Province IV Votes to Continue Special Program
Diocesan Press Service. June 30, 1970 [88-6]
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Episcopalians in Province IV, representing the Dioceses located in the southeastern section of the United States, have voted to support a continuance of the General Convention Special Program -- but with a difference.
Meeting at the Kanuga, N. C., Conference Center in early June, the 175 delegates to the Provincial Synod approved a resolution asking the 1970 General Convention at Houston, Tex., in October to allocate "at least 50 percent of the amount available for GCSP grants" to ecumenical projects initiated locally under Diocesan sponsorship.
The resolution also proposed funding of GCSP projects with local money on a matching basis and the cooperative involvement of local Episcopalians with poor and powerless minorities.
The $5 million program was established at the General Convention of 1967 in Seattle as an effort by the Episcopal Church to assist minority groups to help themselves in achieving political and economic influence in their communities.
The resolution passed by the Province IV delegates reaffirmed the principle of self-determination, with minorities being given "at least equal voice" in decision-making in community projects.
In a preamble the resolution said that the GCSP "has not reached its full potential" because of the absence of the local involvement of Episcopalians.
The Synod voted a $1,000 fund to finance the work of a committee which will seek to develop wide support of the resolution "among other parts of the Church. "