News Brief
Episcopal News Service. June 9, 1983 [83115]
(DPS, June 9) -- "Mindless acts" of racism persist in the Southeast Florida Diocese of the Episcopal Church although the diocese is "colorblind in terms of explicit policies and practices." So says the report of a special study committee on racism created by the church's North Dade Deanery. The report, already adopted by the deanery, is being considered by the rest of the diocese where its strongest opposition has come from the Rev. Ronald Fox, the black rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Coconut Grove, who feels it is too mild. The report said that the diocese "has done a commendable job of setting aside longstanding racial policies and practices.... Nevertheless, vestiges of racism occasionally rear their heads. These are, perhaps, mindless acts that are done out of habit, rather than intentional efforts to preserve racial practices of the discredited past," said the committee headed by the Rev. Fritz Bazin, himself a black. The committee's report recommended more involvement of all ethnic groups in planning and carrying out diocesan functions and activities; a true reflection of the ethnic and cultural diversity of the church in the liturgies used in diocesan-sponsored worship services; and proportionate representation of various racial and ethnic groups in the administrative ranks of the diocese. An editorial in the diocesan newspaper, The Net, which praised the report, pointed out that only two out of the 30 members of the Executive Board are black while 20 percent of the baptized members in the diocese are black.
(DPS, June 9) -- Educators and Trainers for Ministry held their annual meeting at the George Mercer School of Theology here in late April. The eight year old group is the conference and network of those concerned with alternative programs of training for ministry in the Episcopal Church, under the authority of a General Convention resolution naming the ten accredited residential seminaries of the denomination as the norm for training of full time professional paid clergy, and the alternative training programs as the norm for the training of alternative model clergy and lay leaders. New officers are president, the Rev. Lynn Bauman of Dallas, vice president, the Rev. Richard Bowman of Central Florida, secretary, the Rev. Robert Grafe of Oregon, and treasurer, the Rev. Patricia Eichenlaub of Michigan. The conference also selected as a chief area of concern for the present time the re-thinking of training in the seven canonical areas of learning and knowledge with respect to resources, materials and curricula for ministry-based training versus residence-based education. The consensus was to make a small beginning by focusing the 1984 conference on methods of teaching ethics and moral theology. For further information, contact Bauman at the Diocese of Dallas or Dr. Fredrika Thompsett at the Episcopal Church Center, 815 Second Avenue, NY NY 10017.
(DPS, June 9) -- Forward Movement Publications announces the publication of Living Bread: Recipes for Home-baked Breads for the Eucharist and for the Fellowship and Family Tables by Christian Whitethorn Stugard. The book is written to meet the needs of churches of various denominations who are moving toward reviving the ancient Christian custom of using home-baked bread to symbolize unity among members and the offering of their daily lives. Stugard has collected recipes for communion bread from seminaries, churches, monasteries, convents and individuals from a wide variety of denominations. Charmingly illustrated and sprinkled with appropriate Biblical verses and personal anecdotes, the book is also designed to be a fund-raiser for church projects. It is available from Forward Movement at $4.95 a single copy and $3.00 each for ten or more.
(DPS, June 9) -- An Episcopal lay woman, Ann Merryman, was elected to chair the policy board of the United Ministry in Education, an ecumenical agency for ministry in education. She was elected at the Board's spring meeting here in April. Merryman brings to her new responsibilities many years of commitment to and experience in ministry in higher education. She is a member of the Commission on Ministry, the Diocese of California, and the Berkeley Canterbury Foundation Board. She is editor of The Pacific Churchman and Chairman of the Province VIII Commission on College Work. She has been on the board of the United Ministries in Higher Education for Northern California and Nevada and a member of the UME board since 1977.
(DPS, June 9) -- Friars of the Episcopal Society of St. Francis plan to open three new centers of work within the next six months. Two houses are planned for New York, while a second house will be established in the San Francisco Bay area. Brother Robert Hugh, Minister Provincial for the friars in the U.S. and Trinidad, announced the expansion plans following the friars' annual chapter meeting held in California in early spring. "For some years now," Brother Robert Hugh said, "the brothers have felt called to develop smaller houses, which give access to urban ministries. These new houses, each with three to five brothers, reflect these priorities." Brother Robert Hugh also said that in September, the Society of St. Francis will give up management of the diocese of California's conference center, The Bishop's Ranch, after ten years of fruitful operation. "However, the friaries in San Francisco, Long Island, Minneapolis and Port of Spain," he said, "will continue to be centers of Franciscan life and ministry."
(DPS, June 9) -- Three young men have completed their four years of formal training as stone cutter apprentices and will receive certificates, admitting them into the "Guild of Stone Cutters of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine," in a graduation ceremony here June 8. The apprenticeship program is operated in the Cathedral's own stoneyard, where some 24,000 stones will be produced for the west front towers. James Jamerson, Jose Tapia and Timothy Smith entered training in 1979, the first "class" of apprentices in the program designed to produce stone cutters to finish the cathedral after a 37-year hiatus in construction. Before becoming apprentices, Jamerson had been in refrigeration repair but was unemployed; Smith had been teaching in a vocational education program in the public schools of Vermont; and Tapia was working with the Renegades Housing Movement in East Harlem and the South Bronx Poor People's Development Corporation in housing rehabilitation. According to the Very Rev. James Parks Morton, dean of the cathedral, these young men may well be the first graduates of any stone cutter training program in the United States since well before the beginning of the Second World War. "We also believe that James and Jose are the first black and Hispanic American stone cutters ever," he said. The training program at the Cathedral is primarily directed toward providing skilled job training and long-term employment for disadvantaged youth. Apprentices now setting stones on the first tower are also receiving training in brick masonry.
(DPS, June 9) -- The Education for Mission and Ministry section of the Episcopal Church Center has published a Resource for Congregational Action designed to help "congregations put mission and ministry in action." Dr. Irene V. Jackson-Brown, resources coordinator at the Center, said that the seven-section document is designed to carry a congregation through a 14-month process centered on a one-year commitment to ministry in various areas. The volume is a companion to the Guide for Congregational Self-Evaluation which was produced shortly after the 1982 General Convention. Both volumes were created to help the Church implement the Next Step in Mission and Jubilee programs which received enthusiastic convention endorsement.
(DPS, June 9) -- Shattuck-St. Mary's Schools and Minnesota were both 125 years old this spring and the state and the school got together to celebrate. The Episcopal Church-related school is the oldest, and only, coeducational boarding preparatory school in the state and is the oldest Episcopal school west of the Alleghenies. That primary place was recognized when Minnesota Attorney General Hubert H. Humphrey III ( class of '63) joined other distinguished alumni/ae and representatives of the state's many colleges at the school's commencement June 3.
(DPS, June 9) -- Presiding Bishop John M. Allin, the Rt. Rev. Benedict Reid, OSB, and Jamie Buckingham, author and pastor, will be the speakers at three evening worship services at the 1983 National Conference on Renewal, Ministry and Evangelism. Planned for Ridgecrest Conference Center near Asheville, N.C., Nov. 9-13, the conference will cover a multiplicity of ministries and parish programs in 50 concurrent workshops. Other principal speakers include the Rt. Rev. Patrick B. Harris, Asst. Bishop of Wakefield, England, as keynoter, and the Rt. Rev. John T. Walker, the Rev. H. Lawrence Scott and Elisabeth Elliot addressing the principal themes of the conference.