Margaret Woodbury Strong Bequest Benefits National Church
Diocesan Press Service. November 18, 1970 [91-10]
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Rt. Rev. John E. Hines, today announced that the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester has voted the sum of $750,000 on a no-strings-attached basis to the Presiding Bishop and the Executive Council of the national Episcopal Church to use "as they deem most appropriate. "
Action approving the gift of $750,000 to the national Episcopal Church was taken at the annual convention of the Diocese of Rochester on Saturday, November 13, and the vote in favor of the action was described as "overwhelming. "
Funds will come from a bequest of $7,700,000 to the Diocese of Rochester in the will of Margaret Woodbury Strong which the Diocese received in June of this year.
The Diocese of Rochester is made up of eight counties and 59 parishes in northwestern New York state and is headed by the Rt. Rev. Robert R. Spears, Jr., who became Bishop of the Diocese in July. He was formerly Suffragan Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri.
The suggestion for giving the $750,000 "to help lessen present fiscal problems of the national church" was made by Bishop Spears in his first address to the Diocesan convention since he became Bishop of Rochester.
He told convention delegates that approval of the gift would serve the purpose of "reaffirming the Christian principle of freely giving of what we receive, while at the same time supporting the leadership of the church at a time of particular difficulty and anxiety. "
The idea of proposing such a gift to the national church, Bishop Spears said, had come to him as a result of his experiences at the 1970 General Convention of the Episcopal Church held at Houston, Tex., in October.
Bishop Spears told the Rochester convention:
"While the whole spirit of Houston was pulling together, there was still a feeling of uncertainty and hesitation in certain areas. This kind of support for the national church may be a crucial factor at this time in history. "
He also said the gift would be "a personal affirmation of the direction of the national leadership" as well as in keeping with the Strong bequest which had been made with "no strings attached. "
Although Bishop Hines and members of the Executive Council have been criticized by some members of the Episcopal Church for social action programs seeking to aid minority groups, the Houston General Convention voted to reaffirm the church's responsibility to carry on and expand programs of assistance to those who are poor and who seek political and economic power to improve their condition.
In acknowledging the $750,000 gift, Bishop Hines called it "an exercise in responsible Christian stewardship. "
"This will acknowledge with abiding gratitude," he wired Bishop Spears, "this exemplary action and gracious demonstration of convention's commitment to Christ and His Church beyond diocesan claims. "
" I trust your example will stir us at the level of national church responsibility to renewed commitment and will encourage Episcopalians everywhere to share the resources they have both earned and received in trust from God with people whose needs are transparently articulated in our times, and to which the church is called by her Lord to minister at cost to herself. "
"I thank God for the spirit which He has generated in the Diocese of Rochester and from which I and others can learn much. "