Presiding Bishop Allin Looks into Future
Episcopal News Service. September 15, 1983 [83166]
NEW YORK (DPS, Sept. 15) -- One year after the 1982 meeting of the General Convention adjourned and two weeks before the House of Bishops was to begin its interim annual meeting, Presiding Bishop John M. Allin and a staff writer from the Diocesan Press Service talked over the growth and changes in the Church in the past year and the next two years: a time in which the actions of Convention will be carried through and the Church will plan to elect Allin's successor as Presiding Bishop. Excerpts from that conversation follow.
Diocesan Press Service -- Earlier this year, Bishop Allin, we interviewed you about your views on the general state of the Episcopal Church. Many diocesan newspapers carried this story, so we thought about the next two years -- the last years in your 12 year term as Presiding Bishop.
Bishop Allin -- Time has been passing rapidly. In some ways it is hard to realize ten years have gone by since I came to this office. Perhaps the next two years can prove to be the more important years of my time as Presiding Bishop.
Diocesan Press Service -- Why do you say that?
Bishop Allin -- Because the needs before us as a Church continue to be desperate needs: hungry people, decaying cities, a trend toward increasing dependency upon weapons of war as the primary guarantor of our security. In all of these areas the Church must share concern -- and, more importantly, render service.
Diocesan Press Service -- What should the Church be doing about hungry people?
Bishop Allin -- We should be feeding as many as we can, and encouraging many others to share such ministry. We are already doing some of that, of course, as evidenced by the remarkable work of the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief and the "meals on wheels" kitchens and local food banks in dioceses and parishes that are almost too numerous to count. But we need to expand all of this, to involve more of our people. The next two years should be a time when every one of our congregations becomes more involved -- and ecumenically whenever possible -- in providing food for starving people in its own area.
In addition, the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief in coordination with our national Hunger network already has in place the process by which extra offerings of money from all over the church can be turned into food for the hungry in places where the needs are most acute. Further, the General Convention gave the Coalition for Human Needs a pivotal role in the Jubilee Ministries program; a role in sharing the effective work and the resources that are available to meet need. That's how we should feed people: by doing something locally where we are and by contributing to the wider need through the Presiding Bishop's Fund and the Coalition for Human Needs.
Diocesan Press Service -- You see this, then, as a major focus for the years immediately ahead?
Bishop Allin -- Yes, I see ministering to human needs the continuing focus for this Church. I can think of no better way for this Church to go into its next General Convention than to go in as a church doing its very best to meet the human needs of our time. Venture in Mission has proved that there is strong commitment to Christian mission when the opportunity to be missionaries is presented to people in an interesting and clear manner. The good response to the Next Step in Mission/Jubilee Ministry focus in many dioceses indicates to me our concern for human need. Yet we must not assume too much and risk falling short of doing our best.
Diocesan Press Service -- Are you eager for retirement?
Bishop Allin -- I'll try and give an unloaded answer to that loaded question! I think it is good that there is provision for a Presiding Bishop to serve but one 12 year term. I am not tired of serving this Church in the office of Presiding Bishop. There have been some tough problems and stressful periods, but you can face such with both fascination and enthusiasm when in good company with faithful friends. There are lots of promising adventures and rewarding experiences. I appreciate the assignment and a reasonable opportunity.
Diocesan Press Service -- Do you think there has been healing in the Church around such divisive issues as Prayer Book revision and the ordination of women?
Bishop Allin -- There has been some healing. But we would be foolish indeed to think that those divisions are not still with us. One does not have to probe very deeply to get the kind of response that bears that out. I think we are doing a reasonable job of living with this diversity of opinion which many of us quite honestly feel. There has been evidence also of some willingness to be more open and some growth in understanding.
Diocesan Press Service -- You mentioned earlier your concern about what you called a dependency upon weapons of war as the primary guarantor of our security. Would you comment on that?
Bishop Allin -- Yes, I will comment. I understand, I believe, why any nation should have as a high priority an adequate system of national defense. But I do not see such a system as the key or chief means for either making peace or for keeping it. Our national defense system might be useful in dealing with uprisings of a minor nature, the sort of thing that will always happen because people are people. But peace will be known on a broad, overarching basis throughout the world only if we can create a climate of trust among the nations of the world. I think the Christian Church -- since it is represented in some form in almost all places -- can play a big part in this. Good starts have been made, such as the international peace conference I attended in Uppsala, Sweden, in May, and our own Episcopal Church-sponsored peace conference in Denver just afterwards. Conferences alone are not enough. They do serve a valuable purpose in providing education and information and in keeping this vital concern before the public eye. But many more people must become effectively informed and engaged.
Diocesan Press Service -- Thanks for talking with us and for sharing your thoughts through our network of diocesan newspapers.
Bishop Allin -- I am pleased to do that -- being appreciative of the valuable role such papers play in the church's communication efforts.