After 50 Years the Episcopal Peace Fellowship Still Making a 'Loud and Unusual Noise'
Episcopal News Service. November 22, 1989 [89240]
Mary Miller
On the weekend of November 10-12, 1989, the Episcopal Peace Fellowship (EPF) celebrated 50 years of peacemaking activity with simultaneous conferences in Washington, D.C. and Berkeley, California. Some 95 members and friends gathered at the Quality Hotel, Capitol Hill, and 55 met at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific for a weekend of plenary session addresses, workshops, worship, and "family reunion."
EPF "assists Episcopalians and others to realize and live out Christ's call to be peacemakers" by promoting "prayer, study, education, and action."
The conferences were the result of a decision by the National Executive Council (NEC) of the EPF in 1987 to celebrate EPF's 50th anniversary with a national gathering. Planning committees were formed on each coast of local members with NEC members and national staff acting as support and liaison. The shape of the conferences emerged as the theme was formulated: "Where We Have Been -- Where We Are Going."
At the same time the conferences were being planned, the Rev. Nathaniel Pierce of Brookline, Massachusetts, and Dr. Paul Ward of Alexandria, Virginia, were researching and writing the history of EPF; The Voice of Conscience: A Loud and Unusual Noise? was published the week before the conference, and all registrants received a copy in advance.
On Friday evening in Washington, Pierce opened the "Where We Have Been" session of the conference with reflections on EPF's history, drawing out instances where work begun in one decade came to fruition in another, offering as a prime example formation of the Episcopal Church's Standing Commission on Peace. Pierce also shared with the conference a tape of Pacifica Radio's report of the Pentagon mass arrests in 1969, during which the EPF was accused of making "a loud and unusual noise."
In Berkeley, the parallel session was a panel of members, each of whom joined in a different decade, reflecting on their time in EPF.
Saturday, November 11, Armistice Day, was celebrated as the actual date of founding in 1939 of the Episcopal Pacifist Fellowship (the name was changed in the mid-1960s) to counsel conscientious objectors. On both coasts, the day began with Eucharist. Keynote addresses were by the Rev. Charles Cesaretti, former deputy to the Presiding Bishop for Anglican Affairs, in the East; and the Rev. Louis Vitale, OFM, of the Nevada Desert Experience, in the West, both speaking on "The Challenge to EPF Today -- What Is the Future for EPF?" Cesaretti, taking the theme of transfiguration, said in part: "It is the mark of discipleship to become instruments of peace, agents of transformation, in church and society. The future of the EPF is to create and nourish a community of the disciples of that vision. The future of the EPF is to change the heart of the Episcopal Church by being faithful residents of the fringe." He stressed the importance of working in small groups, providing leadership and resources for Bible study, prayer, and theological reflection.
The conference participants spent several hours in workshops covering such topics as Christian conscience and military service, social responsibility in investments, nurturing children in a world of conflict, EPF and ecumenical peacemaking, the spiritual dimensions of peacemaking, the relationship of the EPF to diocesan conventions and national peace commissions, effective peacemaking at diocesan and General Convention, the New Testament basis for pacifism, "Peacemaking Without Division," disinformation and national security issues, lobbying Congress, and designing peace liturgies with parishes.
The Washington conference included a special session to discuss recent information and reflection on three regions of special concern to EPF, with members who sharing their experiences of visits to Central America, the Middle East, and South Africa. In all cases, it was clear that in addition to EPF's work of truth telling about what is happening in these areas, there is much work to be done at home to change national priorities and policies with regard to each region.
An honored guest at the Washington conference was the Rev. Clive Barrett, chairman of EPF's sister organization in the British Commonwealth, the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship (APF). Addressing the conference at the close of the regional panel, Barrett reported on activities of the APF and reflected on the differences and similarities in the work of two groups.
Small-group discussions on both coasts centered on sharing peacemaking journeys, reflecting on EPF's role in the coming decade, and making dozens of concrete suggestions for EPF's national officers and Executive Council, who will implement suggestions on various levels of the organizations's life and work.
Saturday evening, the West Coast conference enjoyed a session of music and storytelling with Ian and Mary Mitchell, friends of EPF for many years. The conference participants spent the evening at a festive anniversary dinner and heard a speech by Colman McCarthy, Washington Post syndicated columnist and founder of the Center for Teaching Peace. Greetings were heard from the Presiding Bishop, the Disciples Peace Fellowship (also 50 years old), and the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship.