Council Affirms Demonstration Procedures
Diocesan Press Service. June 7, 1965 [XXXIII-1]
Objections of the Bishop of Alabama, the Rt. Rev. Charles C. J. Carpenter, to the participation of Executive Council officers, at Council expense, in civil rights demonstrations in his Diocese were not accepted by the Executive Council at its May 18-20 meeting, at Seabury House.
Following a three-hour debate, the Council affirmed procedures for the designation of official participants in demonstrations, stressing that final authority for the action rests with the Presiding Bishop.
The controversy was an aftermath of the Selma-Montgomery voting rights march and centered on the interpretation of a resolution adopted by the Executive Council last February which set ground rules for the participation of Council officers and other Episcopal clergymen in civil rights work outside their own dioceses.
That earlier action rescinded a previous rule which declared that no clergyman could engage in race action without the approval of the bishop of the diocese or missionary district where the action was to be performed.
The issue was brought back to the Council in a letter from Bishop Carpenter, who called the February resolution "vague" in regard to a provision that staff members "advise and consult" officials of dioceses where civil rights action is to take place.
During the debate it was pointed out that Presiding Bishop Hines had personally consulted and advised Bishop Carpenter concerning three persons involved in the Selma-Montgomery march. In the case of two others, however, it was pointed out, Bishop Carpenter had been notified simply by telegram.
Bishop Carpenter, not a Council member and not present here, noted in his letter that the five staff members "came at the expense of the Executive Council" and continued:
"When the people of Alabama realize that the money they are striving to give to take care of the complete amount asked from them is being used to buy free trips to Alabama for men who are not wanted there and served no purpose there ... they will not like it."
Bishop Carpenter called for closer control of "spending of money we send up there (to Church headquarters in New York) for the spread of the Kingdom of God."
Coadjutor Bishop Murray of Alabama, a Council member, offered a motion that the funds already expended from Council budgets for the purpose of officers' travel be reimbursed from the special Church and Race Fund which is voluntary.
Bishop Murray's motion was defeated after long discussion. Among objections, it was stated that use of the voluntary fund in reimbursing the Council budget in effect would seem to remove the Church from official participation in that demonstration.
At the same time, the Council passed another resolution calling on the Presiding Bishop to acknowledge "with appreciation" Bishop Carpenter's letter and to inform him that procedures for the dispatch of Council officers to demonstrations have been clarified as a result of his letter and the discussion in regard to advising and consulting with bishops in the dioceses involved. It further expressed approval of a memorandum on procedures now being followed.
The resolution, while not altering the procedures established in February, admitted that the procedure had not been explicitly followed by the mere sending of a telegram concerning the participation of two of the five staff members in the Selma-Montgomery events.
It also was requested that "regret" should be conveyed from the Executive Council to Bishop Carpenter that while acting in the interest of the whole Church, the Council appeared "to have added to the burden of the Church in Alabama, while endeavoring to support it in the bearing of that burden."
Race relations in South Africa also caused considerable discussion at the session when a resolution was presented calling for appointment of a delegation to meet with banking institutions the Church deals with to "discuss the social responsibility" these banks have in "connection with their investments in South Africa."
Objection was voiced on the ground that an economic boycott would seem to be implied in the resolution. The action ultimately was recommitted to the Christian Social Relations Department for study.
In the introduction to the resolution, it was pointed out that the General Conventions in 1958 and 1964 had scored apartheid policies of the South African government.
In other action, the Council passed a resolution expressing opposition "to the further legalization of off-track betting, slot machines, casino games, lotteries and organized gambling generally. " The Christian Social Relations Department also was directed to prepare informational materials on the effects of both legal and illegal organized gambling for dissemination.
A memorial resolution was adopted honoring former Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, who died May 14, "after 83 years of faithful life in the Christian religion as an active member of the Episcopal Church. " The first woman to hold the cabinet post, during the Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration, she started her career as a social worker for the Episcopal Church.