Episcopal Conference for the Deaf Presents Awards during House of Bishops
Episcopal News Service. September 26, 1990 [90243]
Mary Lee Simpson
WASHINGTON, D.C. Sept. 18 -- For the commitment of his diocese to ministry with the deaf, Bishop David Bowman of Western New York has received the Thomas Gallaudet Award from the Episcopal Conference of the Deaf (ECD).
Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning also was recognized by the ECD for his efforts to include the deaf in the life of the church.
The awards were presented here today during the annual gathering of the House of Bishops.
Bowman gave credit to the late Rev. David Greenwood, a volunteer vicar who laid the foundation for the ministry of the little Church of the Ephphatha, and to the Rev. Betsy Smylie who has brought new vitality to the congregation as part-time vicar.
Smylie, who has been with the 40-member mission now for about a year, said that through the leadership of Bowman, members of the diocese agreed to provide professional interpreters for all diocesan events, the installation of a telephone for the deaf in the diocesan office, and a closedcaption decoder for use with Christian education videos.
"We have a small but diverse congregation," said Smylie.
Thomas Gallaudet was an Episcopal priest whose mother and son were deaf.