board for two of its sessions to discuss long range plans and policies.
The treasurer, Alva Cuppy of Maryland, reported that the total received from the Church School Missionary Offering two years ago was $128,000. Of this amount $102,000 has been spent on advancing the ministry to the deaf, particularly in providing seed money to begin new work. Grant applications from this fund must be approved with comments from the diocesan bishop, recommended by the Conference board of directors, and finally approved by the review committee consisting of members of the advisory committee. At this meeting $10,000 in new expenditures from this CSMO money were approved. Chairman of the advisory committee is Mrs. Eileen Rucker of Lynchburg, Va.
New ventures discussed included the intern program in which a recent university graduate, Molly Pitts from Texas, whose degree is in deaf education, and Sallie Shippen of Oregon who has finished two years at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, are serving a year's internship assisting the clergy ministering to deaf congregations in Philadelphia and Hartford.
The president of the Conference is the Rev. Cam Desmarais, Archdeacon for the Deaf in the Diocese of Alabama. The executive secretary is the Rev. Arthur Steidemann of St. Louis. He is a hearing person whose parents were deaf and in addition to serving as rector of a hearing parish he has also served St. Thomas for the Deaf in St. Louis. Recently retired, he is now employed on a half-time basis to work for the Conference.
Steidemnann is available to discuss deaf ministries with bishops or others interested. He also edits The Deaf Episcopalian which comes out quarterly. His salary, office, and travel expenses are financed by an annual $16,000 item in the General Church Program.
St. Barnabas for the Deaf in Washington, D.C., has been without a vicar for some time. The Rev. Jay Croft of Minnesota has just accepted the call to this ministry. St. Barnabas is strategically located near Gallaudet College, one of the two colleges for deaf students in the country. If deaf persons are to study for Holy Orders, they will most likely be graduates of Gallaudet. A vigorous ministry by the Episcopal Church on this campus will help recruit deaf candidates.