The Acts of Convention

House of Deputies

Original Text of Resolution:

(D103)

Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring, That the 72nd General Convention of the Episcopal Church, meeting in Philadelphia, give unanimous heartfelt thanksgiving for the life and ministry of Dr. Gloria Brown, who entered eternal life on December 25, 1996. After years of serving as the staff person for the Coalition for Human Needs, which provided millions of dollars of financial assistance to direct action assistance projects throughout the nine Provinces of this Church, Dr. Brown turned her attention and energy to addressing the systemic causes of the economic deprivation of the poor and disadvantaged. In that arena, she was a driving force behind the establishment of the Economic Justice Implementation Committee by the 69th General Convention in 1988, and as its first staff person worked tirelessly directing its early development into a major programmatic focus of the Church during the 1990's. She was instrumental in establishing the Episcopal Community Federal Credit Union in the Diocese of Los Angeles and celebrated the opening of the Credit Union. She devoted countless hours in directing the resources of the Church, both financial and human, to bettering the plight of the economically disadvantaged and oppressed. A long-time worker in God's vineyard, she was always on call to respond to pleas of help from the underclass. In addition to her direct work with the oppressed, she spent days and weeks with members of the Church at Diocesan and Provincial levels in encouraging them to take up the fight against systemic economic oppression. She lived to see the culmination of her work as the EJIC was sunsetted into the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Committee in 1995. Gloria, your hard work and vision will be sorely missed -- may your vision, energy and devotion be a guiding light to us all, and may God's eternal light shine upon you and may your soul find everlasting peace.

Proposed Committee Amendment:

Delete all text after line 3, "1996."

Motion carried

Resolution adopted with amendment

(Communicated to the House of Bishops in HD Message #262)